Riverfront restaurant with a large patio coming to Milwaukee's Harbor District in summer
A large riverfront restaurant with a big patio is coming in summer to the new River 1 work-live development in Milwaukee's Harbor District.
It's a joint project between Benson's Restaurant Group, which operates AJ Bombers, Onesto, Smoke Shack and Blue Bat Kitchen, and Becher Development, the Michels Corp.-led developer of the site at South First and West Becher streets.
The restaurant on the Kinnickinnic River would be on the ground floor of a five-story apartment building that's due to open in spring. An office building at the site opened in 2021.
The restaurant will be 6,000 square feet, which will allow for about 165 seats inside and 80 on a large patio with fire pits, along with casual lawn seating. It's expected the restaurant will hire about 100 employees.
The name and theme of the restaurant will be announced later, Benson's said Thursday in a written statement.
A 1,000-foot riverwalk open to the public will provide access to the riverfront restaurant. Besides outdoor seating, the area will have room for games and other activities.
Tim Michels, co-owner of Becher Development, said in the announcement that “the restaurant will mirror the campus’ goal of fostering a community, and will create an inviting space with delicious offerings.”
"There's a lot of opportunity for activation," said David Marcus, CEO of Marcus Investment, of which Benson's is a division.
The group is working with the Rinka architecture firm on the restaurant's design. "They really match well in the vision to create something cool and inviting," Marcus said.
He noted that the property will have slips for boats on the river, and the restaurant plans to serve boaters there.
"As the operator of Blue Bat" — the Benson's restaurant on the Milwaukee River in the Third Ward — "we know how vibrant the boating community and the water community are," Marcus said. Boaters would be able to "stop by for drinks or food and actually treat their boat as a table," he added. QR codes will help facilitate efficient ordering and delivery of menu items, he indicated.
The restaurant also will have room for private dining and will cater events at the development, Marcus said.
The apartment building in which the restaurant will be located, called Tribute, still has more commercial space on the street level. Initial plans also called for a cafe. No plans for that have been announced.
Besides the apartments, office and restaurant, the plans for the River 1 development call for a Marriott-branded hotel with about 100 rooms.
Benson's until last week was known as Hospitality Democracy. Marcus said at the time that the name was changing in part because of the group's upcoming growth.
After two years of a pandemic in which the focus was on keeping employees and the company healthy, Marcus said, "to be able and now step forward and grow ... is exciting. It's a great feeling."
In the hospitality business, he said, "at the core, there's a passion, and you want to continue to share that with the world."
Contact dining critic Carol Deptolla at carol.deptolla@jrn.com or (414) 224-2841, or through the Journal Sentinel Food & Home page on Facebook. Follow her on Twitter at @mkediner or Instagram at @mke_diner.
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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Riverfront restaurant with patio coming to Milwaukee Harbor District
