Surprising Stuff
Who will make the cut?
City officials have reviewed the Riviera first floor tenant list. The Riviera is under huge well-funded renovation and upgrades galore are being built in. The Lake Geneva city council members and committee attendees shared thoughts on the feel and look Lake Geneva wants to portray to the residential and visiting public. The types of businesses and tenants that have currently held leases in the iconic Lake Geneva Riviera have had a decidedly mixed reputation when it has come to affecting and contributing to that reputation.
Is Lake Geneva ready to continue to support a children’s ‘tattoo’ parlor that displays nearly nude models on its outside posters, as it has over the past few years? Is that the image the public might find acceptable when visitors begin their walk through the facility on the way to making trips out on the Gage Marine boats? Then there is the issue of the current floor plan that accommodates commercial leases for eight tenants, but the remodel only has six commercial spaces. The new floor plan will be fresh and new with much more natural light creating a very inviting feel and the plan is to have the types of businesses to have the same feel.
The idea of picking and choosing what (and whom) should go back into the Riviera started at the Riviera Ad Hoc Committee and has been discussed at most other city meetings. Tuesday, December 1st, the Finance, Licensing, and Regulation Committee met in closed session to discuss the possible changes.
Why closed session? That’s exactly what Alderperson Fesenmaier asked and just like that the closed session opened and the issue was continued at a special FLR meeting as an open agenda item on Monday night. The tenants will all need to reapply for a rental space, but this does not mean they all will, even though the rates will remain the same. Forty-Three dollars a square foot per month will be the continuing rate of rent, however, some other rules will change. The Riviera complex will remain open from 8 a.m. in the morning until 10:30 p.m. in the evening. There will also be new directives on what may be displayed in the way of outside advertising on windows and walls. There was no selection made about which tenants will be allowed to return, or what will be used as a guide to judge whom among the applicants (assuming there are enough applicants) will be chosen.
Place of the Week
Mill Creek Hotel located on Center St. is a great place to stay on your visit to Lake Geneva. They offer a variety of suites with a beautiful view of the lake.
