Stay in the Loop

The Minnesota-centric hotel features Nordic restaurant Tullibee.

A former farm equipment showroom in the North Loop is set to become a boutique hotel and chef-driven restaurant this fall.

Chicago-based Aparium Hotel Group and Milwaukee-based developer Fe Equus have modernized the 1897 Jackson building at Washington & 3rd into the Hewing Hotel, a 124-room hotel with a rooftop bar and pool. This is the first Minnesota property from Aparium, which is known for the Iron Horse Hotel in Milwaukee and the Charmant Hotel in La Crosse.

Valerie Casper, Aparium’s regional director of sales and marketing, said they’ve designed the Hewing to not be “too modern” — they’ve kept much of the building’s original wood and brick — so hotel guests and the public are comfortable visiting.

“We want people to come here, spend time here and not feel like they’re just sitting in a hotel,” she said.

The Hewing features four floors of rooms with locally minded names like Itasca Kings, St. Anthony Suites and Dubuque Doubles, not to mention custom wall coverings featuring Minnesota wildlife like loons and deer. One of the hotel’s highest-end rooms, the George Henry Suite, is named after the building’s original owner and features a private bar and living area. Rooms start around $159 per night, Casper said.

The hotel has two large meeting and event spaces, including the 3,000-square-foot Andrews Ballroom on the first floor with a capacity of 176 banquet-style or 250 with cocktail seating. The Commissioner Boardroom, at 870 square feet, accommodates up to 16 guests.

The Hewing will have a yoga studio and fitness room in the basement. Fitness studio Alchemy, which has locations in the North Loop and Marcy-Holmes neighborhoods, will partner with the hotel’s fitness program.

On the roof, the hotel has a bar that will be accessible to the public after 5 p.m. A rooftop pool, lounge and sauna will be open to hotel guests and to the public through a year-round rooftop social club membership. The bar will offer its own food and drink menu, mainly charcuterie, small plates and seasonal beverages.

Tullibee, Hewing Hotel’s full-service restaurant, will offer a classic craft cocktail program, house-made sodas and coffee from Minneapolis-based Spyhouse Coffee Roasters, which has a café on the north end of Washington Avenue in the neighborhood.

Executive chef Grae Nonas is coming up from Austin, Texas to lead the restaurant. He plans to serve a Nordic menu featuring whole animals from an in-house butcher, smoked fish (the restaurant is named for a Minnesota fish) and locally sourced, seasonal ingredients. Nonas is a 2015 Food & Wine Best New Chefs and was nominated for the James Beard Foundation’s Rising Star Chef award earlier this year.

Tullibee will have a wine cellar and an open kitchen with a chef counter where diners can see into the kitchen. Diners will be able to reserve a chef’s table with a curated menu.

The Hewing and Tullibee are expected to open this November at 300 Washington Ave. N. The hotel has begun booking rooms after Jan. 1, 2017.