COAST IS CLEAR FOR RESTAURANT TO REOPEN

Thwarted in Attempt to Privatize a Public Space,
Operator to Reopen as Walk-In Restaurant
"Bring Your Mom," Says Message
Staff Gets Reserved Indoor Parking for just $2.50 per Day

Special to the Readers of Milwaukeeworld.com

By Michael Horne

And The Milwaukee World Hound Dog Team [Catering and Special Events Division]

Back in December 2008 the Milwaukee World Hound Dog Team expressed some concern when Coast - A Zilli Restaurant, 931 E. Wisconsin Ave., announced it would close to the public to become a private "reservation only" party facility to be known as Zilli Lake and Gardens.

It didn't strike us as likely that the operators of a publicly owned and financed lakefront restaurant could convert it to private use under the terms of its lease with the county.
Guess we were right.

On January 27th, 2009, the Milwaukee County Board Committee on Parks, Energy and the Environment heard the request to make the necessary lease changes.
At the time, "the restaurant is closed and is in violation of its lease," according to the meeting's minutes.
Operator James Zilli of Zilli Hospitality Group (d/b/a Grandview Management, Inc. and Ellen's Prestige Catering) spoke after parks director Sue Black made a presentation favoring privatization. He said the location "isn't viable as a regular restaurant open to the public."
The committee referred the matter to Corporation Counsel William J. Domina [U Wisconsin '85] and the Department of Audit, while Black made a statement lamenting the delay.
The Corporation Counsel ruled the change to a private venue would require County Board approval.
Zilli then submitted an amended proposal on January 28th, 2009 that could be implemented administratively by Black, according to the Corporation Counsel. The new plan calls for a hybrid approach in which:

• the restaurant would be open on six holidays per year;
  
• would be open for walk-in business for dinner Tuesday through Friday;
  
• and would be available at other times for reserved, private events.

The restaurant would also donate space for community groups 20 times throughout the year.

On February 3rd, 2009, Douglas C. Jenkins, the Deputy Director of Audits for the county issued an Inter-office memorandum [link above] saying:

"...if the year-round Tuesday through Friday evening service contained in the modified proposal submitted by the Zilli Hospitality Group entails traditional restaurant hours, it appears to represent continuation of a fairly extensive walk-in restaurant operation. This is a significant departure from its original proposal."

The unstated "departure" being, of course, retained public access to the taxpayer-owned facility.

Well, what do you know? A message on the answering machine of Coast today, Monday, the Quatro de Mayo, 2009, tells us the staff is excited about reopening the restaurant, and invites us to make a reservation to take Mom there for her Big Day on Sunday.
Leaving aside the point that only rookies go out on Mother's Day, when the typical restaurant is filled with people who have never dined in one before, it seems like the Miller Pavilion will once again belong to the people.

FUN FACTS
Deputy Auditor Jenkins tells us the Zilli Group will pay to remove a small private dining room at the restaurant and will replace it with a "semi-permanent wood dance floor." They will also get rid of a curved wall.

• The revived restaurant will also benefit from "fresh paint, re-staining of all doors, and lighting effects that mimic water movement and natural blue uplighting." [Didn't they already try that at Aqua?--Ed.]

• The base rent for the restaurant is about $1,000 per week.

• The County gets a "profit sharing rent" of 1.5% gross sales above $2.5 million. That threshhold has never been met.

• The restaurant gets 29 spaces (four reserved) in the parking structure beneath it for employee parking at a flat rate of $2.50 per day. Who says the county doesn't subsidize automobiles and driving? Scott Walker sure forgets about the taxpayer whenever one of his buddies has a chance to make a buck!

--Michael Horne

TROUBLED HISTORY
The Miller Brewing Company Pavilion, atop a 1,250-car parking garage at O'Donnell Park was built in 1992, and sat empty for three years as the county sought a "suitable tenant" to operate the place.
They built it, and they did not come.
Finally, a lease was signed in September, 1995 for the Pavilion Restaurant. In November, a liquor license application was withdrawn when police objected to the criminal record of the manager. The restaurant closed in December, 1999.
It was then operated under contract as Nola's on the Lake, bringing an unnecessary bit of New Orleans to the lakefront.
In 2002 the lease was reassigned to Zilli, and Coast was born.
--Michael Horne