Milwaukee's Big Blue Building Is Converting One Tower and Keeping the Other as Office

The Redevelopment Authority of the City of Milwaukee approved a $6.44 million tax increment package for 310 West Wisconsin Avenue on August 20, 2026, unanimously. Common Council approval is still outstanding. Time Equities is converting the east tower of the two-tower complex to 220 apartments while the west tower stays office.

Project Scope

$73.6 million, 220 apartments in studio, one-, two- and three-bedroom layouts, with 50 rent-restricted units: 24 at or below 70% of area median income, 13 at 80% and 13 at 90%, all studios or one-bedrooms. The complex totals 578,000 square feet and is the third-largest multi-tenant office building in Wisconsin. Its two towers are joined by a 14-storey central atrium, and the attached parking structure holds 600 spaces, up to 260 of them separately leasable to residents. The Kubala Washatko Architects is designing. No general contractor is selected yet.

The partial conversion is what makes this technically interesting. Keeping the west tower as office at roughly 45% occupancy means the atrium, the core and the building systems have to serve two different occupancies at once, with life-safety separation between them.

Why It Matters

The building opened in 1983 as Henry S. Reuss Federal Plaza. Its blue glass was controversial in Milwaukee and then became a civic landmark. Federal agencies left over time as post-9/11 security standards made it non-compliant, and Time Equities bought it in 2017 as a $30 million acquisition-and-renovation play to reposition it as competitive office. The amenity upgrades debuted right before the pandemic killed the demand they were built for.

The financing is unusually clean for a downtown conversion: a first mortgage, developer equity, and a developer-financed TIF repaid with 7.05% interest over up to 18 years, which puts the risk on Time Equities rather than the city. It’s the third major Wisconsin Avenue conversion after 100 East and a proposed 228 units at 633 West Wisconsin.

Project Team & Details