Plans to build a 50‑story wooden skyscraper over a disused snow pile site have been scrapped, after city officials met with representatives from developer Neutral on Friday.
The tower was to be the centrepiece of a $700 million activation of the Marcus Performing Arts Centre in downtown Milwaukee. Designed by MGA | Michael Green Architecture, a global leader in mass timber buildings, “the project would eventually include the tallest mass timber in the world and the tallest building in Wisconsin.”
However, plans to build the precinct, dubbed by Cavalier Johnson, Milwaukee’s Mayor, as key “to grow our city’s population to one million Milwaukeeans,” were thrown into jeopardy after the builder, C.D. Smith Construction, paused work on the 31-storey Edison development – poised to use 100,000 cubic feet of lumber in its construction, a short distance from the 50-story site, over payment concerns, Trump’s tariffs on mass timber and general inflationary creep in building products.
“The city remains fully committed to advancing a vision that best serves our community’s long-term interests,” according to Lafayette Crump, commissioner of DCD. “Redevelopment of the site was identified in the city’s Connec+ing MKE Downtown Plan 2040 as a catalytic project and is important to the future success of downtown. We look forward to engaging new partners who share our goals for growth and adding density and vibrancy to this key site.”
In September, Nate Helbach, CEO of Neutral, warned that “recent tariffs (including a 15% tariff on mass timber imported from the European Union) and broader inflation have materially increased key input hard costs,” forcing Neutral to pause the project: “Pausing to value-engineer is a difficult but prudent step to safeguard the long-term success of 1005 N. Edison. Our focus remains on delivering a resilient, exceptional building for Milwaukee.”
Earlier this year, Wood Central reported that Helbach was taking steps to reduce its exposure to Trump’s tariffs, which will, once they take effect, affect materials entering the United States. At the time, Helbach stated that, under a worst-case scenario, tariffs could result in a $4 million increase in costs (or 2.4% across affected trades—a figure far below the tariffs that now apply to European mass timber upon entry).
Responding to media requests, Daniel Glaessl, a partner at Neutral, said the city decided to move forward with another partner, which is typical in any RFP process. The city of Milwaukee Zoning, Neighbourhoods and Development Committee was scheduled to meet on Tuesday at 9 a.m. (later this morning Australian time) to discuss the future of the Marcus Performing Arts Centre parking structure and a resolution to direct DCD to prepare a new RFP for the city-owned site.
