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Past meets present
VJS puts modern touch on historic building
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To combine The Grand Wisconsin’s past as a downtown Milwaukee focal point with its future as a residential and commercial landmark, VJS Construction Services balanced tearing down with building up.
The $15 million revitalization project encompassed 12 floors, 179,000 square feet and 95 years of history. The process for the Pewaukee company involved everything from replacing elevators and restoring a mosaic tile floor in the lobby to exterminating rats in the building’s basement.
VJS took over the project after another firm walked away from the project a few years earlier. In little more than a year, VJS transformed the building, constructed in 1913 as a hotel, into a modern living space with spas, a cyber lounge and the option for retail.
Larry Gilroy, senior project manager with VJS, said the main challenge was coordinating the activity of about 120 workers at the building.
“There’s always this certain flow of demolition material from the top down or the bottom up,” Gilroy said.
At the start, Gilroy said, working on The Grand boiled down to one main concern: “What do we do with this mountain of debris from the site every day?”
A massive block of concrete and garbage — as well as those rats — was tossed from the building’s basement with the help of chutes alongside the building and an armada of trash trucks. Simultaneously, electricians, plumbers and HVAC professionals replaced and upgraded those amenities in the 108-unit apartment building.
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Project Essentials Project
name: The Grand Wisconsin
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Work also was under the nearby eye of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, which has offices across the street from The Grand. The organization gave approval to the project on numerous inspections.
Detailed historic reconstruction of the building coincided with the complex demolition process.
The project architect, Stephen Perry Smith Architects, worked closely with crews at the site to preserve The Grand’s historic character.
Work included restoring and replacing original woodwork, decorative plaster and — at $15,000 a piece — six historic fixtures.
“Some of the original doors and windows were left in place,” Gilroy said. “We made an effort to keep the character of the building.”
— Justin Kern