Historic Preservation Commission sets December 13th Public Hearing for the Marriott Proposal
Wisconsin Ave.
A large crowd turned out, at the November 15th, 2010 Historic Preservation Commission meeting to speak out regarding Wave Development LLC’s request for a Certificate of Appropriateness to demolish buildings located at 319-327 East Wisconsin Ave., and 625-631 North Milwaukee St. This approval is required before demolition would be allowed as the buildings are part of the East Side Commercial Historic District, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Despite the large crowd, no public testimony was taken as Alderman Bob Bauman made a motion to set a date for a public hearing. Bauman explained that per the ordinance the only two options available at the commission at this point in time were to approve the Certificate of Appropriateness, or move to set a date for a public hearing. Even if the commission had taken testimony, members of the public would need to attend the officially noticed public hearing. By ordinance this public hearing has to be held in the next thirty days, and so it was scheduled to be held at the next meeting of the Historic Preservation Commission on December 13th, 2010.
definitely take those old ugly buildings own and build a hotel there. Make sure the hotel a bit more colorful than the one on the picture. Also it could be a bit taller.
I wonder why the newspaper coverage of this issue never includes pictures of or historical bakcground about the buildings proposed for demolition. The included photos are always of the proposed hotel as if the historic buildings were already gone.
@Rick Well why we’ve used the renderings a lot is, a lot of our readers like to see the renderings, and quite frankly I haven’t had a chance to run out a take new photos of the individual buildings… though I probably should.
As far as history…. we did report previously the buildings were built between 1860 and the 1870s. Here’s a quick fact:
625 N. Milwaukee St. was the Academy of Music.
If this is an historic district why WOULD they allow demolition? Look at the success of the Pfister, and Iron Horse.couldn’t Marriott build on the history and use structures already there? You have a city with a wonderful reputation for historic preservation. Large corporations ought use that to their advantage and create something unique,respectful of the historic buildings.
@Lori I’m not saying I agree with the reasoning, but if demolition is allowed I believe it will be because the Council and Mayor believes the jobs and tax base are worth the loss of history and character. I feel pretty confident that HPC will decline or defer the permit and this will end up being decided by the council.