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Long associated with American beer, the former brewing capital of the Midwest has today become home to several Fortune 500 companies, and now the downtown core itself is in the midst of an urban renaissance. Central to this transformation, the redevelopment of a prime downtown site, in the form of the soon-to-rise 25-storey BMO Harris Financial Center, will represent the first of its kind to be built in the core in decades.
To be built next to the original BMO Harris Building (1967), on the site of the 50-year-old office tower's former parking garage, the new BMO Harris Financial Center will rise above a much larger, 10-storey above-ground parking garage (visible in the image above), which will take up the rear of the tower's base. The ground level will become a BMO retail outlet with frontage onto both N Water and E Wells Streets.
Viewed above, the original BMO Harris Building will be refurbished, while the parking garage will be demolished to make way for the new development. Located in the heart of Milwaukee's financial district, the redevelopment will work to enliven the intersection, with hundreds of workers daily populating the site, helping to bring a great deal of urban vibrancy and street life to the otherwise quiet downtown site.
While the rear of the tower will be largely taken up by the parking garage, the addition of street-level retail and pedestrian access will help integrate the structure into the surrounding streetscape. Additionally, the opening of the new Milwaukee Streetcar (visible in the rendering above), which began laying tracks through the downtown core this Spring, will help make downtown a viable option for non-drivers. New transit options in combination with the new Bublr Bikes bike share program are working to make Milwaukee a modern vibrant urban centre. Slated for completion in 2019, both the BMO Financial Center and the Milwaukee Streetcar will debut within a city centre transformed.
SkyriseCities will be sure to return to this project as progress continues. For more information, check out the associated Database file and Forum thread, and as always, feel free to join the conversation in the comments section below.
