F.I.R.E.

Project Description

The project involves the acquisition and transformation of a vacant site directly across the street from the Wisconsin State Fair Park, into a 100-room Hampton Inn and Suites with an attached 8,000 square foot banquet facility. The hotel will include an indoor pool, exercise room, business center, market pantry, guest laundry room and back-of-the house space. Hampton Inn & Suites is part of the Hilton Brand of hotels in the mid-priced hotel segment. As of year-end 2012, Hampton Inn & Suites comprised of 646 hotels and had an average occupancy rate of 69.5% with an average daily rate of $111.73

The project is strongly supported by the City of West Allis, which has been seeking to develop a hotel at this site for over ten years. The hotel will provide much-needed accommodations for vendors at the State Fair grounds and other local businesses such as the Honey Creek Corporate Center. The site is located within a designated browneld intervention area and local tax incremental nancing district. The project will transform the blighted area, with the hotel expected to bring over $4MM of annual revenue to the community and act as a catalyst for surrounding development. The $13.5MM project is expected to create 65 direct construction jobs and generate an additional 78 indirect construction jobs. Project operations are expected to create 103 full-time direct jobs and another 40 indirect jobs.

CDE Alignment

First-Ring Industrial Redevelopment Enterprise’s (FIRE) emphasis on blighted property in Browneld areas having multiple distress criteria aligns well with this project. In addition, the creation of new jobs that are accessible to low-income persons is in direct alignment with FIRE’s mission. The minimal amount of quality jobs created, fteen percent, is not in direct alignment with FIRE’s mission, however the project’s strong alignment with the community is. Based on the criteria, the project appears to be consistent with the CDE’s overall mission as outlined in its 2012 allocation application