Ascent MKE — Mass Timber Residential Tower

Ascent MKE is a 25-story, 284-foot mass timber residential tower in downtown Milwaukee, Wisconsin. At the time of its completion in 2022, Ascent was recognized as the world’s tallest mass timber building, and it remains one of the most cited reference projects for tall mass timber design in North America.

Project Scope

• 25 stories / 284 feet above grade
• 259 luxury apartment residences
• Glulam columns and beams; cross-laminated timber (CLT) floor slabs
• Concrete podium for parking and ground-floor amenity space
• Approximately 493,000 gross square feet

Why It Matters

Ascent demonstrated that tall mass timber construction could deliver on schedule and on budget under prescriptive code path approvals, with a notably faster floor cycle than a comparable concrete tower. The tower’s performance, fire testing, and occupancy data are now used as reference cases in the 2024 IBC tall mass timber provisions and in dozens of subsequent multifamily project pro formas across the United States. The building remains in continuous residential occupancy.

Key Stakeholders

• Developer: New Land Enterprises
• Architect: Korb + Associates Architects
• Structural Engineer: Thornton Tomasetti
• General Contractor: C.D. Smith Construction
• Mass Timber Supplier: Wiehag (Austria) / Timberlab