Jeramey Jannene

Quiet Company Could Build City’s Tallest Building

An examination of the who, what, where, and when of the new Northwestern Mutual office tower.

By - Dec 6th, 2012 01:41 pm

An examination of the who, what, where, and when of the new Northwestern Mutual office tower. Back to the full article.

Photos - Page 3

Categories: Real Estate

7 thoughts on “Quiet Company Could Build City’s Tallest Building”

  1. Chris says:

    Nice round-up, Jeramey. I was curious about the TIF structure. Glad to see NMI taking on a greater share of the risk.

    Can’t wait to see the building proposal. Don’t be surprised if there’s more than one building (O’Donnell parking garage may be involved, as you’ve alluded to).

  2. Jeff says:

    It’s unlikely that a 30- or 35-floor tower would go higher than the US Bank building; the floor heights would have to be enormous — 17 or 20 feet. How firm was the number of floors, or was that a guess by news media? Whatever the height, the announcement is great news for downtown, especially after what the disappointment with Kohl’s.

  3. Jeramey Jannene says:

    @Jeff – That’s an estimate given by Northwestern Mutual. What I’ve heard from a few sources is that Northwestern Mutual is looking at options that would make it taller (parking pedestal, other things below).

  4. Tyrell Track Master says:

    Bring it on.

    Yep, I certainly doubt a 35 story building would be taller than USBank unless it had an enormous spire on it, but that would look weird unless it was MUCH taller than USBank.

    Quality trumps height anyway.

    Wonder it the *other* proposed high rise on top of the transit center is still on the move. This could be a great rack of quality buildings all in a row!

  5. Juli Kaufmann says:

    This is truly exceptional news for Milwaukee. I am grateful for NML’s commitments. I will look forward to a very thoughtful deconstruction of the current building. I hope that a maximum amount of materials can either be salvaged or recycled as the existing building is removed. I also expect that NML will take this opportunity to invest in state – of -the art sustainability measures for the new building. I am confident these elements will be a priority for a company dedicated to insuring our future. This can not only be an iconic project for Milwaukee, but another symbol of what we stand for to the rest of the world. C’mon NML, make it count.

  6. Bob says:

    Even without parking, the new building could possibly be taller than the US Bank, the current building is 283 feet tall, at 16 stories, the floor height is 17.68 feet. If they would elect to go with this same construction in the new building, it would be well over 600 feet if they went 35 stories. If they want this building to be so iconic and also making a statement about Northwestern Mutual, I would find it hard to believe they would not go for “Milwaukee’s Tallest”, especially since they have gone this far.

  7. David Holmes says:

    An interesting twist on this story could be that the entire cost of the building (even the high end estimate of $350 million) is less than the $365 millionin profit that NML made in a little over two years from a single real estate investment – its purchase in August 2009 (for $115 million) and subsequent sale in April 2012 (for $480 million) of the 598-foot 42-story Russell Investments Center in downtown Seattle (which at 872,000 square feet is only about 5% larger than the planned NML building). I guess what is even nicer for NML is that one of the iconic buildings in Seattle (and one that was reportedly the largest skyscraper built in downtown Seattle in 15 years) is now named after an NML subsidiary – Russell Investments. This may have been the smartest “naming rights” deal for any company in U.S. history, as they not only paid $0 for the naming rights but actually made a $365 million profit. NML needs a 600-foot tall $350 million iconic building in downtown Milwaukee just to keep pace with its subsidiary in Seattle. Another interesting connection is that Nordstrom – soon to open their first Milwaukee-area store – is one of the tenants in the Russell Investments Center (just coincidence?).

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