Has the waterfront project run aground

The Supple Group has issued a press release to the Oshkosh Common Council that reads as follows:

“The Supple Group will be removing itself from the downtown Oshkosh Fox River Development. The Supple Group was originally solicited by Akcess Acquisition Group to operate both the future hotel and restaurant as part of the overall development project. The Supples have worked closely with Akcess researching complementary hotel and restaurant brands for the waterfront. Although the Supples were successful in attracting a number of viable hotel brands and developed a restaurant concept for the site, the group has amicably decided to part ways on the project. Both Akcess and the Supple Group continue to be positive about the future of the entire waterfront development and continue to be passionate towards growth in Oshkosh. Jay Supple stated, ‘As Oshkosh business owners and residents, our family will always be committed to the City of Oshkosh. Our corporate headquarters are here, and this is where we live and raise our children. We are proud of everything we have built in this city and will continue to support and be active in developing Oshkosh.’”

With the continued problems associated with the proposed Akcess project, Supple’s pull-out is not necessarily a surprise, but the timing is a little curious. It was, after all, only last week (July 15) that the Oshkosh Plan Commission approved several changes to the site plan for the waterfront development. Those changes will be cosidered tomorrow night by the Common Council. At the plan commission meeting Jay Supple told the commissioners he saw the entire project as a chance to kick-start extensive riverfront redevelopment in the city. And just one week earlier the Oshkosh Common Council amended the city’s development agreement with Akcess and gave the developers six months to get their project off the ground. And at the end of June, Supple, to his credit, said “This has been in the public so long that if we really don't get this thing off the ground within the next couple months, I'll be honest with you … we need to move on too and let somebody else move in.”

The Oshkosh Northwestern has this story online this evening.

No one can fault Supple for pulling out. Perhaps they saw the handwriting on the wall and figured "Why wait for another couple months to pass by?" Perhaps something else transpired. Who knows? Nor can anyone fault Tim Rikkers and the Akcess Acquisition Group: They expressed interest in our riverfront and were willing to put themselves out there – which is more than can be said for the formerly proposed Five Rivers project. One thing I think many people felt was that we were being strung along as to interested tenants for the office complex. Perhaps the developers still could and should pursue a project on some level - they say they will - but maybe they should just do the hotel and restaurant/bar project; not an office complex. Maybe someone else will come up with something if Ackess fails in their efforts. Perhaps we need something else altogether, apart from a hotel and restaurant/bar. Maybe a true combined-use down there, complete with a family entertainment complex of sorts, is the best bet. And depending on what happens next, perhaps we'll soon be at a point where our new city manager, Mark Rohloff, can be involved with the riverfront development project from the beginning.

Bottom line: We can wonder “What happened?” and “What if…?,” but a more appropriate, certainly more pressing question at this juncture is “What now?”