Projects in Milwaukee and beyond booming in 2025

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Redevelopment of a former mall, the replacement of a freeway, more hotel rooms and housing are all on the table for construction in the Milwaukee area in 2025. Construction is booming across the rest of Wisconsin with megaprojects slated for the southeastern region. Here are some projects approaching completion, underway or are being planned for 2025.

Ongoing and future projects popping up in Milwaukee

Northridge Mall

Milwaukee wants to redevelop 58 acres of the former Northridge Mall, on the northwest corner of North 76th Street and West Brown Deer Road, after years of legal battles with the former owner. Demolition is expected to wrap up in fall of 2025 and is the first step in a larger planning process, as the city courts developers to find new uses for the land, including industrial, commercial and housing opportunities. The former mall site will be rebranded to “Granville Station.”

Interstate 794

I-794 through downtown Milwaukee is in the middle of a debate of whether to improve the freeway or tear it down with an at-grade boulevard. Rethink 794 is spearheading an effort to tear down a 1-mile stretch of the highway between the Hoan Bridge and the Milwaukee River. WisDOT is expected to share three design alternatives in early 2025.

Without the highway, the city could add more than 3,000 housing units, $3 billion in added disposable income for downtown, $475 million in new property taxes and $60 million in city sales tax, a 30-year outlook exploring removal showed. Some in the downtown business community oppose the highway’s replacement with an at-grade boulevard, citing possible traffic congestion.

Construction could start in 2027 depending on funding and approvals. WisDOT will consider three design alternatives before breaking ground.

100 East

Developers John Vassallo and Klein Development are planning to convert 100 East, a 37-story office building built in 1989, into 384 apartments in Milwaukee. Recently, the partners got approval from the Wisconsin Historic Preservation Review Board to give the building federal and state historic designations, freeing up potential millions in tax credits. Permits for commercial alterations, additions, plumbing and HVAC work have already been pulled.

The Edison

In August 2024, Neutral started test piling ahead of construction of The Edison, a 32-story mass timber building slated for 1005 N. Edison St. in Milwaukee. When completed, the project will be downtown’s second mass timber tower and will have more stories than The Ascent, the city’s first timber tower with 24 stories. Fond du Lac-based C.D. Smith Construction was contracted to build The Edison. Project partners hope for the tower to be completed in spring of 2027.

River Trail Commons

The River Trail Commons is an $18 million, 40-unit multifamily community proposed near East Center Street and North Humboldt Boulevard. Before construction can start, crews must demolish two single-family homes and a commercial building, previously approved for a zoning change by the city of Milwaukee.

Nola Hitchcock Cross, an attorney who is leading the development, said the project’s aim was to create connectivity between residents and reduce their dependency on cars. Before demolition can start, We Energies must move an overhead transformer so cranes can get in, she added.

The development site will be split into a multifamily building with 24 units and two more buildings with eight townhomes each.

Brady Street Hotel

Crews have already razed a two-story commercial building to make space for an 11-story hotel at the east end of Milwaukee’s Brady Street, but permits for vertical construction have yet to be issued. Klein Development has pushed for the 130-room hotel at 1709-23 N. Farwell Ave. for at least two years, but the project sat untouched for at least a year and a half.
Another developer wants to build the Moxy Milwaukee Downtown, which would add 162 hotel rooms near the Fiserv Forum.

Frank Productions

Miron Construction and JCP Construction are leading construction work of the FPC Live project, a 4,500-capacity, nearly $70 million music venue in Milwaukee’s Deer District. Frank Productions, a promoter based in Madison, for years had pushed for building a concert venue next to the Fiserv Forum. That wasn’t without pushback from local venues worried about the size and location of the new complex. Now, the promoter expects to announce artist lineups before the project is complete in fall 2025.

Milwaukee Repertory Theater

In May 2024, Hunzinger Construction started the demolition and overhaul of the Milwaukee Repertory Theater, which includes upgrades to the existing theaters, stage production areas and seating. There will be a redesign of the façade facing East Wells Street and a new floor with a guest lobby. The project is boosted by a $78 million campaign with the help of private donors. Construction will continue through fall of 2025.

Harbor District Riverwalk

The Milwaukee Harbor District Harbor View Riverwalk will create a plaza and redevelop a nearly mile-long path along the Kinnickinnic River, close to the Komatsu Mining headquarters in Milwaukee. SmithGroup prepared site plans and shared designs for the project, which has been in planning since 2022. The project is supported by a $12.7 million federal Transit Alternative Program grant.

Megaprojects slated for southeast Wisconsin

Microsoft Data Center

All eyes are on Microsoft’s $3.3 billion data center in Mount Pleasant. Despite work pausing on some parts of the site, officials said the overall project still carries momentum while they redefine some of their plans. The facility, which will house network equipment and servers, is a turnaround of land previously sold to Taiwan-based Foxconn. The project is expected to create thousands of construction jobs and will carry on through 2026.

Eli Lilly and Company

Eli Lilly and Company announced a more than $3 billion investment, including expanding its medical production facility in Kenosha County. The high-tech facility will be used to create injectable medicines, assembly and packaging to meet the growing demand of diabetes and obesity drugs. The company forecasted the creation of 2,000 construction jobs and work will start in 2025. Production is expected to start in 2028.

Kikkoman and Purina underway in Jefferson

Kikkoman Foods Inc. last year launched a $560 million, 240,000-square-foot soy sauce production facility in Jefferson around the same time pet food Nestle Purina said it would launch its own expansion. General contractor CRB will work on the Kikkoman Facility and soy sauce production is expected to start in mid-2026.

Nestlé Purina launched Jefferson’s second mega project with a $195 million factory expansion. The expansion is 35,000 square feet but is expected to increase food production by 50% and create up to 100 jobs. The expansion is part of a large growth strategy for the company, which plans to invest $2 billion in factory and expansion projects through 2025.