Kimpton is coming to town.

In fact, the operator of many high-end, boutique hotels has been scouting our city for months. Managers have been hanging out in the Third Ward and all around Downtown surveying and questioning.

Today, jsonline reports that Kimpton will build a 180-room hotel in the Park East at the Sydney Hih building location and around the mainly undeveloped block near Old World 3rd and 4th Streets, and Juneau and McKinley Avenues.

San Francisco, Boston, Chicago, Washington, D.C., San Diego -- all of these cities have hotels run by Kimpton. Hotel Allegro, Hotel Burnham and the very cool Hotel Monaco -- are Chicago mainstays and all are Kimpton Hotels.

This, Milwaukeeans, is a big deal. Hats of to local developer Robert Ruvin for helping to make it happen.

The downtown hotel market has been decent for years, but until Hotel Metro, the Ambassador and now Marcus' wonderful renovations at the Intercontinental (Wyndham) and The Pfister, it's been same old, same old for quite some time.

The downtown neighborhoods are growing and new hotels that lure not only visitors but locals are helping to lead the charge. Taking risk, building and developing, in my mind, are usually never bad things. Welcome to Milwaukee, Kimpton.

See you at the hotel bar.

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