Tom Daykin

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

An unusual apartment high-rise could be coming to downtown Milwaukee: a 21-story tower that uses high-grade timber, not steel, for its frame.

The 201-unit development, named Ascent, would be one of the tallest such buildings in the world, according to its developer, New Land Enterprises LLP.

Ascent would be built at the site of the long-empty Edwardo's Pizza, at the northeast corner of North Van Buren Street and East Kilbourn Avenue, said Tim Gokhman, of New Land.

The project would use an unusual but trending construction technique known as mass timber.

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It would feature laminated timber: layers of wood pressed together to create columns, beams and other building frame components, Gokhman said Friday. Most tall buildings use steel and concrete frame construction.

Construction planned for fall 2019

The 238-foot Ascent would be the tallest mass timber building in the western hemisphere, he said.

It would eclipse an 18-story mass timber university residence hall that opened last year in Vancouver, British Columbia.

New Land hopes to start construction in the fall of 2019, and complete the project by spring of 2021, he said. Korb + Associates is the architect.

Gokhman declined to provide a cost estimate for the project, which would have apartments ranging from one to three bedrooms.

Ascent would need Plan Commission and Common Council zoning and design review.

Also, New Land hasn't yet secured financing for Ascent, Gokhman said. But he's confident that it will obtain equity investors and a construction loan.

New Land has owned the development site for several years. Other attempts to develop high-rises there that have not materialized.

One of the latest projects planned at that site was a 35-story apartment tower from Chicago-based Carroll Properties, which dropped that proposal in 2016.

Also, New Land itself tried to develop a tower at the site several years ago.

More recently, while Northwestern Mutual's 7Seventy7 apartment high-rise opened this summer at 777 N. Van Buren St., three other apartment towers planned for downtown and Milwaukee's east side have yet to be built.

Barrett Lo Visionary Development LLC's proposed Couture, 909 E. Michigan St., is still waiting for a decision from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development for a loan guarantee.

Portfolio, which Mandel Group Inc. wants to develop at 1350 N. Prospect Ave., has been scaled back, with its construction starting date postponed indefinitely.

Also, Madison developer Chris Houden hasn't yet started construction of the Goll House tower, 1550 N. Prospect Ave., despite obtaining Common Council approval a year ago. He said Friday that construction is to begin next spring.

Gokhman said Ascent's unusual materials and aesthetics would help it stand out in the market.

"It's legitimately in a class of its own," he said.

Making a pitch in Dubai

An office building constructed mainly from laminated timber is lighter, made from renewable materials and provides a lower carbon footprint than a conventional office building, which uses steel and concrete, said Gokhman.

A mass timber building also can create a more attractive atmosphere, featuring exposed wood interiors and big windows.

Also, Gokhman said Milwaukee has attracted much more outside investment capital in recent years as new hotels, apartment buildings and other projects continue to be developed throughout downtown.

"I think Milwaukee's reputation has certainly changed and its profile has elevated," he said. "We know now that lenders and investors look at Milwaukee in a different way."

Also, there's a significant under-supply of larger apartments that can accommodate empty nesters and other families, Gokhman said.

Ascent's units would range up to 2,800 square feet. The building's amenities would include a swimming pool, sauna and fitness center on the sixth floor, and top-floor outdoor decks with cabanas, fire pits and grills.

Some of Ascent's financing could come from foreign investors.

Gokhman is presenting the proposal at the Conference on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat, which runs Oct. 20-25 in Dubai.

Mass timber is a twist on an old construction technique.

Buildings, such as those in Milwaukee's Historic Third Ward, used timber frames in the 19th and early 20th century.

But the advances in steel frame construction in the later 19th century allowed for much taller buildings.

With mass timber buildings, wooden layers are laminated together, using nails, dowels or glue.

The beams, floors and other parts are engineered to be as strong as steel or concrete.

Their strength allows them to be used in modern mid-rise and high-rise buildings — eclipsing the old limits of conventional wood frames, said Corey Griffin, an associate professor at Portland State University School of Architecture in Oregon.

Tests have shown them to be resistant to earthquakes and fire — which typically chars the outside of the wood before eventually dying out, Griffin said.

Technology is already in Madison

Mass timber products have been used in Europe for about 25 years and are a proven technology.

They later surfaced in British Columbia after the province passed a law requiring new public buildings to study the feasibility of using wood.

Mass timber buildings have since spread to around a dozen U.S. cities. That list includes Madison, with Promega Corp.'s office and research facility.

New Land this summer announced plans to develop a seven-story, 42,000-square-foot mass timber office building at 834 N. Plankinton Ave.

The firm has secured some tenants for that project, and hopes to get enough additional renters to begin construction next spring.

Tom Daykin can be emailed at tdaykin@jrn.com and followed on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.