The new Vel R. Phillips Plaza along Wisconsin Avenue in downtown Milwaukee will officially open to the public with an event on Friday. The plaza is located along the south side of Wisconsin Avenue, across the street from the Baird Center.
Construction work on the $15.75 million project at 401 W. Wisconsin Ave. began last summer. Work continued this week with construction crews laying down asphalt, and a brick sidewalk on the west side of the plaza.
A 2,900-square-foot building on the plaza will be occupied by a food and beverage operation that will be operated by
Draft & Vessel owner
Nathan Davauer. Davauer in May was granted his request for
proposal to open a bar-restaurant within the public plaza. Construction on the plaza’s food and beverage retail space will conclude this summer, and Davauer hopes to open doors in fall after interior design work is complete. He’s currently in the process of applying for operating licenses through the city.
The concept is meant for collaboration with other vendors, such as Soup Brothers, which will operate a seasonal pop-up, trading off with ice cream sales in the summer. Davauer’s yet-to-be-named concept will serve beer, burgers and cheese curds. It will be open year-round, operating seven days a week.
Davauer's craft beer bar, Draft & Vessel, has two locations, in Wauwatosa and Shorewood. He also sells beer from an antique Ford truck at the Milwaukee Public Market in the Third Ward and recently opened a beer garden, called Giving Tree Garage, in Walker’s Point.
The Vel R. Phillips project will also give Davauer a chance to dabble in food as his existing ventures mainly focus on beer and other beverages. Cedarburg-based
The Kubala Washatko Architects are heading up the design of the space, according to a food dealer license application filed with the city.
Nearly one year ago, it was
announced that $15.75 million from the Park East Corridor Redevelopment tax increment finance district would be allocated for the construction of the 30,000-square-foot Vel R. Phillips Plaza. The development replaces a surface parking lot with a park, a manicured garden, flex space for a farmers markets and the building meant to serve food and drinks.
Earlier this year, Caravan Hospitality Group was selected as the food and beverage vendor for Vel. R. Phillips Plaza. The group, led by Mike Eitel, operator of Nomad World Pub on Brady Street on Milwaukee’s East Side, planned to open Nomad Coffee Bar in the Vel R. Phillips Plaza building. However those plans were later withdrawn after concerns arose about Eitel’s unpaid lease payments for Barcity Club LLC, which had operated a restaurant at Turner Hall until being evicted due to not making rent payments, according to the board president for Turner Ballroom Preservation Trust Ltd..
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