Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Co. plans to build a parking and apartment tower on the block northwest of East Mason Street and North Van Buren Street, near the company’s corporate headquarters campus in downtown Milwaukee, according to real estate industry sources.
One source said the company is expected to announce this week its plans to build a 33-story tower, with seven stories of parking and 26 stories of apartments. The building would have 1,100 parking spaces, according to that source.
Another source said the building will have nine stories of parking and 200 to 300 apartments.
A spokesperson for Northwestern Mutual could not immediately be reached for comment.
Northwestern Mutual owns the entire block bounded by North Van Buren, North Jackson, East Mason and East Wells streets, except for the Whiskey Bar building at 788 N. Jackson St.
That block is located just northwest of where Northwestern Mutual is building the $450 million, 32-story, 1.1 million-square-foot Northwestern Mutual Tower and Commons office building on its headquarters campus. That project is expected to be complete in 2017.
The company plans to add 1,900 employees to its downtown campus by 2030 and needs additional parking spaces as it expands employment there.
The company made an offer to purchase and improve the nearby O’Donnell Park parking structure from Milwaukee County to provide parking for its employees. But in December 2014 the County Board rejected the proposed sale of the O’Donnell Park parking structure to the company.
Northwestern Mutual then immediately announced that it planned to build a mixed use real estate development that would include 1,000 parking spaces, residences and retail space. The company said it would build the structure on one of two sites that it owns, including the site northwest of Mason and Van Buren.
