As construction crews remove lead paint and tear out old wood from the floors, they’re finding and saving treasures from the building’s history, like old lockers, a newspaper dating to 1923, antiquated meters and elevator tags that could be put to use in the new design. It’s still early on in the construction process, though, and Gorman says he’s not yet sure what, exactly, those historical touches might look like.Ĭonstruction on the $87.5 million project, which is using a mix of public and private funds, began in late 2017. “People like to see indications of what the building was previously used for,” he says. Gorman says that with the current hotel project, he wants to meld the history of the Amerock Building and modern-day Rockford. The real estate development company is headquartered in a former high school built in 1922 in Oregon, Wis. Gorman’s company has also turned the former Garton Toy Factory - which made sleds, tricycles, wagons and other wheeled toys - into apartments in Sheboygan, Wis., and converted a wagon factory and auto plant into the Mitchell Wagon Lofts in Racine. One that’s especially notable is the radical transformation of a former Pabst Brewery into the beloved Brewhouse Inn & Suites in Milwaukee. has deep experience in the historic rehabilitation arena, having worked on more than 30 projects fitting that description since 1985. When it opens in 2020, the Hilton Embassy Suites Hotel, ? shown here in an artist rendering, ? will offer visitors a place to stay in the center of downtown. And the developer is Gorman & Co., a Wisconsin-based outfit known for its revitalization projects. The 13-story concrete building, which is on the National Register of Historic Places, is in a prime location, overlooking a large park and the Rock River. It’s not just any hotel and conference center, after all. When the hotel opens in spring 2020, city officials are banking on it drawing more visitors to the area. The backdrop to it all: story-filled, old brick buildings, many of which are skeletons from Rockford’s factory-filled past. On the sporty side of things, the Rockford IceHogs - the Blackhawks’ minor-league team - are at BMO Harris Bank Center, and the new, river-hugging UW Health Sports Factory brings in amateur tournaments in basketball, volleyball, pickleball and more throughout the year. Cultural institutions are another downtown draw, including an ornately restored theater ( Coronado Performing Arts Center) and a museum campus with the Discovery Center Museum, Burpee Museum of Natural History, the Rockford Dance Company and the Rockford Art Museum.
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