Downtown Hotel Sells For Less Than Half Its Assessed Value

Cambria Hotel. Photo by Jeramey Jannene.

A downtown hotel that opened just before the COVID-19 pandemic has been sold for less than half of its assessed value.

An affiliate of Chicago-based First Hospitality paid $7.1 million for the four-story, 132-room Cambria Hotel, 503 N. Plankinton Ave.

First MKO Owner LLC purchased the property from an affiliate of Atlanta-based Access Point Financial, according to a deed posted June 29 by the Wisconsin Department of Revenue.

The property was most recently assessed by the city at $15.1 million.

First Hospitality has already added the Cambria to its portfolio and is advertising several jobs at the property.

The company manages or operates more than 60 hotels, including the Hilton Garden Inn Milwaukee Downtown, 611 N. Broadway, and Homewood Suites by Hilton Milwaukee Downtown, 500 N. Water St.

Its Wisconsin portfolio also includes The Abbey Resort near Lake Geneva and hotels in Pleasant Prairie and Kenosha.

The Cambria opened in August 2019, only months before the pandemic decimated the travel and hospitality industries. Chicago-based Murphy Development Group developed the hotel, but its ownership affiliate later fell behind on its debt. Access Point filed a $17.5 million foreclosure lawsuit in July 2023.

Milwaukee County Circuit Court Judge Thomas J. McAdams granted Access Point’s foreclosure in November 2023, and Access Point acquired the property at a sheriff’s sale the following month. The transfer was recorded in early 2024.

The hotel has continued operating throughout the ownership changes.

Located between Interstate 794 and The Avenue, the Cambria includes a first-floor bar and restaurant, meeting space, a fitness center and an indoor pool. It is the only Cambria-branded hotel in the Milwaukee area. Cambria is a three-star flag within the Choice Hotels collection of brands.

The Cambria’s financial struggles reflected a broader squeeze on hotel owners that followed the pandemic. A sudden decline in travel was followed by rising interest rates, forcing owners of heavily financed properties to invest additional equity when refinancing their debt or risk foreclosure.

Several other Milwaukee hotels encountered financial problems during that period.

The nearby Hampton Inn & Suites, 176 W. Wisconsin Ave., was transferred to its lender in lieu of foreclosure in 2023 after closing. The Fairfield Inn & Suites, 710 N. Martin Luther King Jr. Dr., was sold through a sheriff’s sale in 2022. The Iron Horse Hotel, 500 W. Florida St., also entered Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in response to a foreclosure lawsuit.

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