Northwestern Mutual’s $500M overhaul a boon for Milwaukee residents

Northwestern Mutual on Tuesday broke ground for its $500 million remodeling project of the North Office building in downtown Milwaukee. Featured at the kickoff were a drumline performance, sledgehammers and pyrotechnics.

The project calls for a 540,000-square-foot facelift to the North Office at 818 East Mason Street on the city’s lakefront, taking down the marble surface and replacing it with a glass façade like the Northwestern Mutual Tower and Commons. The company wants to expand its corporate campus capacity to hold 9,000 people and include sustainability, pedestrian and workforce building goals.

John Schlifske, the CEO of Northwestern Mutual, said the renovation will bring opportunities for Milwaukee residents.

“This project is going to expand our world-class headquarters, further connect Northwestern Mutual employees and ultimately provide unbelievable opportunities for Milwaukee residents. The project we’re embarking on today marks a new chapter for our company and for downtown Milwaukee,” he said in front of media and business leaders.

Currently most of the workers in the North Office have been moved to the Tower and Commons. Northwestern Mutual plans to close its Franklin campus and bring in around 2,000 employees in the next three-to-five years to downtown Milwaukee, according to project representatives. Officials added the renovation will be done in around four years.

In addition to reconstruction of the exterior of the office building, Northwestern Mutual will also design a pedestrian plaza at the intersection of Mason and Cass Streets. The project is aiming for a LEED Gold certification and includes a fourth-floor green roof. The renovation will extend to the 777 N. Cass St. Garage facing Mason Street.

City and construction leadership promise benefits for Milwaukee residents

Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson said as billion-dollar company expanding its campus in Milwaukee trickled down opportunities for people in the city’s most challenged neighborhoods and start a trades career working on the landmark project.

“This is going to be a great skyline-defining project and create an opportunity to put more people in Milwaukee to work. When we look at these buildings downtown, I’m often reminded of a community meeting I was at years ago. One of the faith leaders involved said, ‘When are we going to see some of the benefit from the investments we’re making downtown?’ When this project goes up, much like the Tower and Commons went up, it provides opportunities for people who live in the most challenged neighborhoods to work in the trades, skill up and have a family-supporting career in the future,” Johnson added.

Alicia Dupies, vice president of Gilbane Building Company, said that the men and women in the trades who built careers in the trades received family sustaining wages and left a legacy on the communities where they worked. Gilbane is working with C.G. Schmidt as general contractors.

“One of the most important aspects of Northwestern Mutual’s office in the North Office modernization is just that: Access to careers in construction and the trades for city of Milwaukee residents who are unemployed or underemployed,” Dupies added.

Northwestern Mutual will work with Milwaukee and contractors to fill diverse workforce requirements

Dupies noted the contractors will work with workforce partners such as Employee Milwaukee, Milwaukee Building & Construction Trades Council, WRTP | Big Step and Building Advantage. Northwestern Mutual’s investment includes goals for a diverse workforce through small business enterprises (SBEs,) she added.

The initiative for a diverse construction site is a two-pronged approach: The craft workforce and small and disadvantaged businesses, Dupies explained. The project has a 25% participation goal for small businesses and the city Resident Preference Program, which has a 40% goal for the participating workforce to come from underemployed areas in Milwaukee.

Dupies said she and her colleagues have a good feeling about the participation goal so far. The company will award its first round of subcontractors two weeks from now.

Many trade contractors in the city are well equipped to assimilate new folks in their workforce because of the city requirements, Dupies added. Both Gilbane and C.G. Schmidt worked with WRTP and union partners to engage and recruit its workforce, she noted.

C.G. Schmidt already has a significant number of staff from areas that qualify for RPP, said Bryce Unger, the firm’s senior vice president. But each trade involved will need to honor similar requirements, which the company will work towards by engaging community events and WRTP, he added.

“Last time on the Tower and Commons, the (trades unions) were a partner of ours to recruit and engage that workforce. They would work alongside WRTP | Big Step to help train and get those individuals lined up so they could have jobs. Then a company like ours will come along and hire the individual and have our payroll. That’s how it works, and that same process will be true for any of the companies that work here on campus,” Unger explained.

Project partners include Pickard Chilton, Kendall/Heaton as the primary architectural team and EUA for interior design. Northwestern Mutual will also work with Hines as the project’s development manager and Cross Management Services to draw in SBEs and resident workers.

The project is boosted by a developer-funded tax increment financing (TIF) plan worth $30 million and approved by the city of Milwaukee. Northwestern Mutual will finance all project costs and the city will repay funds to the company by sharing 75% of increased property tax revenue generated once the building is completed. The remaining quarter will be allocated by the city for infrastructure projects.