wooden skyscrapers?

Source: finance-commerce.com/2025/01/developer-secures-133m-for-milwaukee-mass-timber-tower/

Developer secures $133M for Milwaukee mass timber tower

BridgeTower Media Newswires//January 8, 2025

MILWAUKEE — Financing is secured for construction of a 31-story, mass timber tower in downtown Milwaukee.

Madison-based Neutral is the developer behind The Edison, a high-rise apartment building with 378 units and 7,200 square feet of ground floor retail space at 1005 N. Edison St.

The developer on Monday announced it closed $133.3 million in construction financing from Little Rock, Arkansas-based OZK Bank and Chicago-based Pearlmark Real Estate. JLL Capital Markets worked for Neutral to facilitate the transaction, officials added.

“We’re grateful to partner with Bank OZK and Pearlmark and for JLL Capital Markets’ leadership in facilitating this milestone financing. Successfully securing funding in today’s challenging financial market environment underscores the strength of the project’s fundamentals and our exceptional project team,” said Nate Helbach, founder and CEO of Neutral, in a statement.

“With The Edison, we’re demonstrating that innovation in sustainable high-rise construction is both technologically and financially feasible,” said Daniel Glaessl, chief planning officer of Neutral, in a statement. “The Edison will pursue some of the strictest sustainability standards, like passive house certification, by PHIUS 2021,” he added, referring to a standard for buildings with comfortable indoor environments with low operating energy.

Project construction is expected to start in the first quarter of 2025 and is expected to be complete in the second quarter of 2027, Neutral officials said.

Fond du Lac-based C.D. Smith Construction is the general contractor and Chicago-based Hartshorne Plunkard Architecture is the architect. After construction, the Edison will be Milwaukee’s second mass timber building.

In July 2024, Neutral won the Department of City Development’s request for proposals to redevelop the Marcus Performing Arts Center parking garage at 1001 N. Water St.

Neutral wants the project to include three mixed-use, mass-timber skyscrapers with more than 700 housing units designed by architect Michael Green of MGA, officials said. The $700 million investment shared last summer included more than 300 hotel rooms and 190,000 square feet of office space. Officials said the project could also include the tallest mass timber building in Wisconsin and the world.

The item has yet to be reviewed by the Common Council. However, at least one Milwaukee alderman and another developer have shared skepticism about Neutral’s plans.

Neutral to wrap up another mass timber building in Madison

The timber structure has been completed for Baker’s Place, a 14-story mixed-use project in Madison, Neutral officials said. Work for the white façade has started and commercial tenants are getting ready to move into the building, which will have 8,400 feet of retail space. Construction is on schedule and pre-leasing will start “in the coming weeks,” officials added.

Construction started on 517 W. Main St., another Neutral project, which includes 33 residential units. Developers said they secured municipal approvals, finished the design, capitalized the project and started construction within 10 months.

Over the past year, the development company has gone by Neutral after rebranding from The Neutral Project. Neutral will enter 2025 with 239 units under construction and another 415 units in the development pipeline, Helbach wrote.