Madison-based development firm Neutral is now eyeing a spring construction start for its 32-story mass timber tower in downtown Milwaukee after successfully closing on the project’s $133.3 million construction financing, according to an announcement.
Known as The Edison, the 378-unit luxury apartment tower is planned for a site along the Milwaukee River at 1005 N. Edison St.
Neutral closed Monday on construction financing for the project. Little Rock, Arkansas-based Bank OZK provided senior financing and Chicago-based Pearlmark Real Estate delivered the mezzanine financing. Chicago-based JLL Capital Markets is facilitating the transaction.
“This transaction was months in the making and is a testament to both the project fundamentals and our team’s ability to capitalize projects in an extraordinarily challenging time for capital markets,” Neutral chief executive officer Nate Helbach said in the announcement.
The Edison was originally proposed in 2021 as a 15-story tower, but the building’s size increased twice before its current plans received final approval from the City of Milwaukee last year.
Neutral began some site work, including test piles, last year. Neutral has said the project will take about two years to complete. The firm is working with Fond du Lac-based general contractor C.D. Smith on the project.
In addition to the apartment units, The Edison would include two public plazas at the north and south ends of the development site, 7,000 square feet of retail space on the first floor, an amenity floor and 288 parking spaces.
Neutral is also planning to lease 100 spaces at a city-owned parking garage at 1024 N. Water St., which is connected to the 1000 N. Water St. office building that is owned separately. That agreement is pending before the Common Council, according to city documents.
Founded in 2020, The Edison would be Neutral’s first Milwaukee project. The announcement comes as the firm is nearing completion of its first project, a 206-unit mass timber apartment building in downtown Madison that will open this spring, and has broken ground on a second, a 33-unit apartment building also in downtown Madison that will open this summer.
Last year, Neutral stunned Milwaukee with an ambitious $700 million proposal at the Marcus Performing Arts Center (MPAC) parking garage site, which is across the street from where The Edison would be built. That project could deliver hundreds of hotel rooms, thousands of square feet of retail and office space and hundreds of multifamily housing units in a 55-story tower if completed. Neutral has not yet been awarded its one-year exclusive negotiation period with the city for that project.
