A newly released study recommending a large convention headquarters hotel in downtown Milwaukee drew immediate skepticism from hotel executives and several elected officials Friday.

The Wisconsin Center District-commissioned report, prepared by Chicago-based Hunden Partners and released Thursday, concluded that Milwaukee is losing convention business because it lacks a large, modern hotel within walking distance of the Baird Center. The study identifies the Miller High Life Theatre site at 500 W. Kilbourn Ave. as the most viable location for a new hotel, which it recommends have more than 650 rooms.

At a Friday meeting of the WCD board, chair Jim Kanter announced the formation of a special board committee to conduct a more comprehensive review of the study before the district’s May meeting.

The committee will be chaired by Milwaukee County Comptroller Liz Sumner and include Grady Crosby of Northwestern Mutual, Milwaukee Education Partnership executive director and Republican Party official Gerard Randall, Milwaukee Ald. Bob Bauman and Wauwatosa Mayor Dennis McBride.

“In the interest of transparency, the district commissioned this independent third party to provide an objective analysis and establish a factual foundation for future consideration,” Kanter said. “There was no predetermined outcome, and the findings speak for themselves.”

Multiple WCD board members, however, criticized the study after the meeting.

Greg Marcus, CEO of Marcus Corp., which owns three downtown Milwaukee hotels, said the study “raised more questions than it answered.”

“You tell me how our community supports another hotel when we’re running 60% occupancy,” Marcus said.

Downtown Milwaukee hotels averaged 62% occupancy in 2025, according to CoStar, still well below the roughly 70% levels seen before the pandemic.

Marcus said the $456 million expansion of the Baird Center was intended to improve operational efficiency — allowing events to load in and out simultaneously — not to dramatically increase convention size or spur immediate demand for another large hotel.

“The way the convention center was designed was to run the same size conventions, but allow them to go back-to-back,” Marcus said. “That allowed you to more efficiently use your hotel stock.”

He also questioned comparisons in the study to cities such as Indianapolis and Nashville, noting that Milwaukee’s airline service lags far behind those markets. Additionally, Marcus said the report does not address the economic impact of demolishing the Miller High Life Theatre, which he called a demand driver for existing hotels.

“I was told we were doing a highest and best use study of the two buildings (the Miller High Life Theatre and the UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena), not a hotel development pitch,” Marcus said. “I was pretty surprised by what we received. Not surprised at the idea that at some point we need more hotel stock, but just the, ‘Hey, everybody else has a hotel like this. You should too.’ Well, but everybody else has a lot more air service than we have, and nobody else is this close to Chicago.”

Marcus also pointed out that the report did not include an estimate for how much the recommended hotel project would cost. He estimated it could cost upwards of $500 million, which would not be feasible without a public subsidy.

Bauman, a Milwaukee alderman, whose district includes downtown Milwaukee, and a WCD board member, called the hotel development recommendation and the possibility of such a large public subsidy to build it “dead on arrival.”

Bauman said if WCD and the city were to pursue a convention headquarters hotel, the vacant city-owned site at Wisconsin Avenue and Vel R. Phillips Avenue would be more feasible. That site was also analyzed by Hunden, but was ranked third by Hunden.

On Friday morning, Gary Witt, CEO of Pabst Theater Group, sent a formal letter of dissent to the WCD board, saying the Hunden study is a failure and was designed to justify a predetermined outcome. Pabst Theater Group serves as the exclusive booker, marketer and operator of the Miller High Life Theatre, which is owned by WCD.

In December, the Common Council designated the theater as a historic building, a move requested by Bauman. Local historic designation does not prohibit demolition, but would require city approval to do so.