Setting its sights on the title of ‘tallest mass timber building in the world’, a 32-storey, mass timber high-rise in Milwaukee, Wisconsin – the Edison - is scheduled to break ground in the second quarter of 2024. 

If completed, the building will dislodge the Ascent, also in Milwaukee, that in July 2022 was crowned by the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat as being the tallest. 

The mixed-use tower, a hybrid timber and concrete structure, being developed by The Neutral Project, a real estate building firm focusing on sustainable building, measures 493,000-square-feet. The structure will have post-tensioned concrete on levels one through eight while levels eight through 32 will feature mass-timber hybrid construction.

The Edison, which caters to the high-end luxury housing market in Milwaukee, will leverage Mass Timber technology and target Passive House (Phius) certification. Phius is a non-profit organisation committed to decarbonising the built environment by making high-performance passive building the mainstream market standard.  

The apartment structure was initially planned as a 15-storey building with around 200 units overlooking the Milwaukee River, but revised plans doubled the size of the building. Completion is expected between 2025 and 2027.