Details emerge on 2 new Lowlands restaurants, beer garden in Greenfield
The Lowlands restaurant group, which since summer has been planning its sixth Cafe Hollander and a new restaurant called the Feisty Loon for Greenfield, is releasing more details about the project.
Eric Wagner, the chief executive officer of Lowlands, called the Greenfield restaurants “our most ambitious project so far.”
The two restaurants would seat more than 600 people, including patios.
Planned for 84South, the 50-acre mixed-use development at West Layton Avenue and South 84th Street, the project will go to the Greenfield Common Council for final approval Feb. 22. The proposal won the backing of the Plan Commision on Tuesday.
The new Cafe Hollander — the Lowlands’ sixth — and the Feisty Loon, a midcentury-style, supper-club-ish restaurant offering brunch, lunch and dinner, would be at the development’s northwest corner, for a project the 84South developers call The Lokal.
Plans for the corner first surfaced in summer, when Lowlands officials said the restaurants likely would open in late 2023 and early 2024, and the beer garden and surrounding green space between the two restaurants by summer 2024. That’s still on track.
Lowlands revealed in an announcement Wednesday morning that the new Café Hollander at The Lokal will be the group’s first one-story Hollander. It will be 8,800 square feet, seating more than 300 diners inside and outside.
The Feisty Loon will be even larger at 9,300 square feet, also seating about 300 inside and out. It’s meant to draw customers all day, for brunch, dinner and cocktails. It’s intended to evoke restaurants up north, with menu items such as fish fry, prime rib and burgers. But instead of being lodge-like, the Feisty Loon is intended to be in an airy, midcentury style.
Besides the previously planned beer garden, bar, stage for live music and yard games, the green space between the restaurants will have brick-oven pizza and ice cream, and large TV screens for sports viewing.
Construction on the restaurants is expected to start in spring.
The two restaurants and beer garden would create more than 150 jobs, according to Lowlands, and bring the group’s properties to 11. Besides the Hollanders in Milwaukee, Wauwatosa, Madison, Mequon and Brookfield, Lowlands owns Café Benelux and Centraal Grand Café and Tappery in Milwaukee and Buckatabon Tavern and Supper Club in Wauwatosa.
The group’s intention is for the Greenfield project to “serve as a gathering place for the entire area,” Wagner, the Lowlands CEO, said in Wednesday’s announcement. “This great corner is going to be highly activated, and our guests will be able to bounce between the restaurants and the outdoor space and make an entire evening or a whole day out of it.”
The Kubala Washatko Architects will design the restaurants and green space. Three Sixty, which has worked on other Lowlands restaurant, also will be involved in the design and construction. Innovative Construction Solutions is the project contractor. The 84South development is by Cobalt Partners.