The sound of pile driving could soon start echoing through downtown Milwaukee as construction work begins on
The Edison, a 32-story mass timber apartment tower on the Milwaukee River.
Test piles are expected to start next week for the project at 1005 N. Edison St., with a full construction start confirmed for August, according to
Daniel Glaessl, partner and chief product officer at Madison-based development firm
The Neutral Project.
The Edison will include 383 apartment units and about 7,100 square feet of first floor retail space.
The project was first proposed in 2021 and plans grew from a 15-story building to a 28-story building to the 32-story, 375-foot tower that's planned today, which will be among the tallest residential buildings in the city. For comparison,
The Couture, which is nearing completion on the lakefront, is 507 feet tall and
333 Water, which is nearing completion in the Third Ward, is 342 feet tall.
Parking is planned for the second through sixth floors of The Edison building, and plans show a seventh floor dedicated to resident amenities. A small park next to the building will also be relandscaped for public use.
Glaessl told BizTimes that the firm is anticipating the building's first 120 units will be complete in August 2026 and the entire building will be complete in February 2027.
On Monday, The Neutral Project filed an application for a commercial footing and foundation permit with the City of Milwaukee for the project site.
The development's construction team is led by Fond du Lac-based general contractor
C.D. Smith, Chicago-based architect
Hartshorne Plucknard Architecture and New York City-based engineer
Thornton Thomasetti, which also has an office in Milwaukee.
The Edison would use a construction technique known as mass timber, or cross-laminated timber, which uses layers of wood pressed together to create columns, beams and other building frame components. This approach follows The Neutral Project’s mission to construct carbon neutral buildings.
Founded in 2020, this is the first project The Neutral Project has planned in Milwaukee, but the firm is currently building a 14-story, 206-unit mass timber apartment building development in Madison called Bakers Place.
The firm has also
confirmed to BizTimes that it submitted a development proposal for the Marcus Performing Arts Center parking garage site, located across the street from The Edison, for which the city issued a request for development proposals in September.
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