Construction of the new BMO Tower in downtown Milwaukee is scheduled to substantially finish on time in December, though work on the project has been accelerated to attain that deadline.
Milwaukee-based developer Irgens Partners LLC, BMO Harris Bank, city leaders and construction crews this morning celebrated a project milestone with the ceremonious lift of the final structural steel beam on the 25-story glass office building, which is being built at 790 N. Water St.
Mark Irgens, chief executive officer and manager of Irgens, said the entire building is set to be enclosed with glass by mid-August, and work on the roof is slated to finish in mid-September. The roof work includes installation of the sail-like parapet that will carry the BMO logo.
“The good news is steel erection is on time,” Irgens said. “The hard work and the artistry of the men and women (who) are building the project is simply amazing.”
However, remaining construction work has been accelerated in order for the building to finish up by the end of the year due to work in other areas taking longer than expected.
Specifically, Irgens said, construction of the parking structure was supposed to be completed in December 2018, but wasn’t finished until about two and a half months later in March.
“There’s been a lot of acceleration to the other construction, for example the steel is done on time but the men on the project were working five 10-hour days, then eight hours on weekends,” he said.
Irgens added the steel contractor, Germantown-based Construction Supply & Erection Inc., has worked hard to ensure the steel work could finish on time. Beyond that, other work being accelerated includes installation of windows, fireproofing and elevators.
Irgens declined to disclose how costly the accelerated work is, but pointed out any such added costs are all being handled within the existing project budget and contingencies.
The new office building is so far about 55% leased, with tenants including Michael Best & Friedrich, Heartland Advisors, Andrus Intellectual Property Law LLP and BMO Harris. The bank is leasing both office and retail space in the building, with the retail space for its downtown branch that’s being moved from next door at 770 N. Water St.
The developer is working with Colliers International|Wisconsin on leasing the building to new office tenants. Irgens said he’s confident he will be able to announce by the end of the year more leases that would total another 80,000 square feet.
“We’re projecting stabilized occupancy at 90% probably 18 months after substantial completion of the building in December,” he said.
Irgens added BMO Harris’ lease starts Dec. 1, and over a period of several weeks that month its employees would be moved into their new offices. Then the employees in the building next door would likely move in the following months.
Jud Snyder, BMO senior executive for Milwaukee, said some of the space BMO is leasing has already been turned over, though the bank has not really begun any kind of tenant improvements yet.
“We’re just in the midst of that process,” he said. “It’s been over the last two to three weeks that we’ve started to take some of the space, but we really haven’t started to do much of the build-out yet. That will be over the next three to four months.”
Snyder said roughly 200 employees will move into the bank’s new offices from the Milwaukee Center office building at 111 E. Kilbourn Ave., while about 400 employees are moving in from the building at 770 N. Water St.
The new bank branch on the ground floor will be a hybrid of the existing branch next door and the new branch on Fond du Lac Avenue, which is equipped with updated technology, Snyder said.
“So, this branch is going to be a combination of the two, (a) big, traditional branch style but with high tech kind of touches,” he said.
The overall development cost is $137 million, Irgens said.
Project financing comes from a $96 million loan from BMO Harris and $44 million in equity from Irgens, which includes $17 million from the EB-5 Immigrant Investor Program through FirstPathway Partners, a Milwaukee-based regional center that administers the federal government program.
JH Findorff & Son is the contractor for the project. The architect is Kahler Slater.
