It’s ‘The Trade Milwaukee’ Hotel

The Milwaukee Bucks and hotel developer North Central Group announced that the 205-room Marriott Autograph Collection hotel under development across from Fiserv Forum will be known as “The Trade Milwaukee.”

The name builds on what Middleton-based North Central has teased for months: a brand that honors “the calloused hands that built Milwaukee” and the city’s history as a fur trading post.

In a video shown to attendees at a Wednesday morning press conference, high-energy music was played over images of people building the city while clips of Giannis Antetokounmpo dunking were interspersed.

North Central vice president Andy Inman said his grandfather delivered ice in Milwaukee and his father built the Hoan Bridge. “For us real estate is our trade and hospitality is our craft,” he said.

A groundbreaking for the nine-story hotel is planned for fall, with an early 2023 opening.

“This is simple,” said Bucks president Peter Feigin. “This is about the vision of how we create a place where people live, work, play, stay and have fun.”

The hotel will be located on a currently vacant lot at 420 W. Juneau Ave. The site is one of many blocks made available by the demolition of the Park East Freeway. Mayor Tom Barrett noted that the freeway formerly divided the area, and the hotel is one of many planned projects that will reconnect the Haymarket neighborhood to the north with the Bucks’ Deer District development and Downtown.

“The mayor and I have one thing in common, we both love cranes, and not the birds,” said Feigin. The team is also actively pursuing development of an office building and apartment complex on the parcels it acquired for $1. It previously developed a parking structure in partnership with the city and an apartment building with Royal Capital Group.

The Common Council approved the design plans for the hotel on Tuesday. Gary Brink & Associates is leading the design on the project.

The hotel would include restaurants on the first and ninth floors as well as first-floor commercial space and an 8,700-square-foot event and meeting space on the second floor with outdoor terrace. Select guest rooms would have balconies.

The press conference to announce the name was held in the former Good City Brewing event space on the second floor of one of the Deer District buildings. The team has recently assumed control of that space, rebranding it Gather, while the brewery, bar and restaurant below continues to operate.

For more on the proposed hotel, including a floor targeted at basketball teams, see our coverage from March 29th of the proposal’s review before the City Plan Commission.

Property tax revenue from the hotel will go to pay back tax incremental financing debt associated with the stadium project, including debt associated with the parking garage and plaza.

Hotel Renderings

Site Photos and 2020 Hotel Announcement Press Conference

Deer District Master Plan Conceptual Renderings