MILWAUKEE | The Couture | 155m | 507ft | 44 fl | Pro

[AdmiralsFan24]

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A 44-story tower overlooking Lake Michigan that features high-end apartments and a hotel would replace the underused Downtown Transit Center under a proposal being recommended by County Executive Chris Abele.

The building, known as The Couture, would be developed by Rick Barrett, who's completing the 30-story Moderne apartment high-rise on downtown Milwaukee's west side.

The building's parking structure would cover floors two through six, and extend west from the main tower. The hotel, which doesn't yet have a prospective operator, would be on the seventh through 20th floors, and the apartments would be on the remaining upper floors.

The Couture's height would be 507 feet, making it one of the state's tallest buildings. The nearby U.S. Bank Center office tower, 777 E. Wisconsin Ave., is the tallest at 601 feet. If it's built, The Couture would be one of at least two major developments built in the lakefront area near O'Donnell Park.

Any transit center development isn't expected to have major effects on 833 East Michigan's lakefront views because of how the office building is designed, and because of a bend in the street at that location, Irgens has said.

The county's lakefront development plan, which the board approved last year, recommends selling the transit center site for new construction.

http://www.jsonline.com/business/44s...162017865.html

[musiccity]

Another one? Is Milwaukee booming or something? The Moderne has just been completed.


Well it's a very nice building and a good addition to Milwaukee. I'm just jealous that Milwaukee is getting these new towers and my city is stagnant.

[AdmiralsFan24]

I would call it a mini-boom. Between University Club Tower, The Moderne and now this that's three apartment/condo buildings between 350 and 500 feet that have gone up in 10 years. It's a shame Kohl's decided not to relocate to downtown and hopefully Northwestern Mutual decides to stay downtown instead of moving to Franklin.

More pictures from Rinka Chung's website.

[desertpunk]

Now we're cooking! Milwaukee is the hottest city in the Midwest right now!

[AcctStdntUWM]

Originally Posted by AdmiralsFan24

I would call it a mini-boom. Between University Club Tower, The Moderne and now this that's three apartment/condo buildings between 350 and 500 feet that have gone up in 10 years. It's a shame Kohl's decided not to relocate to downtown and hopefully Northwestern Mutual decides to stay downtown instead of moving to Franklin.

Lets not forget the Kilbourn Tower @ 379 ft.

[Kiboko]

Pretty dull design, but a good thing that Milwaukee is finally getting a decent skyline which fits the size of the city.

[spectre000]

Originally Posted by Kiboko

Pretty dull design, but a good thing that Milwaukee is finally getting a decent skyline which fits the size of the city.

Agreed.

Milwaukee deserves a taller denser skyline.

[ScraperDude]

Very nice design! Stark white though, a little color never hurt but stark white leads to a blank slate for RGB LEDs I suppose

[AdmiralsFan24]

Originally Posted by AcctStdntUWM

Lets not forget the Kilbourn Tower @ 379 ft.

Forgot about that. Maybe because I don't like that building.

[MN_Badger]

I really like the aesthetic of these new white towers paying homage to Kahn's US Bank tower - and what a spectacular location!

[desertpunk]

Originally Posted by MN_Badger

I really like the aesthetic of these new white towers paying homage to Kahn's US Bank tower - and what a spectacular location!

Yeah, it carries both the banding in the nearby Calatrava museum addition as well as the sunny whiteness of the US Bank Tower.

[iloveclassicrock7]

I was just noticing that Milwaukee's tallest building is 182m. What height restrictions does Milwaukee have ?

[El Mariachi]

I am always suprised by people who expect Milwaukee to have this massive skyline. Milwaukee has a large city population but it's a medium sized metro area. Roughly the same size as Indianapolis, Nashville, and Memphis. It doesn't have the corporate presence of Minneapolis, Charlotte, or cities like that. Milwaukee is historically a manufacturing city and they don't require major skyscrapers.

Here are a few photos that show a good aerial view of where the tower would be built.

image hosted on flickr

Milwaukee harbor by briethe, on Flickr

image hosted on flickr

Milwaukee Skyline by willkommen, on Flickr

[AcctStdntUWM]

Originally Posted by iloveclassicrock7

I was just noticing that Milwaukee's tallest building is 182m. What height restrictions does Milwaukee have ?

None, unfortunately, there just hasn't been the demand for something bigger yet.

Realting to this...

Originally Posted by El Mariachi

I am always suprised by people who expect Milwaukee to have this massive skyline. Milwaukee has a large city population but it's a medium sized metro area. Roughly the same size as Indianapolis, Nashville, and Memphis. It doesn't have the corporate presence of Minneapolis, Charlotte, or cities like that. Milwaukee is historically a manufacturing city and they don't require major skyscrapers.

Some good points, and the biggest issue is that all of the major corporations in Milwaukee that focus on services or technology have their major corporate headquarters outside of the downtown area; with the exception of Northwestern Mutual (Who's downtown operations consist of 2 towers and 2 low-rises with additional operations in the suburbs)

If a company like Kohls had actually moved downtown, or Johnson Controls had ALL their operations downtown, we'd be seeing a couple 700+ ft towers.

[AdmiralsFan24]

http://www.jsonline.com/news/milwauk...162423466.html

Four Milwaukee County supervisors Friday forced a special meeting of the County Board's Economic and Community Development Committee in an effort to fast track a prime lakefront development project.

The move highlights a rift on the board and between some board members and County Executive Chris Abele about his push for a plan to replace the county's Downtown Transit Center with a $120 million, 44-story apartment and hotel high-rise by developer Rick Barrett. County Board Chairwoman Marina Dimitrijevic and others have objected to a process on replacing the Transit Center they say hasn't provided enough public input.

The special meeting of the committee on authorizing Abele to negotiate a sale of the lakefront site will be July 23, over the objections of the committee chairwoman, Supervisor Patricia Jursik. Backers of the project hope to get it before the full County Board three days later.

Jursik said she prefers a more thorough review of proposals on developing the Transit Center site.

Supervisors John Weishan Jr., Jim "Luigi" Schmitt, Steve F. Taylor and David Bowen signed a letter Friday to call the special meeting, employing a seldom-used tactic that trumps the usual authority of the committee chairperson to schedule meetings. The four represent a majority of the panel.

Weishan said it was necessary to go that route after Jursik refused to place the issue on the committee's regular meeting agenda Monday. He said if the County Board stalls on authorizing negotiations with Barrett, Abele could simply move ahead without board approval. That would minimize board involvement in the deal, Weishan said.

Even if the board's development panel approves negotiations on Barrett's high-rise, which he calls The Couture, at the July 23 special meeting, the plan could be delayed by as few as six members of the full board when it next meets on July 26.

Abele selected The Couture plan for consideration from four proposals submitted in response to a "request for interest" issued by the county. In a statement Friday, Abele said he was excited to have the project advance.

"We know the majority of the (County) Board is as interested as we are about putting more than 4,000 people to work while creating a once-in-a-generation project along Milwaukee's lakefront," he said.

[AdmiralsFan24]

County board votes unanimously for the county to start negotiations with group led by local developer Rick Barrett.

http://www.jsonline.com/blogs/news/1...rt=newestfirst

[RobertWalpole]

Great news!

[AdmiralsFan24]

Big news for the possible development.

The state Department of Natural Resources said its research shows the parcel of land at 909 E. Michigan St., on which Milwaukee County's Downtown Transit Center currently stands, does not fall under the state's public trust doctrine. The doctrine protects former lake beds from development.

"After completing our review, the department concluded the parcel will not be subject to the public trust doctrine," Nitschke said.

Milwaukee County Executive Chris Abele issued a statement Friday saying he was pleased with the DNR's ruling.

"The public trust doctrine is important to me, that's why we asked for the DNR to look at the issue last year and we supported them taking another look this summer," Abele said. "Now that the issue has been thoroughly researched, we can continue to move forward with the exciting Couture project, which will change the skyline of Milwaukee and create 4,400 jobs and millions of dollars in tax base."

http://www.jsonline.com/business/dnr...171834161.html

It may not be over however. Preserve Our Parks, the group who opposes the development on the grounds that the site is of former lake bed may take it to court. But as of now this is a big win for Rick Barrett and those in favor of the project.

[Eric Offereins]

Nice addition to the Milwaukee skyline.

[Paule]

Originally Posted by AcctStdntUWM

Some good points, and the biggest issue is that all of the major corporations in Milwaukee that focus on services or technology have their major corporate headquarters outside of the downtown area; with the exception of Northwestern Mutual (Who's downtown operations consist of 2 towers and 2 low-rises with additional operations in the suburbs)

It's starting to look very promiseing that NML will be building something very significant to replace their 16 story office building downtown. In the coming months we'll know for sure but we're all very excited about this.
http://biztimes.com/article/20120926...ilding-for-NML
"Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Co.’s plans for a new office building to replace the 16-story, 451,964-square-foot East Building on its downtown campus appear to be focused downtown, rather than at its Franklin campus."