See the Cambria Climb

In just a few months, the site of the planned Cambria Hotel at the northwest corner of W. Clybourn St. and N. Plankinton Ave. has gone from surface parking lot to a large wooden structure.

Plans for the hotel on file with the city show 132 rooms spread across all four floors, with 77 King units, 50 Double Queen units and four suites. A first-floor pool and fitness center are depicted as well as a “coffee house pub” and meeting room. The pub, however, appears to be oriented primarily towards hotel guests, with no door planned directly to the street.

And now, true to plans, many of those future uses are clearly visible in the building’s frame.

The hotel will be the first non-parking structure to rise from the block bounded by W. Clybourn St., N. 2nd St., W. Michigan St. and N. Plankinton Ave. in decades. The only structure on the block is the former Gimbels parking garage, with the rest of the block used for surface parking.

The L-shaped building will include an interior courtyard with stamped concrete and a five-foot-tall fence. The 56-foot-tall building is proposed in documents to have a size of 80,708 square feet.

The permit indicates the building’s construction has an estimated cost of $15.4 million. The site was acquired for $3 million in 2016.

The architect of record on the project is Stan Ramaker of the Fond du Lac-based M+A Design. Consolidated Construction Company is listed as the project’s general contractor.

The hotel is one of many being built across downtown. The Hyatt Place at The Brewery opened this summer in the northwest corner of Downtown. A Drury Plaza Hotel will open next year in the former First Financial Centre in East Town. Ascendant Holdings is planning to convert the Masonic Center into a hotel with a tower emerging from the rear of the historic building. A dual-brand hotel proposed by JR Hospitality would include the Hilton hotels Home2 Suites and Tru. This hotel complex would be located at the northeast corner of E. Michigan and N. Jefferson street. JR Hospitality is planning a second hotel, a Holiday Inn Express, adjacent to the dual-brand complex. And a Westin Hotel opened last summer near the US Bank Center office tower.

The Cambria hotel will be Choice Hotels only Downtown property and the only Cambria in the Milwaukee area. The hotel chain operates a number of hotels near Milwaukee’s airport, including a Sleep Inn & Suites, Comfort Suites, Mainstay Suites and Rodeway Inn & Suites.

The company currently franchises over 6,800 hotels in 35 countries and territories.

The hotel is scheduled to open in 2019.

Photos

October Photos

Building Floor Plans

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