Remade in Racine: Bringing Hotel Verdant to Life

To remember Zahn’s department store is to recall a different Racine, Wisc. First built in 1925, it wasn’t just the cornerstone of Monument Square, it was a hub for commerce and community across generations of this bustling industrial town on the shore of Lake Michigan.

No different than other retail stores, it began to face stiff competition and by the 1960s business drastically declined.

In 1982, Zahn’s closed its doors for good. Decades after, it had stood as a relic, frozen in time, a reminder of the halcyon years of Racine, but also its commercial decline. Imagine, then, the shock and awe for Racine natives, young and old, when they behold what Zahn’s has now become, a boutique hotel called Hotel Verdant—a conversion project that has taken the city and the broader U.S. by storm.

The city’s first boutique is a vision of its potential future, a stylish rebirth blending the past with a futuristic array of green and sustainable technology. With LEED-Gold certification expected soon, it might be the “greenest” hotel in all the Midwest, said Dominion Properties Founder and Chairman Mike O’Connor, who served as co-lead on Hotel Verdant. “We’re a green company doing green things in this hotel,” said O’Connor.

“We wanted to create a really unique gathering space for the community and businesses and have all the usual things you would want to have in a hotel. But as developers, we’ve done LEED Platinum projects before, and we wanted to make a hotel that was also sustainable.”

Derek Herscovici