Plans for a long-delayed downtown Milwaukee boutique hotel are taking a step forward.
Construction started in late 2020 to convert an office building, at 790 N. Jackson St., into the Adams Hotel, a boutique inn with around a dozen rooms.
Much of that work was completed before activity stopped amid a 2021 lawsuit involving hotel developer Joel Lee and Northwestern Mutual over control of the hotel’s parking lot, at 795 N. Van Buren St.
That lawsuit was settled in 2024.
Lee told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel in February his firm, Van Buren Management Inc., plans to proceed with the project.
But it might include a residential component on the parking lot – which a Van Buren Management affiliate acquired when the Northwestern Mutual lawsuit was settled, he said.
Now, an occupancy permit application to operate the 11-room Adams Hotel has been filed with the city Department of Neighborhood Services.
The permit application was filed by Paul Upchurch, former president and CEO at Visit Milwaukee, a nonprofit organization that promotes Milwaukee as a destination for visitors.
Upchurch, a hospitality industry consultant who’s also a former Marcus Hotels and Resorts Inc. executive, told the Journal Sentinel an opening date for the Adams Hotel has yet to be determined.
The four-story building was constructed in 1920 by the Wisconsin-Oakland Co., later Hokanson-Thompson Inc., as an automotive dealership and service garage, according to the Wisconsin Historical Society. It was remodeled in 1959 into an office building.
Adams Hotel will operate just four blocks south of a 35-room boutique hotel Northwestern Mutual is developing at the former University Club building, 924 E. Wells St.
Known as Hotel Laureum, it’s to open in spring 2027.
Also nearby is the 17-room Dubbel Dutch Hotel, which opened in 2020 at 817-819 N. Marshall St. It’s operated by F Street Hospitality LLC.
The Dubbel Dutch was created within two adjoined former mansions, built in 1898, that were later converted into offices.
Tom Daykin can be emailed at tdaykin@jrn.com and followed on Instagram, Bluesky, X and Facebook.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Downtown boutique hotel, delayed by lawsuit, takes step forward
Reporting by Tom Daykin, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Tom Daykin, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel | USA TODAY Network
