Top Menu

Titletown District Takes Shape in Green Bay

Titletown development, Green Bay

Green Bay is soon to be Titletown once again, but not because of anything happening inside Lambeau Field.

This new iteration of Titletown is a 35-acre commercial, recreational and residential development constructed just to the west of the Packers’ iconic stadium, and is the latest and greatest example of an NFL stadium catering to far more than just football.

Like such plazas as Patriot Place in Foxboro, MA, and the recently-opened Daily’s Place in Jacksonville, FL, Green Bay’s Titletown District will have its share of shops and restaurants, a hotel and spa that opens next week, and even a Sports Medicine and Orthopedics Clinic, which is set to open later this month.

But what separates this project from all others that have come before it is its unique 10-acre park and plaza, which as its crown jewel contains the finest in frozen tundra: a 60-foot sledding hill.

“Of all the aspects of the Titletown District, I think the park and plaza is unique,” Packers president Mark Murphy said during a media tour of the facility late last month. “A private developer would not have as much space devoted to a park and plaza.”

The park, which also has an ice skating pond, promenades, adult game area, playgrounds and NFL-sized football field, is expected to open in September, with the sledding hill and skating pond slated for November, when temperatures better support such winter activities.

“There’s an awful lot going on on this hill.” Ed Policy, Packers vice president and general counsel told the Green Bay Press-Gazette in April.  “We are going to have a tube return. We’ll have snow-making machines. We will have ice melt (equipment) on the steps that lead you to the top of the hill.”

The crest of the sledding hill is 45 feet high and 45 feet wide at the top, expanding to 60 feet wide at the base. It will have a 30-degree slope for 150 feet, then level off for another 150 feet. The hill will serve as a picnic area and amphitheater in non-winter months.

“We decided to build the tubing hill and skating trail based on feedback from focus groups in the community,” Murphy wrote on Packers.com on July 1. “People said they wanted something that would keep them active and outside in winter!”

Lodge Kohler contains 134 guest rooms and 10 suites, as well as a restaurant on the fifth floor that offers views inside Lambeau Field.

“Normally, you’d put the restaurant on the first floor, but we couldn’t pass up the view,” Christine Loose, group director of lodging for Kohler, told the Gazette. “ We knew that was the right thing to do.”

The room views will be equally spectacular, as all feature floor-to-ceiling windows. Corner suites will also offer views of Lambeau and of Hinterland Brewery. The hotel will also feature six ground-level terrace suites on the Lambeau Field side, and those rooms will be equipped with private patios that feature lounge furniture, fire pits, and gas grills. But for any hotel built by Kohler, the highlight is hitting the post-game shower, with three-head showers that can be programmed separately and used simultaneously.

“Guests can expect an amazing Kohler showering experience,” Loose said.

And then, according to the Gazette, there’s the spa:

The 6,000-square foot Kohler Waters Spa, also is on the ground floor, across from the lobby. It will be the fourth Kohler Waters Spa in the world, joining those in Kohler, Chicago and St. Andrews, Scotland.

“It’s really kind of a resort spa in a hotel,” said Garrett Mersberger, Kohler Waters Spa director. “We don’t look at the spa as a hotel amenity. We look at it as a destination on its own.”

The spa includes a Kohler-designed Vichy shower, six treatment rooms, sauna, steam room, hydromassage pool, eight-foot-deep cooling pool, co-ed relaxation room, deep relaxation room and outdoor garden. The Hydromassage Experience Pool includes a sit-down hot tub and walkway with water jets that start at the calves and finish at the shoulders as guests walk its length.

Lodge Kohler is scheduled to hold a ribbon-cutting on July 18.

RELATED STORIES: Green Bay Packers Titletown Scope Expanding

This article first appeared in the weekly Football Stadium Digest newsletter. Are you a subscriber? It’s free, and you’ll see features like this before they appear on the Web. Go here to subscribe to the Football Stadium Digest newsletter.

, , ,

August Publications