Potawatomi to study hotel for casino in valley

By TOM DAYKIN tdaykin@journalsentinel.com, Journal Sentinel

Thursday, June 26, 2003

The Forest County Potawatomi are moving forward with plans for a possible hotel that would be built in conjunction with an expansion of the tribe's Milwaukee casino.

Potawatomi Bingo Casino plans to hire a consulting firm to study the feasibility of building a hotel, spokeswoman Linda Sowell said.

Sowell said casino officials haven't yet determined the size or scope of the possible hotel. Despite recent talk of the casino possibly moving from the Menomonee Valley to downtown, Sowell said the feasibility study would consider a valley location for the hotel.

The casino is at 1721 W. Canal St.

"That's really where we're focusing our efforts," Sowell said.

The Forest County Potawatomi tribe announced in February that it plans to build a $120 million addition to its Menomonee Valley casino along with a possible hotel.

The expansion would be allowed under the new state-tribal gaming compact, which eliminates the casino's limit of 1,000 slot machines and permits craps tables, roulette and off-track betting on horse or dog racing.

A hotel to serve the casino would compete with downtown hotels, said Greg Hanis, a hotel industry consultant who operates Hospitality Marketers Inc. in Waukesha.

Last year's reconstruction of the 6th Street Viaduct and a planned reconstruction and extension of Canal St. will make the casino easier to reach from downtown.

The effects of a new hotel on the downtown market would be even greater if the casino were moved downtown, Hanis said.

Milwaukee Mayor John O. Norquist, Common Council President Marvin Pratt and Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker have all recently said they would be open to the idea of moving the expanded casino to downtown.

That idea has been floated by Menomonee Valley Partners Inc., a non-profit group that wants to see much of the valley redeveloped for light industrial use.

However, such a move would require unusual federal approval of the downtown site as Indian trust land. Also, the Potawatomi tribe has not said whether it would want to move the casino.

Sowell said the Potawatomi hope to hire a hotel consultant by August. She said the tribe doesn't know when it will make a decision on whether to develop a hotel.

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