The two AmeriSuites hotels in Milwaukee, the 99-room hotel at 200 W. Grange Ave. near the airport and the 123-room hotel at 11777 W. Silver Spring Dr., are being converted to Hyatt Place hotels. Renovation work is underway at both hotels. That work is expected to be complete later this year, when the hotels will be re-branded as Hyatt Place. Hotel conversion projects for Hyatt Place typically cost about $2.5 million for each hotel, said Hyatt spokeswoman Amy Patti.

Chicago-based Global Hyatt Corp. acquired the 143-unit AmeriSuites hotel chain in 2004 and is converting many of its AmeriSuites extended stay hotels to its new Hyatt Place brand. More than 120 Hyatt Place hotels are expected to be in operation by the end of the year, including the two new locations in Milwaukee. AmeriSuites is an extended stay hotel brand. Hyatt Place is a lifestyle hotel in the select service segment of the hotel industry. Hyatt says Hyatt Place hotels place "an emphasis on stylish design, innovative services and high end amenities."

Hyatt launched the Hyatt Place brand last year calling it, "an innovative hotel concept with a strong appeal to a newly identified target audience who has successfully adapted to today's 24/7 lifestyle. This group of travelers shares a mindset and way of life that revolves around seamlessly merging personal and professional activities." "Hyatt Place is the first hotel of its kind to cater to both the functional and emotional aspects of today's business and leisure travelers," said Tom O’Toole, senior vice president of strategy and systems, Global Hyatt Corp.

The conversion project of the AmeriSuites hotel on Silver Spring Drive to Hyatt Place will upgrade the rooms including the addition of 42-inch flat screen TVs and new furniture, 24-hour food service, a swimming pool, a business center and a fitness center, said assistant general manager Julie Schulz. A manager for the AmeriSuites hotel at 200 W. Grange Ave. could not be reached for comment. In addition, Chicago-based RSC & Associates LLC plans to build a 122-room Hyatt Place hotel as part of its planned development in the Park East corridor in downtown Milwaukee. That project is expected to break ground soon.

Although the construction project actually began in March, Madison-based Gorman & Company Inc. will host a "construction kick off ceremony" on Monday to celebrate the start of its project that will redevelop the former keg house building at the former Pabst brewery complex into a 95-unit apartment building. The project is expected to be complete in the spring of 2009.

Gorman purchased the building, located at 925-945 W. Winnebago St., from Joseph Zilber, founder of Milwaukee-based Zilber Ltd., who is redeveloping the brewery complex in downtown Milwaukee into a mixed-use urban neighborhood. He is selling several of the old brewery complex to other developers, such as Gorman.

The apartments developed by Gorman, to be called the Blue Ribbon Loft Apartments, will be a mixed-income apartment building with some units affordable to families and individuals making 50-60 percent of the area's median income. The development will be designed to serve local artists, entrepreneurs and other members of the "creative class" with live-work units and amenities such as a music studio, artists' workspaces and galleries, a business center, conference rooms and a theater/presentation space.

Meanwhile, Zilber plans to begin construction of an eight-story parking structure, with 880 parking space and 8,000 square feet of retail space, just south of the Blue Ribbon Lofts building in October and the project will be completed in August of 2009.

The parking structure will be built northwest of West Juneau Avenue and North 9th Street. The parking structure will occupy the eastern half of the block. Zilber is demolishing several old tank buidings on the block to make way for the parking structure.

Most of the western half of the block, located northeast of Juneau Avenue and North 10th Street, will be left vacant for now, said Mike Mervis, Zilber's assistant. A community garden and nursery will be planted there, and many of the plants that are grown will be used for streetscaping, he said. The 28,000-square-foot park/garden area could be the site of a building or a parking structure in the future, Mervis said.

The City of Milwaukee's Redevelopment Authority recently issued a request for proposals seeking developers interested in buying a vacant site on King Drive. The 18,750-square-foot site at 2231 N. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Dr. is located on the west side of King Drive, just south of North Avenue. The site is just outside of the Bronzeville African American cultural and entertainment district that the city is trying to establish along North Avenue, and between Meinecke and Garfield avenues and 4th and 7th streets. The city's asking price for the property is $93,750. City officials want to see a mixed-use development built on the site with retail space on the first floor. Proposals for the property are due July 1.

The city also plans to acquire two duplexes, a single family home and three cottages at 2307-2317 N. 5th Street. The city will provide assistance to relocate the residents of the buildings. The buildings will be demolished and the properties, combined with a vacant lot along North Avenue, will be combined to create a site for a future mixed-use Bronzeville development, said Department of City Development spokeswoman Andrea Rowe Richards. Eventually the city will issue a request for proposals seeking developers for that site, she said.

The two sites are both near the intersection of North Avenue and King Drive, which could also see changes soon. Waukesha-based MRED Cummings Commercial Development Corp., Milwaukee-based Endeavor Development Inc. and Milwaukee-based Vanguard Group LLC plan to build a new Walgreens store at 2826 King Dr. That store would replace the existing King Drive Walgreens store at the northwest corner of King and North.

The current King Drive Walgreens is located in Brooks Plaza, which is owned by Inner City Redevelopment Corp., a non-profit organization. If Walgreens moves out it could create a redevelopment opportunity for the key North Avenue and King Drive corner. The ICRC is now working on a redevelopment plan for the Brooks Plaza site, which could include residential, retail and office space.

The City of Milwaukee recently issued a request for proposals (RFP) for a vacant lot at the northeast corner of West College Avenue and South 13th Street, near General Mitchell International Airport. The 23,000-square-foot lot is located just off I-94 and is next to a McDonalds restaurant and a Hampton Inn hotel. About 34,000 vehicles a day drive by the highly visible corner. The city's asking price for the property is $450,000.

City officials are seeking developers that want to build a commercial development on the site that will complement the airport business community and serve area residents. "Strong preference will be given to restaurant proposals," the city's RFP says. Proposals for the property are due on July 1.

In recent months several developers have proposed hotel developments near the airport, but none of those projects has broken ground yet. A little further away, a Staybridge Suites hotel is under construction in Franklin near the intersection of Ryan Road and South 27th Street.

The Milwaukee Common Council's Licenses Committee recently voted unanimously not to renew the license for the 132-unit Collegiate Park mobile home park, located at 6160 S. 6th St. in Milwaukee, which would force the park to close. The committee's recommendation will be considered by the full Common Council on June 10. The mobile home park is owned by Zellmer Fromm. The park has a "long history of complaints to the city," according to Ald. Terry Witkowski, including code violations and numerous calls for police service. The most serious code violation, caused by two units with unconnected sewer systems, created a biohazard with untreated sewage under as many as 10 of the homes in the park during spring flooding.

Oconomowoc-based MSI General Corp. was selected to design and build a new 160,000-square-foot manufacturing facility for Charter Wire in Milwaukee's Menomonee Valley. The construction project is expected to begin in August and be complete in late 2009. Charter Wire, a division of Mequon-based Charter Manufacturing, will move to a site in the Menomonee Valley Industrial Center, located next to the Miller Park parking lot, from its current location at 114 N. Jackson St. in the Historic Third Ward. The move will create another redevelopment opportunity in the Third Ward. Charter Wire is buying a 7.8-acre site in the valley from the city of Milwaukee for $936,000, or $120,000 per acre. The Menomonee Valley is attracting several other businesses.

Prolitec Inc. announced that it will move from Wauwatosa to the 144,000-square-foot Canal Street Commerce Center in the valley. The building, built by Ziegler Bence, is anchored by Proven Direct Inc., which moved there from Menomonee Falls. Construction of the 500,000-square-foot, $240 million expansion to Potawatomi Bingo Casino in Milwaukee's Menomonee River Valley is nearly complete. The first phase of the expansion at 1721 W. Canal St. will open to the public on Thursday, June 19.

Glendale-based HSI Development Partners LLC will build a 160,000-square-foot facility in the valley for Derse Inc., which will move there from Wauwatosa.

Milwaukee-based Eppstein Uhen Architects recently hired Brian Nelson as a senior project designer in its health and wellness studio.

Bayshore Towne Center recently hired Chris Jaeger as its general manager. Jaeger has 10 years of experience in the retail industry working for Chicago-based General Growth Properties, serving on the management team for six of the company's properties in the Midwest, including the grand opening team for Jordan Creek Town Center near Des Moines, Iowa. Most recently, Jaeger was the general manager of Oakwood Mall in Eau Claire. "I was born in Milwaukee and our friends and family still reside in the area, so it's somewhat of a homecoming for me after spending my career at various properties throughout the Midwest," he said.

Janesville-based J. P. Cullen & Sons, Inc., recently announced the addition of three new employees to the Brookfield office. Karen Catura, joined the project management team, Diann Balke was added as an administrative assistant, and Liz Hasenstein was added as the receptionist.