Milwaukee Condo & Real Estate Scene

JSOnline: Welcome home, and shall I park your car? - Two condo projects plan to offer Trump-style amenities

How would you like to live the life of a hotel guest? This could be the reality for a few downtown condo owners in the near future. These selected few will soon be able to take full advantage of the full array of services luxurious hotels offer - now at home.

Two real estate developers are building residential condominium units on top of boutique hotels which offer amenities such as indoor pools, room service, concierge service, and valet parking. These condominium boutique hotels have done very well in other major markets.



The Residences on Hotel Palomar will be built between Old World Third Street and Fourth Street, between McKinley Street and Juneau Avenue. The developers, Gatehouse Capital and Ruvin Development, are working with Kimpton Hotels. Kimpton Hotel and The Residences are scheduled to open in 2010. The Residences start at $575,000 for a one-bedroom condominium.





The Moderne will be built on the southwest corner of Old World Third Street and Juneau Avenue. The original plans for The Moderne called for a hotel. The developer, Rick Barrett, later decided to sell the units as condominiums instead. However, Barrett decided to keep many of the same hotel amenities. The condos of The Moderne start at $272,000.




Another hotel condo not featured in this article is The Residences on Water which are located on the top floors of Staybridge Suites. Construction of Staybridge Suites and The Residences is underway on the southeast corner of Water Street and Juneau Avenue.


The hotel lifestyle is glamorous as well as expensive. The average-price-per-square-foot for a non-hotel condo in downtown Milwaukee is around $200. The Residences at Hotel Palomar start at $453.83 per square foot.



My Thoughts

During the past year, I have been very cautious about reporting any new proposals that will impact the downtown housing market because it seems that every time a proposal is announced, it is later postponed or canceled.

Since the Park East Freeway was removed, many have asked me why it is taking so long to build on this site. Since the removal, there have been many real estate investors who proposed hotels, offices, retail, and condos. Unfortunately, many of these proposals have been either postponed or canceled. The real estate market has been shaky for both residential and commercial real estate. The mortgage markets have also been rocked since the fallout of the subprime mortgage markets. Although we have yet to experience a recession, the economy hasn't been exactly stable either. I'm sure you have heard the saying "timing is everything." Well, the Park East redevelopment project missed out on a great wave of real estate during the late 1990s and early 2000s.

In the past, I have reported that the days of condo-only developments are a thing of the past - especially in the Park East corridor. I'm very confident that the Palomar and The Moderne will do quite well - even in this modest Milwaukee market. Luxurious condominiums appear to be in high-demand in Milwaukee as evidenced by the sales data of Kilbourn Tower and the University Club Tower.

Hotel condos are not a new concept in Milwaukee. The Knickerbocker on the Lake on East Juneau Avenue has been operating as a hotel condo since 1981.


Are you ready to upgrade your lifestyle? Call me at (414) 412-7980 or e-mail at dray@shorewest.com if you would like to learn more about The Residences at Hotel Palomar, The Residences on Water, or The Moderne.


Joanne Cleaver, writer for The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, describes the amenities in greater detail as well as features current hotel-condo owners who are taking full advantage of these luxury amenities. Click here to read more about the newest hotel condos>>>


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Labels: Real Estate

posted by David Ray @ 3:33 PM