Anybody who has ever walked past the Edgewater Hotel near Langdon Street could tell you that it has probably lost a bit of its original luster. Currently valued at approximately $5.2 million, the Edgewater is far from extravagant. The building is now over 60 years old, and with that age comes a rather musty aura - and not a classic post-war nostalgic aura, more so an aura akin to your grandmother's unrenovated basement.
In theory, the recent news of the Hammes Company's planned renovation of the hotel should be welcome news. It's a multimillion-dollar plan in a time when few new construction projects are getting the go-ahead, it will add some much-needed new hotel rooms to the downtown area and it should bring some class to the Mansion Hill neighborhood.
So taking this all into account, why don't people seem to be jumping up and down with excitement?
There are some supporters. Mayor Dave Cieslewicz has enthusiastically endorsed the redevelopment and has already met with representatives from Hammes several times over the past few months. But therein lies one of the foremost complaints of the Edgewater's opponents, as the Hammes Company has brought forth an almost unprecedented lobbying effort to get its project underway - much of which has been kept as low key as possible. This raises the question: Why be so secretive when the project would supposedly be a huge boon to Madison's downtown?
General opposition to construction could play a part. The hotel renovation would violate a neighborhood height restriction of 50 feet, and if there is anything that can get longtime residents of any city fired up, it's disturbing their precious lakefront views. But when you live on an isthmus with water boxing you in on either side, and when the hotel's waterfront will still be open to the public, it's hard to feel sympathy for that complaint.
There is also the issue of how the redevelopment would affect other lakefront venues, particularly public spaces such as Monona Terrace and Memorial Union. Project plans include a grand rooftop terrace that would be in competition with the two aforementioned community hubs. But Memorial Union generally caters to a different crowd than the Edgewater will be aiming for, and Monona Terrace is often fully booked months (sometimes years) in advance for certain events. Just ask anybody who has tried to book a wedding there.
With most of these complaints seeming relatively minor or just outright dismissible, the cost-benefit ratio for the project should hardly be something the Hammes Company needs to hide. Unless, that is, the project's benefits have been overstated. While Hammes will be spending $107 million on the Edgewater, they are asking the city to fund a significant chuck of that, possibly as much as $15 million. With that sort of investment, Madison better be guaranteed some immediate results, particularly in the creation of construction jobs. But Hammes won't even promise to use local workers, and instead may end up trucking in cheap labor from out of state. The fact that the investment might pay off in the future is little comfort to unemployed workers suffering from the recession right now.
This is just the information that has been reported so far. The Hammes Company has been scheduling meetings for months with Cieslewicz, Ald. Bridget Maniaci, District 2, and other city officials, many of which may have been illegal because of a lack of lobby registration. The potential costs associated with the Edgewater renovation are disconcerting, but even more so is the fact that the developers feel such a need to do all of their business in the shadows.
The Edgewater could be something special. The early renderings of the project show that it could be a stately addition to both downtown and the waterfront. However, these covert operations don't exactly make the new Edgewater seem like a good neighbor. If Hammes requests some city aid to get a project of this magnitude off the ground, there are many in Madison who would be more than willing to support some reasonable community investment. It would simply be nice to know exactly what the city will be giving up before we write the check.
