The Trade Hotel Plans Rooftop Restaurant
Il Cervo, upscale Italian restaurant and bar on 9th floor, will overlook NBA arena and downtown skyline.
Caitlin Suemnicht announces restaurant concept at the site of The Trade hotel. Photo taken Sept. 26, 2022 by Sophie Bolich.
The Trade hotel took pizza delivery to new heights Monday, hoisting a 4,500-pound pizza oven to its place in what will become a rooftop restaurant and bar.
Representatives of North Central Group (NCG) hospitality, Food Fight Restaurant Group and Milwaukee Bucks Ventures and Development gathered Monday morning to observe the placement of the oven and announce the restaurant concept for the space, which will have a rooftop deck overlooking the NBA arena and downtown skyline.
Il Cervo, an Italian-focused restaurant by the Madison-based Food Fight group, is planned for the ninth-floor space. The restaurant’s name means “the deer” in Italian — fitting for its location atop a hotel rising over Fiserv Forum and the Deer District.
The concept would serve an upscale Italian menu featuring featuring fresh cheese, handmade pastas, dry-aged steaks and butter-poached lobster, said Caitlin Suemnicht, CEO of Food Fight.
On the bar side, Il Cervo would serve an Italian-focused wine list, craft cocktails and beers that “celebrate the rich brewing history of Milwaukee,” Suemnicht added.
As for the pizza oven, it’s destined to pump out hand-stretched sourdough pizzas — each taking just minutes to cook in the oven’s blazing heat.
“Whether you’re looking for a pizza and a cocktail before a Bucks game or a multi-course, fine-dining experience, you’ll feel at home Il Cervo,” Suemnicht said.
Another restaurant is planned on the hotel’s first floor, but the operators have not yet been announced.
The Trade is located at 420 W. Juneau Ave., directly north of Fiserv Forum on land that was once underneath the Park East Freeway. J.H. Findorff & Son is leading the project’s general contracting. Gary Brink & Associates is serving as the project architect.
Middleton-based North Central Group (NCG) is developing the 207-room, high-end hotel on land the Milwaukee Bucks acquired from Milwaukee County for $1 as part of the arena’s subsidy agreement, as Urban Milwaukee previously reported. The Marriott Autograph Collection-branded hotel is expected to open in March, 2023.
Aside from the two restaurants, The Trade will have a large, second-floor ballroom and an approximately 2,000-square-foot, multi-level presidential suite.
The hotel will occupy only the portion of the block closest to the arena. The northern half, according to master plan documents, could eventually house an office building with a parking structure built between the two buildings, Urban Milwaukee previously reported.
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