High court won’t hear Madison’s Edgewater Hotel lawsuit

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A lawsuit from two Madison residents contesting the merits of a controversial downtown hotel expansion project will not be heard by the state Supreme Court.

The court officially denied a petition request to consider the case from Fred Mohs and Gene Devitt on Thursday, effectively ending the residents’ fight against the city of Madison to block the Edgewater Hotel redevelopment.

The lawsuit, which also named Landmark X, the Edgewater development team lead by Brookfield-based Hammes Co. President Bob Dunn, argued that Madison’s Common Council defied the city’s landmarks ordinance by approving the proposed $98 million hotel project in spring 2010. Mohs and Devitt lost their cases at the circuit and appellate court levels as well.

But Alderman Mark Clear said the Mohs and Devitt got what they wanted out of the case as the lawsuit stalled the project long enough for a new mayor, Paul Soglin, to come into leadership in the city and oppose the previously approved $16 million subsidy of the project.

Soglin, last fall, successfully sought a cut from the $16 million tax-incremental finance contribution to $3.3 million this year, which Dunn has said would kill the project.

“I think that everybody, including Fred, knew that he didn’t have a case and that this was a delay tactic,” Clear said. “The good news is that if Dunn can get financing he can start work tomorrow. Obviously the financing is a bigger challenge because there’s less funding available in the TIF, but never say never with Bob.”