Delafield Hotel Sold

City of Delafield - After nearly two years of negotiations, a Ft. Atkinson luxery hotel management firm and a Grand Rapids, Michigan development company have announced they have purchased the Delafield Hotel, which was originally developed and previously owned by Bob Lang.

The hotel is now jointly owned by 616 Hotel, LLC based in Grand Rapids and the IDM Group, LLC based in Ft. Atkinson. A spokesperson for the new owners said that plans to add 40 rooms onto the hotel along with underground parking and a new banquet facility have been delayed indefinitely but "are still on the drawing board."

The presentation of those plans to city officials last summer was the first public indication that Lang was preparing to sell the hotel, one of his last icons in a city that was made famous by the card, calender and gift company he owned in the 1980s and 1990s.

Scott Rookus, principal of 616 Hotel, LLC also owns Rookus Capital of Jenison, Michigan, a surburb of Grand Rapids, which owns properties for development in resorts across the country, according to the new release announcing the sale.

Rookus is interested in the hotel because "Five years ago we set out to establish a luxery line of boutique hotels and the Delafield Hotel is the every essence of that lodging category," according to the announcement.

IDM Group, which has managed the four year old hotel for the past three years, wanted to purchase the hotel because "When we were first brought on to manage the hotel, we discovered a wonderful staff in place and a hotel brand with a very loyal following," according to IDM Group President Craig Neddersen.

The building in which the hotel is located was originally one of three warehouses Lang built during the Lang Company card, calender and gift business boom. The warehouses, along with a series of office and retail buildings, were built by Lang in a colonial style architecture that became the signature of the downtown Delafield business district. During the past decade Lang has gradually sold off his interests in the card, calender and gift company was well as other real estate developments in southeastern Wisconsin, including the Erin Hills Golf Course.