The Tribute Apartments, a new mixed-use building situated at the east end of the R1VER site, are complete and turned over for resident leasing. R1VER is a first-class waterfront development along a bend in the Kinnickinnic River that leads into the Harbor District and Bayview neighborhoods of Milwaukee. The development features the new 8-story Michels Corporation office building with future phases consisting of a second office building and a 100-unit hotel. Greenfire was contracted to build the 95-unit apartment building, the second building on site, that includes a café, retail, and restaurant space.
The Tribute Apartments consist of two buildings connected by a multi-level skywalk. The northern building features a riverfront restaurant at grade level that includes a large patio and connects to the R1VER riverwalk. The southern building features a café at southeast intersection in addition to multiple retail spaces. Other building amenities include a grade-level clubroom, access to the riverwalk, and an outdoor amenity deck with a turfed pet run, a fire pit for tenants, and multiple grilling stations.
The entire R1VER site is supported by a network of over 800 piles that form a deep foundation system to support the cast-in-place concrete podium and structural steel with vertical construction above. Upon completion of the podium, Greenfire was contracted to construct the four residential floors atop and bring the grade-level commercial spaces to white-box. This required detailed coordination of the scope and schedule to seamlessly transition work from the foundation and podium contractor to avoid safety issues and float in the schedule. At all of the commercial spaces, the team installed windows and added a structural concrete slab and retractable glass garage doors in the restaurant. For the exterior, work includes construction and installation of the amenity deck landscaping along with additional site landscaping.
The Greenfire preconstruction team was heavily involved prior to this point working with the owner and design team to optimize design efficiencies which resulted in cost savings and allowed for finish upgrades. Meanwhile, on site, the construction team had the monumental task of working in a high-profile, compact site with multiple contractors present. Working together, the team formed a detailed site logistics and phasing plan that accounted for personnel safety, material procurement and heavy machinery operation all while maintaining a productive jobsite.
We are proud to take an active role in this visionary redevelopment of the waterfront along the Kinnickinnic River. We would like to recognize the hard work and dedication of our project team that includes Alex Siehoff, Project Manager, Tim Williamson, Superintendent, Jordan Guth, Project Engineer, Gage Christianson, Project Engineer, and Angelo Rodriguez, Assistant Superintendent. We would also like to thank Michels Corporation for selecting Greenfire as their CM for the Tribute Apartments. We were also fortunate to work, once again, with our friends at RINKA+ on another transformative project.
