MADISON, Wis. -- Madison's mayor said the owner of the downtown Hilton Hotel is "very interested" in a design concept that incorporates the Madison Municipal building in a hotel addition.

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The mayor is clearly excited about what is now only a preliminary design concept. But, if owner Marcus Corporation out of Milwaukee continues to stay on board, he said it could solve a lot of problems as well as protect a piece of city history, WISC-TV reported.

"This has some potential to bring back some of the historic grandeur of the building," said Mayor Dave Cieslewicz.

Most people might recognize it as the downtown U.S. post office but the Madison Municipal building actually used to be a federal courthouse.

Now it's used for government meetings and city office space - - a hodgepodge of cubicles that counter its 80-year-old history. But all that could change.

Cieslewicz said he's in preliminary but serious talks with the Monona Terrace Hilton hotel owner about buying and using the municipal building in a hotel expansion.

"They're very interested in it and they're taking a look at in terms of how if might work with the design of a hotel behind it," said Cieslewicz. "So, essentially, this (the front of the Municipal Building) would be the entrance to their hotel."

The Marcus Corporation said it does not comment on projects in development.

But Cieslewicz said so far, discussions include adding on to a hotel expansion that brings patrons in through the Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard entrance to the Madison Municipal building.

Inside, there might be a couple dozens suites and a grand ballroom. And directly behind it, on the adjacent surface parking lot, a new hotel would rise six to eight stories holding another 200 to 300 rooms, WISC-TV reported.

Cieslewicz said that new hotel tower would sit on top of parking for both the hotel and the city, so the aging Government East parking ramp across the street could be torn down and replaced with new office space, for the city and the private sector.

"We might need three stories in that building -- that again could be an eight-story building -- and we'd have the potential to work with a private developer," said Cieslewicz.

The Monona Terrace Hilton Hotel opened in 2001, when Marcus secured the first pick of any development on the municipal building block.

The mayor said the biggest question now is whether it's financially doable for the city and for Marcus.

Tourism officials in the city said the Monona Terrace Convention Center is losing lots of business because it's short hundred of downtown hotels rooms.