Oak Creek approves plan for two hotels, conference center near Ikea

Listen to this article

Two hotels and a convention center are planned for a five-acre site south of Ikea in the Milwaukee suburb of Oak Creek under a deal city officials approved Tuesday.

The two-phase project, developed by Stand Rock Hospitality, is expected to cost more than $30 million and could get underway this spring. The Oak Creek Common Council approved a development agreement with Stand Rock Hospitality after meeting in closed session during a meeting on Tuesday night.

Stand Rock also owns the Wilderness Resort in the Wisconsin Dells and recently completed the construction of a Hampton Inn & Suites in West Allis, which includes the State Fair Park Conference Center.

In Oak Creek, the firm plans to build a 121-room hotel — operated by Homewood Suites by Hilton — and an 11,500-square-foot conference center in the project’s initial phase, which is expected to wrap up in early summer of 2021. The second phase of the project would add another hotel of about 90 rooms and future plans call for a 5,000-square-foot expansion of the event space.

Stand Rock has hired JKC as the general contractor for the project and Plunkett Raysich Architects to design it.

“Our strategy is to ensure week-long activity to support other food, entertainment, and retail venues, and when you can bring folks in from outside the area during the work week, it can really add to the vibrancy we seek to attract to Oak Creek, especially in the night time hours,” said Oak Creek Mayor Dan Bukiewicz in a statement.

According to its deal with the city, Stand Rock will get an up-front grant of $2,121,600 to acquire property for the first phase of the project. The hotels lie within a Tax Increment Financing district that Oak Creek established in 2016. Stand Rock could receive an additional $2.3 million in shared revenue from the district for phase one of the project and an additional $1.7 million through phase two.

Northwestern Mutual owns the 5-acre property where Stand Rock plans to build the project and is working to attract other development nearby. The firm owns more than 140 acres of land north of Drexel Avenue in Oak Creek, west of Interstate 94. Its plans for 27 acres south of the Ikea site call for a mix of residential, retail and entertainment projects in the area. Northwestern Mutual is working with the architecture firm RINKA on a master plan for its property, according to the city.

“We saw a great opportunity in this emerging market, and the desire to partner with Northwestern Mutual to help catalyze its progressive plans for this appealing site was very attractive,” said Pete Helland Jr., managing partner for Stand Rock, in a statement. Follow @natebeck9