Tower of strength

Findorff finds time for University Club Tower residents

Distinctive layouts for each unit inside University Club Tower created a nice option for future residents but caused major logistical challenges for builder J.H. Findorff and Son Inc.

The Milwaukee firm held a project meeting with each condominium owner while constructing the buildings and needed five project managers to maintain all the different elements.

“It was kind of fun,” Findorff senior project manager Eric Wynn said of the project. “With all the different entities, you get a lot of different styles and tastes and various forms of finishes. Nothing was ever the same.”

Peering at University Club Tower from the outside, one would think each unit of the 37-story condominium high-rise is the same.

The white precast is perfectly symmetrical from the bottom to the top of Wisconsin’s third-tallest building. Each unit features an outdoor terrace, and the windows looking across Lake Michigan or into the Milwaukee skyline appear to be the same size.

But once inside the 53-unit building, the differences between residences are obvious.

At least seven architects were used on the project to give each unit a unique floor plan.

Findorff project managers said giving every condo an individual look required massive coordination, from preplanning material delivery sequences to scheduling design meetings.

“This project reinforced the fact that with all the different people involved how important it is to make sure we were running on the same page,” said Wynn, who was in charge of the interiors on the project.

“It reaffirmed the need for communication and coordination.”

The logistical challenges of constructing the tower and four-story parking garage were compounded by the relatively small size of the site, said Findorff senior project manager John Feller.

Feller said the site only allowed enough room for one crane, and that required the company to run night shifts to meet deadline. For the core of the building, the company used a self-climbing form, which is built using hydraulic jacks, he said.

“Anything we could take off the crane cycle helped enormously,” Feller said of construction.

In the end, Findorff built a unique residence option for those wishing to dwell in Milwaukee’s downtown.

Individual units, which average about 3,500-square-feet and start at about $1.1 million, include direct access to two elevator shafts. The parking garage is topped with a green roof with more than $1 million in landscaping, and the building includes a pool, exercise facilities and community rooms.

“Every worker that comes off that project has a lot to feel good about,” Wynn said. “You get to walk away and have a landmark in the city of Milwaukee and say, ‘I had a part in that.’”

— Lawrence Silver