It has been 10 years since Milwaukee first heard the word “Couture.” By May, residents will finally get a glimpse of it.
The dreamed of and fought-over skyscraper got its first layer of concrete Wednesday, establishing the 44-story apartment tower's foundation.
Developer Rick Barrett, of Barrett Lo Visionary Development LLC, said the $188 million project will be completed in one year.
“We’re going to pour a typical floor every four days, so we’re going to be rolling,” Barrett said. “I think it will shock people once we get above the fence line.”
The Couture will feature 322 high-end apartments, 42,600 square feet of restaurant and retail space and a transit concourse for The Hop and the East-West Bus Rapid Transit.
The proposal was unveiled in July 2012.
The project was delayed in part by legal claims that much of the Couture site is on a former Lake Michigan bed that cannot be used for private development. Barrett Lo also ran into trouble securing financing.
Barrett said despite the “twists and turns” of the last 10 years, he would do the project again.
“We pushed a big rock up a hill to get this project off the ground,” Barrett said. “We’re going to get a very important chunk of tax base for the city of Milwaukee, we’re going to get the density we need and it’s going to be an incredible building.”
It’s going to take about 1 million hours to build the Couture. For example, it’s going to take 78 concrete trucks in a rotation to bring the concrete to the site.
Acting Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson said that’s why the Couture will add to the downtown skyline, but will also touch the entire city.
“Think about the construction jobs that are going to happen here, and because of the city’s programs, 400,000 of those hours are going to go to people living in some of the most depressed neighborhoods in the city,” Johnson said.
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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Couture apartment tower in Milwaukee gets concrete foundation pour