Groundbreaking For New Third Ward Tower

Construction is already underway on a 31-story tower in the Historic Third Ward, but that didn’t stop the 333 North Water Street development team and city officials from gathering Friday morning to ceremonially toss dirt and celebrate the project.

The Chicago office of international real estate firm Hines is developing the high-end, 333-unit apartment tower. It includes riverfront restaurant space, a new access point to the riverwalk, an eighth-floor pool atop a seven-story parking structure and commercial space facing N. Water St. The $165 million building is being developed on a 0.79-acre parking lot that a neighborhood plan identified as suited for a “landmark” building.

“Projects like this are great, but they take a lot of work to put together,” said Hines’ senior managing director Tom D’Arcy. The tower is being designed by Devon Patterson of Solomon Cordwell Buenz and constructed by W.E. O’Neil Construction. It required a combination of design and zoning approvals from the Historic Third Ward Architectural Review Board, City Plan Commission and Common Council.

First proposed in 2021, it was originally to be slimmer and a floor taller, but rising construction costs forced a redesign to a more stout structure.

“I think we had a conversation about [tax incremental financing], but it was the shortest conversation we have ever had,” said D’Arcy of a meeting with Alderman Robert Bauman about a potential public subsidy to maintain the original design.

And even though public dollars were not forthcoming, D’Arcy praised the city and other entities involved in reviewing the proposal. “Milwaukee has been the best city from planning, to development to zoning that I have ever worked in,” said the developer in a statement not missed by the multiple Department of City Development representatives in the room.

Mayor Cavalier Johnson called the tower a “skyline-defining project,” but said it was more than that. “It’s family-supporting jobs,” said the mayor of the construction work. He said it would help build wealth across the city, indirectly improving public safety by providing opportunities.

Johnson also said the tower would help Milwaukee’s image. “I don’t want to be in Chicago’s shadow. It’s time to break out,” said the mayor. “It’s things like this that will put us on the map.”

“This project has a few additional qualities that other projects do not,” said Bauman. He praised the building’s high-quality architecture and that it was being done without a subsidy. The alderman said it would be a welcome addition to the built environment in the Third Ward.

Bauman said the fact that Hines was the developer would also draw attention to Milwaukee. He said the company was clearly an industry leader with its reported $92 billion in assets under management. D’Arcy, through Hines, previously worked on the development of Northwestern Mutual Tower and Commons and, with Patterson, the insurance company’s luxury apartment tower  7Seventy7. The latter project, D’Arcy previously said, showed the potential of the Milwaukee market to the company.

“We think Milwaukee has a very bright future and we are honored to be part of it,” said the developer. He praised the number of nearby projects underway, including a new dog park, potential soccer stadium, planned concert venue and a number of suburbs-to-city corporate relocations.

After a brief ceremony in the Black Swan event venue at 309 N. Water St., the project leaders lined up indoors to celebrate the project’s start by turning over dirt. Outside, a crew from W.E O’Neil continued driving piles into the ground.

Third Ward residents and visitors won’t be subjected to the seemingly-nonstop banging sound of pile drivers for much longer. A representative of the contracting firm told Urban Milwaukee that work is to be completed by the start of January. Of the 338 piles, approximately 280 are already in the ground. They’re being driven to a depth of approximately 185 feet to give the tower a solid base and to get past several dozen feet of brick-laden fill from previously demolished buildings and the 1892 Third Ward fire.

Photos

February 2022 Renderings

March 2022 Design Adjustments

August 2021 Renderings and Site Plan

Pre-Construction Site Photos