{"id":181313,"date":"2025-10-01T00:48:08","date_gmt":"2025-10-01T00:48:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/181313\/"},"modified":"2025-10-01T00:48:08","modified_gmt":"2025-10-01T00:48:08","slug":"tariffs-halt-construction-on-the-tallest-mass-timber-building-in-the-u-s-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/181313\/","title":{"rendered":"Tariffs halt construction on the tallest mass timber building in the U.S. | News"},"content":{"rendered":"

Construction has halted in Milwaukee<\/a> on what would be the tallest mass timber building in the United States. The project, named Neutral Edison, was unveiled in June of this year<\/a>, designed by developer Neutral\u2019s in-house design team.<\/p>\n

\u201cRecent tariffs<\/a> and broader inflation have materially increased key input hard costs,\u201d said Neutral in a statement carried by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel<\/a>. \u201cDuring this pause, Neutral is working with C.D. Smith Construction on a comprehensive cost-reduction and value-engineering process.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/a>Image credit: Neutral<\/p>\n

In June, we reported on an analysis by the ABC<\/a> which found that tariffed construction materials had increased, following a separate ABC analysis in April<\/a>, which found that tariffs were driving a rapid increase in construction material prices. Also in\u00a0April, we outlined five ways<\/a> construction contracts could be re-designed for tariff uncertainty.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile an exact timeline to resume vertical construction has not yet been determined, Neutral intends to proceed once the value-engineering process is complete,\u201d Neutral’s statement added.<\/p>\n

<\/a>Image credit: Neutral<\/p>\n

The 31-story development broke ground in June 2025 and was due to be completed by 2027. The current scheme would contain 350 residential units and approximately 7,200 square feet of retail space. According to Neutral, the scheme\u2019s use of\u00a0mass timber<\/a>\u00a0reduces the building\u2019s\u00a0embodied carbon<\/a>\u00a0footprint by an estimated 54%, and cuts operational carbon and energy use by 45% compared to conventional equivalents.\u00a0<\/p>\n

<\/a>Image credit: Neutral<\/p>\n

The project has been in planning for several years, according to reporting by local outlet The Daily Reporter<\/a>. In 2022, the tower was designed with 15 stories, which was later doubled.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Reacting to the halt in construction, Milwaukee Alderman\u00a0Robert Bauman warned of his belief that the value engineering sought to \u201cdumb down\u201d the scheme.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe could end up with a smaller building, different fa\u00e7ade, different amenities, and a different product that cuts the cost,\u201d Bauman said in comments carried by The Daily Reporter. \u201cI\u2019m very concerned about this. We were sold a project that was going to be 31 stories tall, the tallest mass timber building in North America, and now we\u2019re ending up with something very, very different.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Construction has halted in Milwaukee on what would be the tallest mass timber building in the United States.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":181314,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[76,354,355,49,48,356,75],"class_list":{"0":"post-181313","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arts-and-design","8":"tag-arts","9":"tag-arts-and-design","10":"tag-artsanddesign","11":"tag-ca","12":"tag-canada","13":"tag-design","14":"tag-entertainment"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/181313","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=181313"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/181313\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/181314"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=181313"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=181313"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=181313"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}