Wood as strong as steel: Timber frame apartment building in Walker's Point to be completed next spring

Milwaukee's first building created with an unusual construction method, using high-grade timber instead of steel for its frame, will be completed next spring.

Timber Lofts, a 60-unit apartment building with ground-floor retail space, is under construction at 300 W. Florida St., in Walker's Point.

The four-story building, with studio, one-bedroom and two-bedroom units, is being constructed with a technique known as mass timber, or cross laminated timber.

That process uses layers of wood pressed together to create columns, beams and other building frame components.

Developer Ann Pieper Eisenbrown chose mass timber for the project because it's a more environmentally sustainable method than using conventional concrete and steel frame construction.

Also, the exposure of timber columns, beams and ceilings provides a distinctive look and a warm interior feel, said Eisenbrown, who operates Pieper Properties Inc.

Timber Lofts, with studio units starting at $995 a month, was designed by Engberg Anderson Architects. Catalyst Construction is the builder.

The project combines the new mass timber construction with a five-story industrial building formerly used by Louis Bass Co.

The $14.6 million total project's financing includes just over $2 million in state and federal historic preservation tax credits, Eisenbrown said. First Business Bank is the lender, and is buying the tax credits.

Pieper Properties also recently converted a neighboring former industrial building, 326 W. Florida St., into the 35-unit Serif apartments. It is 91% leased, Eisenbrown said, with Strike Bridal Bar in the street-level retail space.

The firm's other projects include a nearby office and retail building at 234 W. Florida St. — another industrial conversion. Its retail tenants include two new stores: Gigi and Milwaukee Boot Co.

Milwaukee has two other mass timber buildings in the planning stages. Both would be developed by New Land Enterprises LLP.

A 21-story, 205-unit apartment development, named Ascent, would be one of the tallest such buildings in the world.

New Land plans to build Ascent at the northeast corner of North Van Buren Street and East Kilbourn Avenue.

Also, the firm plans to develop a seven-story, 42,000-square-foot mass timber office building at 834 N. Plankinton Ave.

Mass timber is a twist on an old construction technique.

Buildings, such as those in Milwaukee's Historic Third Ward, used timber frames in the 19th and early 20th century. 

But the advances in steel frame construction in the later 19th century allowed for much taller buildings.

With mass timber buildings, wooden layers are laminated together, using nails, dowels or glue. The beams, floors and other parts are engineered to be as strong as steel or concrete.

Their strength allows them to be used in modern mid-rise and high-rise buildings —  eclipsing the old limits of conventional wood frames.

Tests have shown them to be resistant to fire — which chars the outside of the wood before eventually dying out.

Tom Daykin can be emailed at tdaykin@jrn.com and followed on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.