Tall & Urban News

Construction Starts On Milwaukee Mass Timber Tower

The mass timber tower has started foundation work this week.
The mass timber tower has started foundation work this week.
01 September 2020 | Milwaukee, United States

Construction has started on an unusual downtown Milwaukee apartment tower.

The 25-story, 259-unit high-rise is being constructed with a type of mass timber construction called cross-laminated timber (CLT).

The mass timber process uses layers of wood pressed together to create columns, beams and other building frame components.

The US$80 million project, known as Ascent, is being developed at 700 E. Kilbourn Ave. by New Land Enterprises LLP and Wiechmann Enterprises.

Foundation work has started, New Land announced Monday, 31 August, 2020. The building is scheduled for completion in summer of 2022.

Apartments, offices and other buildings made from timber can provide a lower carbon footprint than conventional construction.

They also can create a more attractive atmosphere, featuring exposed wood interiors.

The 291-foot-tall (88.8-meter) Mjøstårnet tower opened in Norway in 2019 and is the world's tallest such building. 

Ascent has attracted lenders and investors despite the economic problems tied to the COVID-19 pandemic, said Tim Gokhman, managing director of New Land Enterprises.

Korb + Associates is the architect, with San Francisco-based Swinerton serving as mass timber consultant. Thornton Tomasetti is providing structural engineering services.

Milwaukee's first mass timber building, the 60-unit Timber Lofts apartments, opened this summer at 300 W. Florida St. in Walker's Point.

For more on this story, go to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.