Chroma Heads to Completion

After nearly a decade of The fifth and final phase of the Mandel Group‘s massive mixed-use The North End complex is rising from the ground. The new apartment building, to be known as Chroma, will include 88 apartments when complete.

Chroma, the Greek word for color, will join the ONE, Portrait, Silhouette, Aperture and Vignette buildings in the photography-named complex of buildings clustered around the intersection of N. Water St. and E. Pleasant St. Vignette recently opened to residents, and based on social media activity both its new apartments and outdoor pool have been a smash hit. See inside those apartments in our project profile released this morning.

The Mandel Group originally planned to build both the Vignette and Chroma buildings together, but split the two buildings into two projects to more easily obtain financing according to Mandel Group Chief Operating Office Robert Monnat. The two buildings will maintain shared amenities.

Design work on the building is being led by Eric Ponto of Engberg Anderson. Peridot is leading the building’s construction. The apartment building will include 60 underground parking spaces and 36 upper-level spaces.

You’re forgiven if you didn’t think it was part of The North End. The project is located across N. Water St. from the rest of the project, occupying the northeast corner of the intersection of N. Water St. and N. Milwaukee St.

However, now that the project has reached its maximum height it feels more unified with the rest of the complex. Standing in the middle of N. Water St. with the new buildings around you suddenly feels a lot more like being in the middle of an outdoor living room, and less like wandering through a post-apocalyptic wasteland of the abandoned Pfister & Vogel Tannery. Traffic is substantially calmer as well, with three stoplights added to N. Water St. between E. Juneau Ave. and E. Pleasant St.

The building will be the most dog friendly in the entire complex. An artificial grass dog run is planned as well as a dog spa.

The North End currently includes 561 apartments, numerous commercial tenants, Denim Park, a new segment of the Milwaukee RiverWalk and the Fresh Thyme Farmers Market grocery store. Add in the planned 88 units at Chroma and The North End will have more residents than many Wisconsin towns.

Chroma is expected to open in 2018. Construction on the six-story building began in March 2017. We last covered the project in November 2017.

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