After the City of Milwaukee’s only respondent to operate a food and beverage operation at the new Vel R. Phillips Plaza withdrew its proposal earlier this month, the city has issued a new request for proposals with hopes the space can be operational this summer.
The Vel R. Phillips Plaza is a public plaza currently under construction at the southwest corner of Wisconsin and Vel R. Phillips avenues in the Westown neighborhood in downtown Milwaukee.
Part of the plans for the plaza, which will replace a portion of a parking lot, include a 2,900-square-foot retail space that the city envisions being used as a food and beverage establishment.
The plaza, at 401 W. Wisconsin Ave., will also include a garden, space to host farmers markets, food trucks and other events, an informational kiosk, public art, and a station for Milwaukee County’s Connect 1 East-West Bus Rapid Transit.
The plaza is being financed with $15 million from a tax incremental financing district in the Park East area. That neighborhood’s new commercial developments generate property tax revenue that pays for other downtown improvements.
It’s just south of the expanding Baird Center and just west of Fiserv’s new headquarters and the new Kohl’s department store.
Nomad Coffee Bar withdrew proposal
The city had issued an RFP and received no responses. The Department of City Development (DCD) was then contacted by Caravan Hospitality Group — led by Mike Eitel — to operate a Nomad Coffee Bar, serving coffee in the morning and food and other beverages in the afternoons and evenings.
Eitel’s other businesses include Nomad World Pub, 1401 E. Brady St.; SportClub, 750 N. Jefferson St.; and Barrel Burrito Co. and Experts Only Apres Bar, both 782 N. Jefferson St.
However, Caravan withdrew its proposal earlier this month after discussions at City Hall about Eitel’s unpaid lease payments.
The city’s Zoning, Neighborhoods and Development Committee was set to recommend approval for the plaza lease at its Jan. 30 meeting, but delayed action after learning Turner Ballroom Preservation Trust Ltd., which owns Turner Hall, 1034 N. Phillips Ave., has a $95,734 court judgment pending against Eitel’s Barcity Club LLC, which operated a restaurant there.
Eitel’s group stopped paying rent in October 2019 and was evicted from Turner Hall, Art Heitzer, trust board president, told the committee.
The zoning committee was to meet again on Feb. 5 to review a revised lease with a personal guaranty, but that meeting was canceled when Eitel dropped his coffee bar plans, according to a city spokesperson.
City issues new RFP
Now, DCD has issued its second request for proposals for the space, seeking responses by March 20. The building is expected to be completed early this summer as the plaza opens early this summer, just before the Republican National Convention.
The city is hoping for an operator to be operational by this summer, but will be flexible with the opening date, primarily looking for the space to be open before the end of this year, the RFP says.
According to the RFP, the ideal operator would be open seven days a week and offer “uniquely Milwaukee” food and beverage service.
The future operator could receive up to $750,000 in city funding for tenant improvement projects.
