The Milwaukee County Research Park Corp. has terminated its agreement with VJS Development Group for a project to build a hotel, brew pub and retail development at Milwaukee County Research Park in Wauwatosa.
Guy Mascari, executive director of Milwaukee County Research Park, said the contract was terminated last week after VJS failed to secure additional parking from Milwaukee County, which was part of the contract.
Jim Sedgwick, vice president of VJS Development Group, said the original proposal included sharing a 76-space parking lot with the the Milwaukee County Children’s Court Division, which is located at 10201 Watertown Plank Road.
When it became clear the county was not interested in doing that, the pieces of the project began falling apart, Sedgwick said.
“We were not able to get traction with the hotel groups we were reaching out to, or the retailers we were talking to, and we were up against our due diligence period,” Sedgewick said. “We didn’t feel comfortable moving forward, so we sent a letter of termination last Friday.”
VJS was one of three respondents to a request for proposal the research park issued in September 2015, for development of the two parcels located at the southeast corner of Innovation Drive and Watertown Plank Road.
The RFP had a list price of $3.3 million for the land. VJS paid $2.6 million for the parcels.
On June 14, the board will vote on a new developer for the project. Mascari said a new RFP was not issued.
“I contacted people and there is interest,” Mascari said.
VJS was proposing a multi-use project that would include a brew pub in the existing 102-year-old, 8,190-square foot building, commonly known as the M-10 building, and a national brand hotel and up to 11,000 square feet of retail in a newly-constructed building.
