San Francisco-based Kimpton Hotels & Restaurants said Monday it will enter the Milwaukee market with the management of a new upscale hotel on the northeast corner of E. Chicago St. and N. Broadway in the city's historic Third Ward.
The 158-room boutique hotel would feature an eight-story building housing a restaurant on the ground floor, plus a rooftop bar, fitness center and expansive meeting space. The hotel is scheduled to open in 2015.
The hotel is being designed by Kahler Slater Architects and being developed by HKS Holdings LLC. The project will be owned by Chicago Street Holdings LLC.
The development site is now a parking lot. According to city assessment records, it was sold last year to investment group Term-Broadway LLC, which lists Milwaukee attorney and real estate investor Thomas DeMuth as its registered agent.
HKS is led by Tyler Hawley and Kyle Strigenz. Their other developments include Dwell, a 70-unit upscale apartment building that opened last year in Bay View, at 2440 S. Kinnickinnic Ave., and the current conversion of the former JH Collectibles clothing factory into the 50-unit Junior House Lofts apartments, at 710 S. 3rd St., in Walker's Point.
The Kimpton would be the latest in a series of new hotels in downtown Milwaukee. An increase in business travel has been the main driver of those projects.
A 128-room Hilton Garden Inn opened last fall at the northwest corner of N. Broadway and E. Michigan St.
The 90-room Brew House Inn & Suites is to open in May at the former Pabst brewery complex, while the 200-room Marriott is opening this fall near the southwest corner of E. Wisconsin Ave. and N. Milwaukee St.
Both the Brew House Inn and the Marriott are being largely financed by foreign investors through the EB-5 program.
That program allows foreign citizens to obtain U.S. residency visas by investing in job-creating projects. The two-year visa can be converted into a green card, which provides permanent U.S. residency privileges for the investor, the investor's spouse and children. Opponents of the program say it distorts the market by providing the green cards as an investment incentive.
There are now 3,902 hotel rooms within one mile of the Delta Center convention facility, says Visit Milwaukee, the city's convention marketer.
(c)2013 the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Visit the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel at www.jsonline.com
Distributed by MCT Information Services
