Pabst Farms eyeing Hilton Garden Suites

Waukesha Freeman, June 17, 2006

By DAVE BACKMAN
Freeman Staff

OCONOMOWOC Pabst Farms developers have applied to the Hilton hotel chain to bring a Hilton Garden Suites to the Village Square portion of Pabst Farms.

Peter Bell, Pabst Farms Development Inc. president, said Friday construction could begin as soon as this fall on the three story building that would feature about 90 guest rooms.

The hotel would be among as many as four hotels coming to Pabst Farms. Bell said other hospitality products with varying room rates are being considered for Pabst Farms Town Centre, a 1 million-squarefoot retail and entertainment complex announced Thursday; for the business and technology office park planned on the southeast corner of Pabst Farms; and in the proposed health and wellness campus, where Aurora Health Care also is looking to build a hospital and office building.

Bell had preliminary discussions on the proposed Hilton Garden Suites development with Oconomowoc city staff Wednesday. He said he could not say when the project will come before the plan commission.
Room rates for the Hilton Garden Suites brand typically range from $85 to $100 with a variety of room sizes, Bell said. Some of the rooms are marketed for corporate use.

The hotel would be located immediately south of the M&I Bank now under construction.

Village Square also is to include condominiums.

Mayor Maury Sullivan said initial reaction from city staff to the hotel project was generally pretty positive.

However, as to the condos, he said: We have a ways to go yet. We are not quite as confident on that as we are on the hotel.

In a related development, Bell confirmed Friday he would prefer Aurora not build its planned hospital in the city portion of Pabst Farms, but on another available site nearby in the town of Summit.

General Growth Properties Inc. of Chicago, which is partnering with Pabst Farms, announced Thursday it will build Pabst Farms Town Centre.

Bell said Friday that General Growth Properties typically consumes between 95 acres and 110 acres for such developments. Having a hospital in the city would detract from the land available for the retail and entertainment center, he said.

Sullivan said it remains possible that both the hospital and a scaled-back retail development will come to Pabst Farms.

If Aurora ends up building on the 43.5 acres in Oconomowoc and General Growth does not end up with the entire 100-plus acres it wants for its mall project, It doesnt mean there isnt going to be a shopping center, Sullivan said.

It just isnt going to be the one the developer is talking about.

Sullivan said the city has begun negotiations with Aurora officials over Auroras 2001 lawsuit filed after plans for a new hospital fell through in Oconomowoc.

He declined to comment specifically on the talks and said it remains unclear if and when they will bring about a resolution in the case, in which Aurora claims Oconomowoc acted illegally in using the zoning process to block construction of the hospital.

It is obviously not going to be done in the next couple of weeks, he said.

Aurora spokesman Jeff Squire also declined comment on the specifics of the settlement talks, and would not even confirm that the discussions have begun.

He said Aurora is hopeful that settlement talks will clear the way for both the Pabst Farms Town Centre and hospital to be built at Pabst Farms.