11-Story East Side Hotel Approved

Brady Street Hotel proposal. Rendering by Kahler Slater.

The Milwaukee Common Council unanimously approved a zoning change Tuesday to enable the development of an 11-story, 130-room hotel on Milwaukee’s Lower East Side.

“It’s a wonderful addition in one of Milwaukee’s most exciting neighborhoods,” said area Alderman Jonathan Brostoff after the vote.

The new hotel, a brand for which has yet to be announced, would include a first-floor restaurant and a top-floor event space.

The glassy, triangular hotel would be developed on an 18,179-square-foot lot at the intersection of E. Brady St., N. Cambridge Ave. and N. Farwell Ave.

It would be the only hotel located between Downtown to the south and suburban Glendale to the north. A hotel brand has yet to be announced, but the development team previously said it would be a “lifestyle” brand similar to the Kimpton Journeyman Hotel in the Historic Third Ward.

Klein Development, led by Michael Klein, is partnering with frequent collaborator and Brady Street business owner Jeno Cataldo on the development, which would replace a two-story retail center from 1987 and long associated with former anchor tenant FedEx.

Mayor Cavalier Johnson still needs to sign the zoning change, but the Department of City Development supports the proposal. At a hearing last week, city planning manager Sam Leichtling said the new hotel would add to the area’s vibrancy and boost daytime business traffic and called it a “tremendous new investment that would be a signature asset to this area of the East Side.”

Brostoff has also spoken of its potential to boost daytime vibrancy in the area and indirectly improve public safety.

A final parking plan remains to be worked out.

“There will be some more opportunities for neighborhood input,” said the alderman Tuesday.

At the highest level, the decision has been made. The zoning change requires the development team to provide at least 59 off-site spaces and 11 short-term, on-site spaces.

But the ultimate form of that off-street parking is still a source of debate. Last week, the development team said it is still considering four options for a property across the street, 1744-1750 N. Farwell Ave. The options would provide between 90 and 219 parking spaces.

Klein said the firm would buy the site, currently owned by Saint John’s on the Lake, and provide space for 30 to 40 employees of the senior living community.

The four options include an apartment complex atop a parking deck, a large first-floor commercial space hiding a structure above, a two-story parking structure and a temporary surface lot for 90 cars on the 22,600-square-foot lot. Brostoff and DCD are pushing for additional development at the site and favor a temporary surface lot solution.

Saint John’s, which demolished an office building on the site in recent years, was blocked from receiving a zoning variance to use the site only as a surface parking lot.

For more on the proposal, see our coverage from last week.

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