MILWAUKEE — Construction on the 44-story Couture apartment complex is underway. Those involved with the $190-million project say it's going to be a one-stop shop for retail, living spaces, and more.
"We have 322 apartments, 42,000 ft.² of retail, and a vibrant transit hub," said the developer, Rick Barrett.
The project, which has been nine years in the making, received its final piece of financing last week from the Housing and Urban Development Department (HUD) in the form of a $104-million loan.
"With that, we were able to pull the whole capital stacked together and be here today," said Barrett.
Couture Apartments at 909 East Michigan Street.
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Barrett says the Couture project will have a huge economic impact on Milwaukee. TMJ4 found that 4,400 construction workers will be employed for the project. 40% will be city residents. The project also has $70-million worth of equity already.
"The biggest economic impact outside of the jobs is the fact that this may be a really good investment from people looking at Milwaukee in the future," said Barrett.
"We will be hiring all the subcontractors and vendors and all the men and women that are going to come and build this great building," said Eric Wynn, general manager of the construction company, Findorff.
While it's a highly anticipated addition to the city, these construction workers still have a ways to go.
"We have to remove all the slab, the concrete slab that we are sitting on right now. That's going to take a week or so to do that. We've got roughly six to seven months of just removing dirt and hauling that material off-site," said Wynn.
Barrett anticipates that the vertical construction of the tower will begin in 2022, and he hopes to have the entire project completed by 2023.
