An economic slowdown and tightening credit markets are creating delays for a number of developments in downtown Milwaukee.
Construction of the 22-story Residences at Hotel Palomar won’t begin until the end of 2009 or early 2010 due to a tightening credit market, said Marty Collins, chief executive officer of Gatehouse Capital Corp., in a report by the Business Journal of Milwaukee. Dallas-based Gatehouse had hoped to begin construction in November on the project. The firm said it has sold six of the condo units at the Palomar project, half of its goal by the end of the year.
“We're not going to go out and try to pretend we have financing when it doesn’t exist,” Collins said.
Another developer, RSC, plans to build a 122-room Hyatt Place boutique hotel, a 102-room Hyatt Summerfield Suites extended-stay hotel, 105 apartments and 6,900 square feet of retail space on one city block in town. But construction, which was to begin last spring, remains on hold.
“I think it's clear to everyone that the credit markets are frozen," said Richard Curto, RSC president. “We are caught in that logjam.”
Other development plans are delayed by the economic downturn, including The Catalyst project, a dining and entertainment complex planned for a city-owned parking lot; a 160-room aloft hotel planned for a site overlooking the Milwaukee River; and a residential high-rise project, The Moderne.
