Downtown Milwaukee’s Brothers Bar and Grill closes for six months to do major expansion, renovations – Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Brothers Bar and Grill will expand into the former Milwaukee Moulding and Frame shop next door.(Photo: Google)

A popular downtown Milwaukee bar is closing for around six months to undergo a major expansion that includes adding a large kitchen and full menu.

Brothers Bar and Grill, 1213 N. Water St., closed after Saturday night so it can begin remodeling and adding more space, said Marc Fortney, co-owner.

The renovations will start in about two weeks, he said Wednesday.

The changes will include blending with an adjacent building, at 1215 N. Water St., that since the 1940s housedMilwaukee Moulding & Frame. That business closed in December.

Fortney, Fortney and Fortney LLP, the La Crosse-based firm that operates the Brothers chain, recently bought the two-story, 1,500-square-foot building for $1 million, according to state real estate records.

Brothers will punch through the common wall between the former Milwaukee Moulding shop and the tavern, Fortney said.

Also, a back addition will be added on part ofthe former Milwaukee Moulding parking lot to create a full kitchen, he said.

That will allow Brothers to offer a full lunch and dinner menu similar to what the chain offers at its other locations throughout the Midwest, Fortney said.

The new food offerings will include salads, wraps, sandwiches and burgers.The Milwaukee location, which opened in 2006, had served just appetizers.

Brothers had been expanding its menu at other locations a change from when the business was mainly based on serving drinks.

"Today, we are in the full bar and grill business," Fortney said.

The Milwaukee expansion is being driven in part by Fiserv Forum's 2018 opening, as well as more apartments being built in or near downtown, he said.

"A lot has been happening downtown," Fortney said.

Tom Daykin can be emailed at tdaykin@jrn.comand followed on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.

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Downtown Milwaukee's Brothers Bar and Grill closes for six months to do major expansion, renovations - Milwaukee Journal Sentinel