People coming and going to The Couture apartment tower through its transit center would be greeted by a massive, computerized screen, according to plans submitted to the city.
West Allis-based Poblocki Sign Company LLC recently applied for a permit for a 142-foot long, 28-foot tall, curved “LED wall screen” for the transit center at the base of the 44-story building that is under construction at 909 E. Michigan St. near the downtown Milwaukee lakefront and is being development by Milwaukee-based Barrett Lo Visionary Development.
The cost for the 3,976-square-foot LED screen is listed at $400,000, according to a permit request with the city. The sign is expected to erected this fall.
Once complete, The Couture will have 322 apartments, a two-level transit center and 42,000 square feet of retail space on the lower four floors.
Plans and renderings for the sign permit show the proposed LED sign wrapping around a corner inside The Couture’s transit center, facing northeast, just above where The Hop streetcar is expected to stop.
Rick Barrett, founder and chief executive officer of Barret Lo Visionary Development, has said the transit center, which will also be served by the East-West Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) line, is expected to ready for riders sometime this year.
Construction to complete the extension of The Hop streetcar track through the intermodal station at The Couture is expected to begin on April 3, a company spokesperson said in September of last year.
Late last week contractors were pouring concrete for the third floor of the building.
“It is a very complicated pour, but today we started it, and I am super excited about that,” Barrett said Thursday. “The fourth floor will be a lot less complicated, and then the fifth-floor plate is a monumental step. That takes us up to the 40th floor with the same plate. We have already poured 55% of all the concrete that will go into the project.”
Construction of the building began in 2021 and is expected to be completed in early 2024, with the buildings first tenants starting to move in this fall.
