Muskego officials try to attract hotel development

City of Muskego officials are trying to attract a hotel development to the Moorland Road corridor.
The city in the southeast corner of Waukesha County has about 23,000 residents, but no hotels.
City officials hired New Berlin-based Hospitality Marketers International Inc. to do a hotel market study for Muskego. The study examined the viability of developing an 80-room, mid-priced, limited-service hotel along Moorland Road in Muskego.
The city’s population, its businesses, its proximity to I-43 and its current lack of hotels make it viable place for a new hotel said Hospitality Marketers president Greg Hanis.
“It’s a really good market I think for hotels,” he said. “We thought the market was good and the timing favorable with the economic development that is occurring in Muskego.”
Currently, when residents or businesses in Muskego have visitors that need to stay in a hotel they have to find lodging in another community, said community development director Jeff Muenkel.
City officials have sent information about Muskego, including the hotel market studies, to hotel developers, investors and franchisees. Some have expressed initial interest in developing a hotel in the community, Muenkel said, although no specific plans have been submitted.
“We’re talking to a few individuals who are looking further into what our market study had to say,” he said.
Hotel industry representatives told city officials that the most logical area in Muskego to develop a hotel would be along Moorland Road, just south of College Avenue, near the site of a Wal-Mart Supercenter store that is under construction.
The closest hotels to that area are the Holiday Inn Express and Suites and La Quinta Inn and Suites near I-43 and Moorland Road in New Berlin.
Moorland Road was recently expanded to four lanes in Muskego, and future plans call for widening the road to four lanes in New Berlin up to I-43. Muskego officials hope to attract more retail development along Moorland Road. In addition to the Wal-Mart store under construction, Muskego has a Kohl’s store northeast of Moorland Road and Janesville Road.
Hotel developers look for sites in retail corridors, Muenkel.
Developers interested in building a hotel in Muskego can call Muenkel at (262) 679-4136.