Construction work has begun at the site of the future Milwaukee Public Museum.
MPM posted a video on X last week showing construction workers at the site, which is located at the corner of Sixth and McKinley streets in the Haymarket neighborhood adjacent to downtown Milwaukee. MPM held a groundbreaking ceremony in May for the new museum project, which is slated to be complete in 2027. But now actual construction work at the site has begun.
Construction is underway at our Future Museum site at Sixth and McKinley! The project’s construction manager Mortenson and its trade partners have started the 16-week process of driving more than 500 65-ft-long steel beams into the ground. pic.twitter.com/vv9qOvTRXX
— Milwaukee Public Museum (@MKEPublicMuseum) July 2, 2024
Madeline Anderson, director of communications at MPM, said Minneapolis-based construction firm M.A. Mortenson Co. took over the site June 10 to begin construction.
“The project’s construction manager Mortenson and its trade partners have started the 16-week process of driving more than 500 65-ft-long steel beams into the ground,” according to MPM’s post on X.
The beams, which are called piles, “will anchor the building and establish the deep foundations,” Anderson said. “Crews are using a crawler crane with a pile hammer to drive a total of 523 piles—421 under the museum and 117 under the parking structure—which will anchor the building and establish the deep foundations.”
Construction of the new building is being led by Mortenson in partnership with ALLCON. The structure itself was designed by Ennead Architects and Milwaukee-based Kahler Slater.
The $240 million project has been promised $45 million in public funding from Milwaukee County and another $40 million from the State of Wisconsin. MPM is responsible for raising the remaining $150 million from private donors. At least $80 million in private donations has been pledged to the project so far. MPM is pursuing another $5 million in federal grants for the project.
Construction of the building itself will cost approximately $200 million. The remaining funds for the project will cover the costs to move the collections from the existing building, provide millions for the museum’s endowment — money that would essentially go towards running the new museum — and to pay for project management and the ongoing fundraising campaign.
