Discussions were heated at Wednesday night's Urban Design Commission meeting concerning the Edgewater Hotel redevelopment, even though there was not a decision made concerning initial approval of the plans.
New designs, including a shift of the guest room floors in the hotel tower and the construction of an underground parking structure, were major changes brought to the meeting by Hammes Co., the Edgewater developers.
Out of all the new suggestions made by Hammes Co., the idea of a covered parking structure brought the most positive feedback by the committee as well as the public present at the meeting.
According Ken Saiki, an architect on the project, the new parking structure would decrease traffic around the Edgewater. The parking structure would be located between the Edgewater Hotel and National Guardian Life Insurance Co. building.
The parking structure would have approximately 365 spaces in comparison to the current 235 spaces. Ald. Marsha Rummel, District 6, liked the idea of an underground parking structure, and other members of the commission also had positive feedback for this addition to the design.
Rummel said she felt moving the tower 15 feet further from the shoreline is another positive step in the design plans.
However Hammes Co. President Robert Dunn voiced his concern that the commission has yet to make an initial approval of the Edgewater Hotel plans.
""Frankly, we are at a point where we need to get some positive feedback,"" he said. ""We need some guidance or direction to complete the design.""
Dunn said his team's responsiveness to the issues brought forth by the public and the committee and has made appropriate changes to the design.
Ald. Bridget Maniaci, District 2, said she also feels the project needs to keep moving toward initial approval. She said there is no need for these types of discussions to go on for another month.
