Groundbreaking Held For Tallest Mass Timber Tower in Western Hemisphere

The Edison. Rendering by Hartshorne Plunkard Architecture

A record-breaking apartment tower is under construction in Milwaukee.

Neutral Edison will be the tallest mass timber building in the Western Hemisphere when completed in 2027.

The 31-story building, 1005 N. Edison St., will include 353 high-end apartments and loads of environmentally-friendly features.

Once complete, it will eclipse the height of the current world record holder, the 25-story Ascent building located just a half mile east. That building, completed in 2022, was certified as the “world’s tallest timber-concrete hybrid building.” But an even taller building is already under construction in Sydney, Australia and is expected to claim the world record, limiting The Edison’s claim to the Western Hemisphere.

Nevertheless, Madison-based Neutral is moving on a project it has publicly planned and expanded since 2020. It’s also planning a world record-breaking tower across the street.

Mass timber is an engineered product created by combining layers of lumber into a stronger material touted for its environmental benefits and aesthetic appeal. Because it mimics many of the properties of old-growth lumber, mass timber is more desirable than conventional wood construction. It only chars (rather than burning through) in a fire, reduces on-site construction time and offers enhanced strength. Using it as the structural material on the residential portion of the tower allows for substantial amounts of exposed wood in apartments. The base of the building, which contains a parking structure, will be made of concrete.

“We see this project as more than sustainable. It’s incorporating a whole bunch of different health and well-being aspects to the building to really go beyond, not just the structure being sustainable, but all the residents inside living a sustainable lifestyle,” said Helbach at a groundbreaking ceremony Monday afternoon.

Planned amenities in the high-end rental development include a community movie room, golf simulator, fitness center, tenant coworking space, sauna, lounge, dog park and grooming station, on-site Tesla rental and an e-bike and scooter sharing program. An outdoor lounge deck is to include a small pool.

Approximately 7,000 square feet of commercial space is included on the first floor. Los Angeles-based Copa Vida will operate a cafe and organic grocery store on the first floor and manage the coworking space in the building. The company is also opening locations in Neutral’s two Madison buildings.

Small city-owned lots at each end of the property are also being incorporated into the development site and will be maintained by Neutral as public plazas.

“This will be a manifestation of what we are actually working on at Neutral in terms of sustainability, in terms of healthy living, in terms of tenant-user experience, and last but not least in terms of design and engineering,” said Neutral partner and chief product officer Daniel Glaessl.

“Milwaukee welcomes developers and partners who want to help our city grow. We want developers to invest in our neighborhoods to contribute to the future right here in Milwaukee,” said Mayor Cavalier Johnson.

“I want to give a thank you Milwaukee. It’s probably the best municipality to work in out of all the municipalities,” said Helbach.

He noted that the approval process was “laborious,” partly because the firm had increased the size of the building at multiple points. The city issued its final legislative approval in February when it endorsed a parking lease for additional spaces in a nearby, city-owned structure.

Area Alderman Robert Bauman praised Neutral for expanding the project. “A lot of times we see projects go from big and grand to basically being downsized or downscaled because of financial considerations, housing demands, things of those sorts,” said Bauman. “So I was very impressed that they were looking to be bold.” Though after the groundbreaking, he told media members he still has concerns about selling Neutral a neighboring, city-owned site for a phased development that could contain the world’s tallest mass timber building. (Look for more coverage of that debate by Urban Milwaukee on Tuesday)

The project is not receiving any direct city subsidies. It will include direct connections to the riverwalk segment that has long fronted what was for years a riverfront warehouse.

Helbach said Neutral identified the 0.56-acre site in 2020 and approached wholesale florist Rojahn & Malaney Co. about buying it.

“It was back in 1950 they bought the site for $21,000, isn’t that crazy? And he’s like ‘I’ll take $4.5 million,'” said Helbach in paraphrasing how the discussion went with Anthony Rojahn. Neutral negotiated Rojahn down to $4.12 million and closed in 2022. The warehouse was demolished in 2024 and site preparation work got underway earlier this year.

Now, CD Smith has fully mobilized to start construction. Neutral secured $133.3 million in construction financing with Bank OZK and Pearlmark.

Hartshorne Plunkard Architecture is leading the design of the building. Forefront Structural Engineers is serving as the structural engineer. Thornton Tomasetti is providing engineering support.

An amenity level will be included on the top residential floor. The 32nd floor will include space for mechanical infrastructure.

Neutral estimates that the carbon footprint of the building’s construction materials will be 54% lower than a structure built using conventional materials. It estimates that the building’s operational carbon footprint and energy consumption will be 45% lower. The firm intends to pursue Living Building Challenge 4.0 Core Certification and Passive House certification using the PHIUS 2021 Core Standard to formally measure the building’s environmental friendliness.

Helbach told Urban Milwaukee that he doesn’t think the building will encounter the leasing hiccups that 333 Water and The Couture did, two luxury towers that opened in 2024 to slower-than-expected leasing. “It’s a very simplistic microeconomic scenario,” said Helbach. “Because we basically have double the amount of units that got delivered in supply-and-demand metrics. We only have a certain amount of absorption.” Neutral Edison, based on construction timing, is likely to be the only luxury tower opening when Helbach thinks 333 Water and The Couture will have caught up. He cited the strong leasing of 7Seventy7 and Ascent, the tower that opened up Milwaukee’s high-end market and the mass timber building that followed it, as precedents for high-end leasing.

And even if the market hasn’t caught up, Helbach thinks his firm has a winner. “I think the building is completely different” due to its “programming and sustainability,” he said.

Photos

Renderings

Mid-Demolition Photos

March Site Photos

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