Panel gives go-ahead for Park East development talks

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Milwaukee County’s Economic and Community Development Committee gave the initial OK Wednesday for negotiations to start between the county and a development group seeking to build an extended stay hotel on the Park East site.

The development group, MRH West LLC, Milwaukee, is an affiliate of Milwaukee River Hotel LLC, Milwaukee, which developed the Aloft Hotel across the street from the Park East property.

Douglas Nysse, principal of Milwaukee-based design firm Kahler Slater, said the hotel would likely be five or six stories and have about 110 rooms. The first floor could have some retail space.

Nysse did not have a building design to present to the supervisors but said the hotel’s shape might resemble the Aloft’s due to the shape of the parcel. If so, that could create a visual gateway to downtown when heading south on Old World Third Street, Nysse said.

The parcel is about 0.8 acres, Nysse said, but a Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District easement on a portion of the parcel restricts the buildable space.

The full board will act on the committee’s recommendation at its Thursday meeting.

— Beth Kevit