150-room Hyatt Place hotel proposed near the downtown arena

An Illinois developer, attracted to the downtown Milwaukee market and the allure of the Bucks arena, is proposing a 150-room hotel at The Brewery.

The six-story hotel would be built at 821 W. Winnebago St., west of a roundabout at the entrance to The Brewery. It overlooks the construction sites of the Milwaukee Bucks’ arena, practice facility and parking structure.

It would be the first hotel in the Milwaukee market for developer Janko Group LLC, based in Deerfield, Ill., said managing director Greg Spanos. The hotel would be an upscale Hyatt Place, he said.

“Downtown Milwaukee, and Milwaukee in general, is a pretty stable, attractive market from a hotel standpoint,” he said. “The new arena is certainly a nice driver and very proximate to our site.”

Milwaukee officials will review the hotel proposal in October. Pending approvals, construction could start in spring 2017 and the hotel could open in late spring 2018, Spanos said. Janko Hospitality would manage the hotel, he said.

The building is designed to reference Milwaukee’s building stock, and The Brewery, with a lot of masonry, Spanos said. A terrace and landscaped area, with a hotel bar, would be on the southeast corner of the building looking toward the arena, he said. It would have a dining area for buffets, and about 2,000 square feet of meeting space.

NORR Architects in Chicago, which has experience in Hyatt hotels, designed the building, Spanos said.

Proximity to the arena, entertainment district and the Bucks training facility will set the hotel apart in the downtown market, Spanos said. It could draw families and people visiting on business who may want to catch a game, in addition to the usual corporate and hotel travelers. Beyond people visiting from out of state, “it becomes an interesting staycation location,” he said.

“The location certainly over the last year or two has become very relevant and very compelling to us,” Spanos said.

The project will essentially cap off new building development at The Brewery, the former Pabst Brewing Co. complex that now-deceased Milwaukee developer Joseph Zilber bought 10 years ago.

The other two remaining, unsold sites in The Brewery are spoken for. Indianapolis-based Milhaus Development LLC would buy them for two new apartment buildings with a combined 274 units.

A vacant former Pabst distribution center building just south of Janko’s development site sold in August. It will be renovated into a brewery, and brewpub for Milwaukee Brewing Co., a self-storage facility and office space.

The Milwaukee Plan Commission is scheduled to review the hotel development Oct. 17.

Reported by:  Milwaukee Business Journal