Urban Milwaukee
Friday Photos

Deconstructing NML

Floor by floor, the east office building will be deconstructed and the materials recycled. Our photos capture the project's early stages.

By - Jan 17th, 2014 03:24 pm

The largest development in Milwaukee since construction of the U.S. Bank Center (then the First Wisconsin Center) is underway on Northwestern Mutual Life’s downtown Milwaukee campus.  A tower crane recently went up next to NML’s east office building and Veit, a firm that specializes in waste management, has started deconstruction. Unlike traditional demolition which would send the vast majority of waste building materials to a landfill, the process of deconstruction involves the floor-by-floor dismantling of the building for possible re-use or recycling. Deconstruction should be complete by the fall of 2014.

Shortly thereafter construction of Northwestern Mutual Life’s $450 million, 32-story, 1.1 million square-foot office tower will begin and it is expected to open in 2017.

Below we’ve included photos of the start of deconstruction and renderings of the finished office tower.

Photo Gallery by Rose Balistreri

Office Tower Renderings

 

5 thoughts on “Friday Photos: Deconstructing NML”

  1. jeff Jordan says:

    This is an example of good corporate a neighbor. It would be interesting to know how this works out financially. I’m not doubting the goodwill of NML, but does this cost them more than traditional tear down? Does the sale of the recyclables of offset the cost of doing the responsible thing?

  2. herb in planter says:

    To echo the thoughts of Mayor Norquist, re: Grand Avenue, why are we permitting NML to build more “gerbil tubes” and remove people from the street! Is that the “expense” cities must encounter to retain these corporations?

  3. Dudemeister says:

    Actually, the renderings of the new tower lack any skywalks at all. It will be interesting to see is NML decides to add some. It appears that architect Jon Pickard isn’t fond of their use.

    Regardless, this seems a pretty small “cost” to keep a major corporation downtown.

  4. Tim says:

    Herby, what’s the alternative here? Paint that picture for me.

  5. Dudemeister says:

    Actually, the renderings show no skywalks attached to the new tower/commons, including the one just constructed over Van Buren. It will be interesting to see if NML decides to add them. Apparently architect Jon Pickard dislikes their use.

    Regardless, this seems like a small price to pay to keep a major corporation downtown.

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