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A look into the Art-Deco past of Hotel Metro in downtown Milwaukee

A boutique hotel in downtown Milwaukee is soon getting a bit "boutique-ier...."

Hotel Metro, with its distinct turquoise double doors at 411 E Mason St., plans to renovate the 63-room hotel and align with the Marriott Autograph Collection brand.

According to General Manager Michael Falkenstein, quoted in OnMilwaukee, the Odgen family has owned the hotel since 1998, and it will continue to own the hotel after the renovation is complete.

"So, new management, heritage owner, heritage boutique hotel," Falkenstein said.

The completion date for the project has not yet been revealed, but model rooms are to be finished in October. The rooms themselves will undergo renovation by the end of the year, and the work will continue one floor at a time, according to OnMilwaukee's Bobby Tanzilo.

But Hotel Metro, of course, was not the original tenant of the building. And it wasn't originally a hotel, either.

This week on Urban Spelunking, OnMilwaukee's Bobby Tanzilo fills me in on the building's ritzy, art deco past. Listen.


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Director of Digital Content | Radio Milwaukee