Eyes to the skies: Projects to watch in 2016

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If industry economists’ forecasts prove correct, 2016 might see a slight slowdown in construction investment nationally.

But, judging by the number of projects that are planned or already underway, it’s hard to find reason to be pessimistic in Wisconsin. This week two of the largest trade associations in the country — the Associated Builders and Contractors Inc. and the Associated General Contractors of America — put out releases cautioning against being overly sanguine about the industry’s prospects, even as month-to-month spending data remain strong.

“After experiencing significant spending momentum early last year, that momentum has softened considerably in recent months,” said Anirban Basu, ABC’s chief economist, in a report detailing industry spending numbers. “Recent surveys of construction executives have been a bit more downbeat of late.”

Such predictions, though, have not kept Wisconsin contractors from staying busy. Here are some of the biggest projects worth following in 2016:

St. Croix Crossing

Location: Over the St. Croix River between Oak Park Heights, Minn., and St. Joseph, Wis.

Size: Mile-long bridge, with approaches on both sides of the St. Croix River. Also includes trail improvements and a conversion of the historic Stillwater Lift Bridge to a bike and pedestrian span.

Project cost: $617 million to $646 million ($376.5 million for the bridge, $70.7 million for Minnesota approaches, and $24.8 million for Wisconsin approaches)

Owner/developer: The Minnesota Department of Transportation and the Wisconsin Department of Transportation

Project team: Lunda/Ames joint venture (bridge superstructure), Lunda/Ames joint venture (Minnesota approaches), Edward Kraemer & Sons (foundations); bridge design work was led by HDR, an architectural and engineering firm out of Omaha, and Buckland & Taylor out of North Vancouver, B.C.

Description: The $626 million St. Croix Crossing project is heading into a busy year, as the project team works toward a 2017 opening for the mile-long bridge.

Work on the bridge deck is being put on hold during the winter, largely because the “epoxy” needed to join the segments can only be applied when the outdoor temperature is 28 degrees or warmer, MnDOT said.

The project team got a shake-up earlier in the year when the steel-erection firm J&L Steel and Electrical Services left midway through its contract. J&L, which is out of Hudson, said the high cost of carrying the work forced its hand.

Minnesota Department of Transportation officials initially hoped to open the bridge to traffic in fall 2016. The department, though, decided last year to push that date into 2017. MnDOT blamed the delay on “project complexities.”

Case in point: The project’s rebar installation and post-tensioning systems are more complex than those that are typically found in bridge construction in Minnesota, and the project requires special equipment to lift 180-ton precast segments into place. The lifters are imported from Europe.

Milwaukee Bucks arena and surrounding developments

Location: Downtown Milwaukee

Size: The arena will have about 290,000 square feet of space, and the surrounding developments will take up several city blocks and be bordered roughly by West McKinley Avenue to the north, West State Street to the south and North Old World 3rd Street and 6th Street to the east and west.

Project cost: $1 billion in total. The arena’s $500 million price tag is to be split between the Bucks and public money. Private developers plan, in turn, to put up $500 million worth of related developments nearby.

Owner: The Wisconsin Center District, a governmental body that now oversees Milwaukee’s downtown convention center and other entertainment venues in the area. The district is issuing $203 million worth of bonds needed for the public’s contribution to the arena project.

Description: The Bucks announced in October that the arena will not be ready until the 2018-2019 NBA season, one year later than originally hoped. Construction is expected to begin sometime between this spring and summer.

The beginning phase will entail building structures that will primarily be used by the team itself and will include moving combined sewers and installing construction fencing. Beyond that, the first phase also calls for the construction of a practice building, parking structure and “live block” — an area that will be set aside for entertainment and food service.

The second phase will see the development of mixed-used buildings and plaza space, and the next phase calls for more mixed-use development and the construction of parking lots.

Northwestern Mutual Tower and Commons project

Location: Downtown Milwaukee, on the corner of Mason and Van Buren streets

Size: 1.1 million square feet, 32 stories

Project cost: $450 million

Owner: Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Co.

Project team: Gilbane Building Co., C.G. Schmidt Inc., Kendall/Heaton Associates Inc., Pickard Chilton, Valerio Dewalt Train Associates and numerous subcontractors.

Description: Heading into its penultimate year, the Northwestern Mutual project is poised to hit various milestones in 2016. By March, the Tower crane should be extended to its full height of 617 feet. The company expects to top off steel erection sometime in the first half of the year and enclose the nearby, three-story Commons building in glass. Crews have also begun installing the glass curtain wall on the south side of the Tower. The Tower’s curtain wall is scheduled to be finished in the fall.

The Couture

Location: Downtown Milwaukee, near the city’s lakefront

Size: 44 stories on roughly 2 acres, including 30,000 square feet of public plazas

Project cost: $122 million

Developer: Rick Barrett

Description: The Couture will contain both apartments and retail space. Plans also call for the purchase of the city’s Downtown Transit Center site, which will be demolished to make way for the main project. The Couture site is to have a stop along a lakefront extension of Milwaukee’s long-planned streetcar project.

Titletown development

Location: Green Bay, near Lambeau Field

Size: About 34 acres

Project cost: Initial estimates put the project’s cost at about$130 million. About $65 million of that was to come from the Packers and the rest from other groups involved.

Owner: Green Bay Packers

Project team: Sterling Project Development, ROSSETTI and Biederman Redevelopment Ventures make up the team of development consultants.

Description: The Packers announced plans for the Titletown development in August.

Included in the development will be a 10-acre public plaza, a hotel built and managed by Kohler Co., a Bellin Health Sports Medicine Clinic and Hinterland Restaurant and Brewery. The organization plans on the district, especially the plaza, to be a year-round destination.

“The public plaza, with its size and location near Lambeau Field, will be a draw that is very unique in our area and a wonderful public space for our community,” Mark Murphy, team president and chief executive, said in a news release.

Included in the plans is the construction of as many as 70 townhouses overlooking the plaza. The Associated Press reported in October that the Packers had originally planned for there to be 30 to 50 townhouses, but the strong interest since shown in the project means that number could increase.

Confluence Project

Location: Downtown Eau Claire, near the confluence of the Chippewa and Eau Claire rivers

Project cost: $87.5 million

Owner/developer: The project is a collaboration among UW-Eau Claire, Commonweal Development, Market & Johnson and the Eau Claire Regional Arts Center

Project team: Haymarket Concepts LLC

Description: At one point, during lawmakers’ negotiations over Wisconsin’s current budget, it appeared as if the state might step back from providing money for this long-planned project. Officials, though, eventually found a way to approve $15 million worth of bonding for the Confluence, making it one of the few new projects to receive such support in the state’s two-year spending plan.

That money is to be matched with various local sources to put up a $40 million to $50 million arts center — which will constitute just one half of the Confluence Project. The other half, a residential and commercial building called Haymarket Landing, is being paid for entirely from private money.

Babcock Hall expansion project

Location: UW-Madison campus

Size: 54,650 square feet, three stories

Project cost: About $34 million

Owner: UW-Madison

Description: Plans for the expansion call for demolishing 2,770 square feet of space within Babcock Hall and a 3,200-square-foot structure known as the Science House to make way for the addition on the hall’s west side.

Inside will be two floors of research space, two food laboratories, a cheese-handling area and a 99-seat auditorium.

The Galaxie

Location: The 800 block of E. Washington Ave. in Madison

Size: 500,000 square feet, 14 stories

Owner/developer: Gebhardt Development

Description: The first phase of construction for the mixed-use development, which will include apartments and commercial space, is scheduled for completion in the spring.

Minnesota Vikings stadium

Location: Downtown Minneapolis.

Size: 1.75 million square feet, 30 stories at its highest point, containing 65,400 seats.

Project cost: $1.091 billion

Owner/developer: Minnesota Vikings, Minnesota Sports Facilities Authority

Project team: Mortenson Construction, HKS Architects and various subcontractors.

Description: Slightly more than two years after excavators dug up the first scoops of dirt for the project, the massive Vikings stadium is more than 85 percent complete and heading into its final phases of construction.

Nearly everything about the project has proved difficult: from a bruising run to get the state Legislature to approve the work, to concrete pours taking place in winter, to steel erection and an aggressive construction schedule.

Not everything has gone as planned. The project’s cost, for one, has gone up by $65 million over the past year (an increase that was covered by the Vikings) and Mortenson and the MSFA are at loggerheads over $15 million in unresolved change orders.

The project hit its low point in August, when Jeramie Gruber, 35, suffered a fatal fall while working on the stadium’s roof.

But the project — led by Mortenson, a strong cast of subcontractors and 1,400 construction trades people — has steadily moved forward. It remains on pace for completion in July 2016.

Hill Farms

Location: Madison’s west side

Size: 600,000 square feet

Project cost: Not to exceed $195.3 million

Owner: As a “turn key” project, the state of Wisconsin will buy the finished project from Smith-Gilbane sometime after its completion

Developer: Smith Gilbane, a joint venture formed by C.D. Smith Construction and Gilbane Co.

Description: The new building, and an accompanying 1,700-stall parking structure, will serve as the headquarters of several state departments. It will replace the 368,100-square-foot, 51-year-old building where the Wisconsin Department of Transportation now has its headquarters.

UW-Stevens Point Chemistry-Biology building

Location: UW-Stevens Point campus

Size: 169,165 square feet

Project cost: An estimated $75 million, as laid out in the 2013-2015 state capital budget recommendations

Owner: State of Wisconsin

Description: The project description in the capital budget calls for the construction of a dozen 55-seat rooms and two 100-seat lecture halls to provide more space for students. The new building will house the university’s chemistry department and part of its biology department, while future renovation will provide space for various other departments.

General contractor bids are due Feb. 18 for the project. The project aims for a completion date in October 2017.

Lakefront Gateway project

Location: Portions of Interstate 794 and local streets in downtown Milwaukee

Project cost: $34 million

Owner/developer: WisDOT, the city of Milwaukee and Milwaukee County are all contributing money to the project.

Project team: Graef-USA Inc., Zenith Tech Inc., more to be selected

Description: Officials announced in December that work would begin soon on the Lakefront Gateway project. The project’s objective is to further connect Milwaukee’s downtown and Historic Third Ward to the lakefront.

Work in the area includes moving the eastbound and westbound entrance and exit ramps of I-794 further south, widening Clybourn Street and extending Lincoln Memorial Drive south. A later phase calls for improvements from Cass and Michigan streets to Art Museum Drive.

Dolan Media Newswires’ Karlee Weinmann also contributed to this report.