World’s Tallest Timber Building Nears Completion

Ascent. Photo by Jeramey Jannene.

The tallest mass timber building in the world doesn’t look the part anymore. Ascent, the 25-story luxury apartment building, is now entirely enclosed in glass, shrouding the timber structure. It’s a significant step as New Land Enterprises gets ready to open the $128.2 million building this summer.

But anyone that steps foot in any of the 259 apartments will find it unlike any other building in the city, and few others that are similar in the world. Ascent, 700 E. Kilbourn Ave., will be a high rise with exposed mass timber in every unit.

“It’s warmer, more beautiful, it just feels good,” said New Land managing director Tim Gokhman of the apartment’s interior aesthetics during a July tour of the partially completed building. Wherever possible, the mass timber will be exposed in the walls and ceilings. A wood-grain-finish floor will be installed atop a radiant heating system and insulation layer, accenting the White Spruce mass timber.

Looking up from the street level you can differentiate the different components of the structure. The first six floors, which house the building’s 330-stall parking structure, are made of concrete. The seventh floor is a hybrid, with an indoor pool with operable windows and a sauna sitting on concrete and mass timber supporting much of the rest of the floor. The next 18 floors are all mass timber. The top floor, which is taller than the floors below it, is a resident amenity floor with outdoor decks and a bar. A concrete stair and elevator core runs up the center of the building, but is effectively hidden.

When finished, the 25-story building will rise 283 feet, eclipsing the current world leader, the Mjos Tower in Norway, by three feet.

Mass timber is an engineered product made by combining layers of lumber into a stronger material. The material is capable of building much taller buildings than conventional wood construction methods because in a fire it only chars (rather than burning through) and offers enhanced strength. In early 2020, a model unit passed a three-hour fire test. The building material is spreading quickly from Austria, where it was invented. In the U.S. it has been most commonly used in the Pacific Northwest.

Mass timber offers a mix of aesthetic and environmental benefits, which New Land hopes will differentiate the building compared to other high-end buildings and reduce turnover.

The on-site construction time is also reduced because much engineering work is done before ground is broken.

Provided by two different European suppliers, each mass timber piece was designed for a specific location in the building. If a pipe needed to go through a floor, the corresponding hole was precut into the beam in Europe. Each column has corresponding male and female metal joints to connect with the adjoining pieces. The width of the load-bearing pieces shrinks as the building climbs higher, reflecting the decreasing weight they need to support.

Developer New Land Enterprises spent years refining the project after announcing it in 2018. Twice floors were added to the building as further engineering was done.

The changes were made in partnership with design firm Korb + Associates Architects, the general contracting team of CD Smith and Catalyst Construction, structural engineer Thornton Tomasetti and mass timber specialist Timberlab.

Beyond the pool, sauna, fitness center and 25th floor amenity deck, a host of other amenities are planned. They include a golf simulator, community kitchen, dog grooming spa and electric vehicle charging stations.

Approximately 7,000 square feet of retail is included in the first floor.

For more on the building’s mass timber construction, see our July profile.

Project Acquires New Investors

A new crop of investors joined the Ascent project in the past few months. New Land successfully raised $5 million through crowdfunding platform Realty Mogul.

Available for a minimum $35,000 buy-in, the offering replaced a portion of the equity that New Land and frequent partner Jim Wiechmann‘s Wiechmann Enterprises put into the project.

According to data available on Realty Mogul, the new investment offering has an estimated 17.6% internal rate of return.

Photos

Interior Renderings

Exterior Renderings