May 30, 2001
By Karl Ebert of the Northwestern
A proposed mixed-use office building in the 100 block of North Main Street is shaken, but not down, following the Oshkosh Common Council's rejection last week of a request to eliminate upper-story apartments from the project.
The council's rejection of the design change, requested after potential tenants balked at the mix of uses, likely will be reversed in two weeks.
The three-week delay, coupled with the recent loss of a key first-floor tenant, leaves big questions unanswered as the developers, Ben Ganther and Richard Neibauer, try to line up tenants in advance of a Sept. 20 deadline for the start of construction.
If the deal falls through, Oshkosh residents likely will spend several years looking at empty space on a key Main Street block, Mayor Jon Dell'Antonia said.
"I'm keeping my fingers crossed, but I think losing one of the key tenants can't be looked at as a positive development," Dell'Antonia said.
While the Sept. 20 deadline is a firm drop-dead date, other "expected" activities leading up to construction are in flux. Requests for bids for site preparation were expected to go out Friday, with sale of the city-owned property scheduled for June 5. Each step was designed to lead to occupancy of the first floor on May 1, 2002.
"That schedule is out the window," Ganther said. "It was driven by one of the prospective tenants, whose lease was up on that date."
It leaves the city with a project that polarized the council last week and left three members willing to pull the plug on the deal - even at the risk of leaving the property empty for several years.
Paul Esslinger, who called the lack of apartments a deal breaker, said it now makes more sense to wait for other downtown redevelopment initiatives to take hold before forging ahead with "the same old office building."
"If we're implementing plans to get the downtown going, I would say let's let some of this take hold and let the 100 block be vacant for a while," Esslinger said. "We've got councilors who are very gung-ho on getting downtown going, and I've supported those efforts, but you can't just slap something down there and make it good."
Still, Esslinger recognizes that a majority of councilors will agree to eliminate the apartment requirement from the agreement with developers.
Councilor Stephen Hintz joined Esslinger, Melanie Bloechl and Shirley Brabender Mattox in voting against the change to preserve an opportunity to reconsider the issue when Dell'Antonia will be present to cast a fourth vote in favor of the revision. William Castle and Mark Harris voted in favor of the change last week. "If I had been there, it would have passed,"
Dell'Antonia said. "You have to take what the market will give you. You can want what you want, but if the tenants aren't willing, there's not a lot you can do."
Ganther, who was criticized by Bloechl and former councilor Kevin McGee for promising more than he could deliver, said the change does not mean apartments are absolutely ruled out. The revised agreement, he said, will give him more flexibility to negotiate deals with tenants in a number of possible scenarios and combinations.
"How in the world could I have looked into a crystal ball and known the resistance I'd get from tenants?" Ganther asked. "The whole difficulty of this is they want a quick, pat deal, but it takes a fair amount of time for these people (tenants) to decide what they're going to do."
KARL EBERT: (920) 426-6688 OR KEBERT@SMGPO.GANNETT.COM