Construction is set to begin for two hotel development projects in Wauwatosa.
Developer Ed Walsh recently purchased a 2.9-acre site in the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Innovation Campus, located northeast of U.S. Highway 45 and Watertown Plank Road, from an affiliate of the UWM Real Estate Foundation for $925,000, according to state records.
Walsh plans to build a four-story, 127-room Residence Inn by Marriott hotel on the site. The hotel will be managed by Jacksonville, Ill.-based Hospitality Specialists Inc.
Construction will begin, “as soon as possible,” Walsh said. “We have permit applications pending.”
It will take 12 to 14 months to build the hotel, he said.
A groundbreaking ceremony for the project will be held on Thursday, June 4, said David Gilbert, president of the UWM Real Estate Foundation.
“It’s very good news,” he said.
Meanwhile, a double groundbreaking ceremony will be held on Thursday, May 21, to celebrate the start of construction of a 140-room Homewood Suites hotel and the Bartolotta restaurants planned at the Mayfair Collection development in Wauwatosa. Homewood Suites is a brand of Hilton Hotels.
The Mayfair Collection is the mixed-use development that is being built in stages northeast of Burleigh Street and U.S. Highway 45 in Wauwatosa. Chicago-based HSA Commercial Real Estate is the lead developer for the project. Chicago-based Phoenix Development Partners is developing the hotel and restaurants with a ground lease from HSA.
In addition to a groundbreaking ceremony for the Homewood Suites hotel, another ceremony Thursday will kick off construction for four restaurants planned by Milwaukee-based Bartolotta Restaurants for the Mayfair Collection. A 6,500-square-foot diner called Osgood’s will be built near Highway 45. In addition a 15,000-square-foot building will be built at Mayfair Collection with three Bartolotta restaurants: a gastropub, a casual French bistro and a casual sushi restaurant. Plans for the diner, gastropub and French bistro were announced previously.
The three restaurants in the 15,000-square-foot building will be separate and distinct from the customer point of view, but they will share back of the house operations, including the kitchen, said Tim Blum, executive vice president of HSA.
The first phase of the Mayfair Collection opened last year and includes Nordstrom Rack and Sak’s Fifth Avenue OFF 5TH stores. The second phase is under construction and will include a Whole Foods store.
