Bank buys, plans to sell historic Port Hotel building

Port Washington State Bank has purchased the historic Port Hotel building in downtown Port, Steve Schowalter, the bank’s executive chairman and CEO, said Tuesday.

Schowalter said the bank negotiated the transaction with former owner Joe Zankl and closed on the deal two weeks ago.

The bank is currently working to address deferred maintenance issues with the goal of listing the property for sale in the next month or so, Schowalter said.

Schowalter said he has already had several people express interest in the building, even though it is not yet on the market.

The building, which has been home to a restaurant and inn, has not had an operating business in it since November, when the inn closed, Schowalter said.

The Port Hotel has been a mainstay of downtown Port for more than a century.

The Port Hotel traces its history to 1835, when it was built as a hotel and tavern. It operated under various owners until the hotel closed in 1973, but the restaurant survived.

Zankl purchased the Port Hotel from Dave and Debbie Wickesberg in 1997, and in 2005, he returned the business to its roots by opening the 10-room inn.

Zankl closed the restaurant in 2017, and later leased the restaurant to Ashley’s Bar-B-Que, but that proved a short-lived venture.

In 2018, developer Gertjan van den Broek had an accepted offer to purchase the hotel and inn, but that deal fell through.

Van den Broek said at the time that he wanted to update the restaurant while keeping the inn open, perhaps ultimately expanding the inn to the neighboring Willie’s Lakefront Lanes building, which he owns.