Woman-owned firm ALLCON playing leading role in Milwaukee museum construction

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In an industry where representation is sorely needed, Mortenson and woman-owned ALLCON will work together on a space inside the Milwaukee Public Museum.

The museum started construction in June on a 200,000-square-foot, five-story building on North Sixth Street and West McKinley Avenue. The $240 million structure will replace the museum’s former home at 800 W. Wells St. as the old facility faces millions worth of deferred maintenance. Construction on the new structure started in May and is expected to be complete in 2027.

MPM is including minority- and woman-owned businesses in the construction process to ensure the economic benefits of a new building will trickle down to the surrounding community. Of a 20% target for small business enterprise, the project has already shot past the goal at 37%, said Katie Sanders, chief planning officer for MPM and project manager of the future museum. Around 10% of the active construction workforce is made up of women, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

But it’s also a business development opportunity for smaller Milwaukee contractors.
ALLCON will build a 4,000-square-foot classroom and retail space in the museum’s first floor and include as many local subcontractors, suppliers and trades as possible. In partnership with Mortenson, the contractor is offering learning experiences to its partners on the job.

“The museum has always impressed upon us that this is a community process, because this site is in the community,” said Ana Lopez, owner of ALLCON LLC. “What better way to have the community involved than to hire smaller contractors which would otherwise never have the opportunity? We’ve been speaking with smaller contractors, whose first impression is, ‘I can’t do that,’ but when we explain to them what we’re doing, they’re excited as well,” she added.

When ALLCON’s team is finally assembled, they will get to work in late 2025 when the structure shell is completed. The smaller project will include two classrooms, a retail space, family restrooms and storage space on the McKinley Street side of the building. Sanders noted that MPM serves 150,000 children in its facility each year and the classrooms are the first landing for students during field trips.

Lopez said every possible trade will be included and split to get as much reach as possible. Sharing ideas with Mortenson, she added the partnership will support its smaller contractors with work activities from banking and accounting to bidding and reading plans. Eventually, the partners want to see those contractors move onto bidding large projects using their experience at the museum.

Lopez said being part of the “project within a project” was a tremendous help to her business.

Currently, crews are driving taller-than 70-foot piles on the McKinley Street lot to prepare for foundation work, said Danny O’Brien, a project executive for Mortenson.