Historic downtown Milwaukee building re-opened as hotel

MILWAUKEE - The historic Loyalty Building in downtown Milwaukee has re-opened as the Hilton Garden Inn.

The building, located at the corner of North Broadway and East Michigan Streets, brings unique features to the downtown hotel scene.

"We got to use, repurpose a lot of the history that's in here, and maintain it," said Lisa Farrell, the GM of the hotel.

"We're really excited for the day to finally be here."

The space was originally the 300-room Newhall House hotel, but it burned down in 1883.

Northwestern Mutual Life re-built the building in 1886, and it still stands today.

It was leased as office space before the hotel took it over.

"It was pretty empty, so we saw an opportunity to come in and clean up the building on the outside.  The inside, we put a 127-room hotel here," said Farrell.

Many historical aspects to the building remain, including safes on the first level with handpainted doors.

"We also have a room called the lightwell where the secretaries had natural light, so they would work by that.  It was kind of ahead of its time," explained Farrell.

80 new jobs come with the new hotel.

Reported by:  620AM MTMJ NewsRadio