» Hotel purchase:
Country Springs sold for $14.5 million
Waukesha’s Country Springs Hotel, which includes a waterpark and conference center, is sold to a Minneapolis-area firm that plans to renovate it.
Waukesha’s Country Springs Hotel, which includes a waterpark and conference center, has been sold to a Minneapolis-area firm that plans to renovate the lagging business.
The 187-room hotel, 2810 Golf Road, was sold to Waukesha Hospitality LLC for $14.5 million, according to state real estate records posted Friday. Waukesha Hospitality is an affiliate of Burwell Enterprises Inc., based in Bloomington, Minn.
The Country Springs features a 45,000-square-foot waterpark and more than 40,000 square feet of banquet and meeting room space, according to its website.
The hotel was sold by CIP Equity LLC, a group led by Milwaukee hotel developers Mark Flaherty and Ed Carow. They couldn’t be immediately reached for comment about their decision to sell the hotel.
The Country Springs has been underperforming for years and hasn’t had the necessary level of investment to keep it fresh, said Stephen Zanoni, Burwell Enterprises chief operating officer.
“We think there’s a lot of opportunity to really revitalize the property,” Zanoni said.
Burwell plans to renovate the guest rooms, he said, including adding new carpeting and wall finishes and, in some cases, expanding bathrooms.
Also, the conference room will get digital projectors, better wireless service and other upgrades.
“That meeting space is definitely going to be a big target for us,” Zanoni said.
The hotel also might undergo a name change to reflect a more contemporary design, he said. Burwell has hired The Gettys Group, a Chicago-based firm, to create a new look.
But the waterpark will remain open, Zanoni said. He said the waterpark has been operated well and helps generate weekend business.
The waterpark was added more than a decade ago by Flaherty and Carow. Their businesses included Wave Development LLC, a now-defunct firm that bought hotels and added waterparks.
The firm in 2004 bought what was then known as the Country Inn Hotel and in 2005 reopened it as the Country Springs Hotel. Wave bought the Country Inn from longtime owner Dick Richards, who in 1983 bought the failed property, then known as Steeplechase Inn, out of receivership.
Other hotels redeveloped by Wave, including one in suburban Chicago, closed in the wake of the 2008 recession and other problems.
Flaherty and Carow later formed Jackson Street Holdings LLC, which has since developed three downtown Milwaukee hotels: the Aloft, the Marriott and SpringHill Suites. That group is developing a 220-room Westin Hotel, which is to open at 550 N. Van Buren St. in June.
Jackson Street Holdings also is competing with Marcus Hotels & Resorts Inc. in their rival development plans for a cityowned parking lot at W. Wisconsin Ave. and N. 4th St., near the Wisconsin Center convention facility.