Timber Trail Starts Here. Ascent Puts Milwaukee on Map for Mass Timber Design

19 November 2021

It’s been a long time since the U.S., let alone Milwaukee, built the tallest anything on the planet. 
 
That changes next month just before the holiday break, when contractors will top off the Ascent apartment building in downtown Milwaukee, making it the tallest mass timber structure in the world. The project has pulled a spotlight to the city as more developers opt to use manufactured timber to replace concrete or steel in their building structures. 
 
Tim Gokhman, managing director of Ascent’s Milwaukee-based co-developer New Land Enterprises, has talked to the New York Times, Washington Post, PBS, and a major cable network for coverage of the project. He’s spoken at conference in Dubai, and was invited this month to present in Taiwan, where an association has built a model of Ascent and features it in posters. 

Antony Wood, CEO of the group, said the council could’ve easily signed 300 people for the Nov 9 tour, but that would be too many for an active high-rise construction site. The 30 who attended are all in the mass timber field as developers or designers, he said. 
 
For more on this story, go to Milwaukee Business Journal.