A ‘slow return’ to business travel expected Boutique hotel plans revived
Contractors start work at stalled Kinn MKE project
Plans for a boutique hotel in downtown Milwaukee have been revived — with the operator anticipating a travel industry rebound from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Just over a year ago, Charles Bailey planned to open his 32-room Kinn MKE Guesthouse by fall 2020 at 600 N. Broadway.
But that was before the pandemic struck in March — bringing a plunge in business and leisure travel.
However, with COVID-19 beginning to recede as more people are vaccinated, the project is moving forward.
A contractor started removing asbestos this month from the historic fourstory office building, according to city Department of Neighborhood Services records.
Also, Bailey this month applied for several building permits, including one that allows adding a fifth floor.
He plans to have Kinn MKE Guesthouse open by December — and hopes to include a New Year’s Eve party among its first events.
Bailey also is looking forward to other developments opening nearby, including the recently revived plans for Central
Standard Craft Distillery’s tasting room and events venue at 320 E. Clybourn St.
“There’s a lot of exciting things happening in that area,” Bailey told the Journal Sentinel Friday.
The Historic Preservation Commission in 2019 approved the Kinn plans after opposing an initial proposal to develop a 62-room hotel with five additional floors.
Bailey is using state and federal historic preservation tax credits to help finance the project. Madison-based Reach Business Lenders LLC is helping finance the project, with Vetter Architects serving as architect and Pepper Construction Co. as general contractor.
The hotel will feature a first-floor restaurant, a shared guest kitchen and conference/dining room on each of its floors, and a rooftop deck that also serves as an events venue.
The idea is to create a shared community among guests — a hallmark of Bailey’s eight-room Kinn Guesthouse, at 2535 S. Kinnickinnic Ave., in Bay View.
The downtown Kinn news comes even as the hotel industry continues to struggle with a big decline in revenue.
That includes Milwaukee-based
Marcus Corp.’s hotels and resorts division.
It posted revenue of $82.2 million for the first nine months of 2020 — compared to $199.6 million from the yearearlier period.
However, the industry is expecting an upward turn this year.
“Leisure travel is expected to return first, with consumers optimistic about national distribution of a vaccine and with that an ability to travel again in 2021,” according to a report released in January by the American Hotel & Lodging Association.
“Business travel, which comprises the largest source of hotel revenue, remains nearly nonexistent, but it is expected to begin a slow return in the second half of 2021,” the report said.
Downtown Milwaukee is seeing plans for new hotels that would open in 2023 and beyond.
Those projects include a Marriott Autograph, with 200 to 250 rooms, near Fiserv Forum just north of West Juneau
Avenue, between North Phillips Avenue and North 5th Street; a 102-room Marriott Tribute Portfolio in the Historic Third Ward at 125-129 N. Water St., and a possible 155-room Tempo by Hilton at the northwest corner of Old World Third Street and West Kilbourn Avenue.
Meanwhile, the Adams Hotel, with around 12 rooms, is to open in May at 790 N. Jackson St.
Also, three hotels in two neighboring buildings — a 115-room Home2 Suites/100-room Tru hotel and a 116room Holiday Inn Express — opened in November at 515-525 N. Jefferson St.