Northwestern tabs subs for headquarters building

Nearly 60 companies from Milwaukee and other parts of Wisconsin have joined the construction team assembled to put up Northwestern Mutual’s new headquarters building, according to a company news release Wednesday.

The additions are intended to help the company meet a goal of employing local laborers on the project.

In return for receiving public assistance through a tax increment financing district, Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Co. has promised that 40 percent of the work hours needed for the project will go to Milwaukee residents and 25 percent of the expenditures to small businesses. According to the news release, Northwestern Mutual met those goals June 30.

The company already has employed many local companies to work on projects related to moving utilities, demolishing the company’s east office building and making other preparations. The nearly 60 companies more recently brought on will help build the $450 million, 32-story, 1.1 million-square-foot tower Northwestern Mutual plans to put up at 800 E. Wisconsin Ave. in downtown Milwaukee during the next three years.

VIEW A LIST OF SUBS ON
THE NORTHWESTERN PROJECT

As part of a recruitment drive for the project, Northwestern Mutual held 15 informational sessions in Milwaukee. Groups such as the Wisconsin Regional Training Partnership/BIG STEP worked with the company to help residents who were interested in the project get into apprenticeships and obtain other training.

Construction on the new headquarters is scheduled to begin in February. The general contractor on the project is a team formed between Milwaukee-based C.G. Schmidt Inc. and Providence, R.I.-based Gilbane Building Co.