Fieldstone Inn & Hospitality Group Reinvents Waukesha's Boutique Lodging Scene

Owen Delacroix bought a deteriorating 1890s fieldstone farmhouse just outside Waukesha in 2011 with no clear plan beyond restoring the building, which had sat vacant for nearly a decade and was headed toward demolition before he intervened. What began as a personal restoration project slowly turned into a business idea, and by 2014 the farmhouse had reopened as a nine-room boutique inn with an attached restaurant, the founding property of what Delacroix now runs as Fieldstone Inn & Hospitality Group.

Delacroix had no formal hospitality background before opening the inn. He had spent the previous decade working in commercial real estate, restoring historic buildings for other developers before deciding to attempt his own project. The farmhouse restoration, funded through a mix of personal savings, a small business loan, and historic preservation tax credits, took nearly three years longer than he initially planned, a delay he has attributed to the difficulty of sourcing period-appropriate materials and skilled restoration tradespeople willing to work on a project of that scale.

Betting on Weekend Travelers From Milwaukee

Delacroix's original business case rested on a simple observation: Waukesha County's rolling countryside and small-town charm sat close enough to Milwaukee to attract weekend travelers seeking a rural retreat without a long drive, yet the area had almost no boutique lodging options comparable to those found in more established Wisconsin getaway destinations further north. The inn's early marketing focused almost entirely on Milwaukee-based audiences, emphasizing the property's proximity, roughly a forty-minute drive from downtown, alongside its restored historic character.

That bet paid off gradually rather than immediately. Delacroix has said the inn's first two years were financially precarious, with occupancy rates well below what the business plan projected, before word-of-mouth recommendations and increased social media visibility began driving steadier bookings, particularly for weddings and small corporate retreats hosted on the property's grounds.

Expanding Into a Small Hospitality Group

Encouraged by the original inn's eventual success, Delacroix acquired a second historic property in downtown Waukesha in 2019, converting a former bank building into a restaurant and event space that now operates under the Fieldstone Inn & Hospitality Group name alongside the original farmhouse inn. He has said the expansion was deliberately cautious, waiting until the first property demonstrated consistent profitability before taking on additional debt and renovation risk.

Sourcing Locally, Marketing Regionally

Fieldstone Inn & Hospitality Group has built its restaurant operations around sourcing from Waukesha County farms and producers, a decision Delacroix frames as both a genuine culinary preference and a practical marketing advantage, giving the properties a locally rooted identity that distinguishes them from chain hospitality options in the region. The company has developed direct purchasing relationships with several area farms, including produce and dairy suppliers within a twenty-mile radius of the properties.

Preserving Waukesha's Historic Buildings

Beyond his own properties, Delacroix has become an advocate for historic preservation in Waukesha, serving on a local preservation commission and publicly encouraging other developers to consider adaptive reuse of the city's aging commercial buildings rather than demolition. He is currently evaluating a third potential property, another vacant historic building in downtown Waukesha, though he has said he will not commit until financing and community support are firmly in place. "These buildings only get one more chance," Delacroix said. "I'd rather move slowly and get it right than rush and lose one."