Northwestern Mutual’s Unbuilding Changes Skyline

Northwestern Mutual Tower (left) and North Building (right). Photo by Jeramey Jannene.

If they look closely, the 50,000 people expected to attend the Republican National Convention in 10 days might be confused by the highest-profile construction project on Milwaukee’s lakefront.

Is it going up or down?

The answer is both.

Northwestern Mutual is overhauling its 18-story North Building into a miniature clone of its 32-story signature tower.

The company’s development team is stripping the granite facade off the 1990 office building and gutting the interior of the 540,000-square-foot structure, 818 E. Mason St.

The mid-July result is a building that, from the ground, looks like it’s being razed and, from many floors up, appears as if a new skyscraper is being built with reused steel.

A multi-story western addition is being removed for a new community-facing structure that spans the adjacent N. Cass Street. An ever-dwindling portion of the gray stone facade remains.

Northwestern Mutual announced the $500 million project in early 2023 as part of a strategy to shutter its suburban Franklin campus and bring 2,000 more employees to the downtown campus. CEO John Schlifske described it as a “skyline-defining” bet on Milwaukee during the October groundbreaking.

It’s the second such bet the company has placed, having completed the 1.1-million-square-foot Tower and Commons in 2017.

To make the North Building match the 2017 tower, each floor will be extended to have the same rounded shape. According to company officials, the expanded building will gain approximately 80,000 square feet of space.

The plan was spurred by the insurance company’s desire to address the aging building, which needed mechanical and other system replacements under any scenario, and create a more collaborative work environment.

“The modernized North Office Building that we’re working on today will provide even more room for us to collaborate, to welcome people to Milwaukee, to celebrate the culture of our company, expand what we do across the country and bring all these advisors from around the country into Milwaukee to sort of see, taste and experience what Northwestern Mutual is all about,” said Schlifske at the groundbreaking.

The downtown campus will be able to house up to 9,000 employees said the CEO, with a current roster of 8,000 employees split between Milwaukee, Franklin and New York City.

A city subsidy agreement, approved in March 2023, calls for up to $30 million to be provided to the company across nearly two decades. It would be structured effectively as a property tax rebate on the increased revenue generated by the project. Northwestern Mutual, the city’s largest property taxpayer, would need to meet a series of job and assessed value benchmarks to receive the full amount. A 2023 city report said the company had 4,600 employees in the city, including 3,958 actively working at the downtown campus.

A $54 million subsidy agreement for the 2017 tower required the company to have 4,480 full-time equivalent employees in the city as of 2023. Because the $450 million building is assessed at more than initially expected, that district’s payback is outperforming expectations. The steadily increasing job benchmark, which expires at the end of 2030, for the 2017 tower maxed out at 5,375 employees. The new agreement pushes it higher, with 5,750 employees required starting in 2030.

As part of creating the tax incremental financing (TIF) district subsidy to Northwestern Mutual, the city is also allocating $10 million in increased property tax revenue toward public improvements. The projects, which must be made within a half mile of the district’s boundaries, include new protected bike lanes, redesigning a major lakefront intersection and improving Cathedral Square Park and Juneau Park.

The latest project includes substantial rehabilitation work to the parking structure to the west at 777 N. Cass St. Instead of a skywalk, the office building is to be directly connected to the structure with a three-story structure. Closing Cass Street between E. Mason and E. Wells streets, which city officials agreed to as part of the broader deal, was met with opposition from the Pedestrian and Bicycle Advisory Committee and resulted in a clawback provision being added.

The new project will result in changes to the 2017 complex. A publicly accessible convenience store is expected to operate from the building, and the existing Starbucks cafe will relocate to the east, giving it a direct entrance and a more public-facing location. The store is expected to open in fall 2024.

Many of the same firms from the 2017 project are back for the latest effort.

A partnership of Gilbane Building Co. and CG Schmidt is leading the general contracting and construction management. Connecticut-based Pickard Chilton is joined by Houston-based Kendall/Heaton Associates on the building’s design. Eppstein Uhen Architects is providing interior design services. Cross Management Services is working on compliance with city hiring and contracting requirements.

Demolition contractor Viet & Co. is involved in the demolition components. Much of the material is to be recycled.

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