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University Club Tower Sets New Living Standards
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It will be one of Milwaukee's most prominent residential addresses when construction is completed this year. It also will be the tallest residential property in the city, with incredible views of Lake Michigan, the lakefront and the Milwaukee area.
It's the University Club Tower, a 39-story, 440-foot high condominium nearing completion at 825 N.
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Prospect Ave.
The FJA Christiansen Roofing Co. has had an integral role in the project, enhancing the beauty of the structure as well as protecting it from the elements. That role is three-fold: 1) a green roof atop the parking structure, 2) sheet metal on the west façade of the structure and 3) traditional flat roofing on three sections of the tower.
“It's a big project that has presented some challenges due to the location, but we've been able to overcome those challenges,” said FJAC operations manager Greg Johnson.
The condominium tower is being built on what once was the University Club's surface parking lot. It's a densely built-up area of downtown, with adjacent buildings just 25 feet away on either side. And, since this is new construction, roofing work and access needed to be coordinated with all the other trades on the Mandel Group development, with J.H. Findorff & Son serving as the general contractor.
FJA Christiansen Roofing used its Tecta |
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Green system to create the green roof atop the 5-story parking structure. The green roof will provide residents of the University Club Tower with their own 17,000-square-foot private garden.
“It's a park-like setting with plants in the green-roof system as well as large planters, trellises and arbors,” Johnson said. “It also contains a large patio and deck area, making it very usable and enjoyable space.”
The green roof not only will look good and provide recreational space, it will also contain rain water and melted snow, alleviating the burden on the city's storm water runoff system.
Architect Peter Ellis of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill in Chicago incorporated a white façade into the building's design to complement the use of white in the nearby historic Cudahy Tower and the Calatrava addition to the Milwaukee Art Museum, but also to capture light reflecting off the lake. The façade materials over much of the building are white pre-cast concrete panels from International Concrete Products.
But a vast cylindrical area on the west side of the building is covered with lead-coated copper sheeting from FJA Christiansen Roofing.
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“The sheet metal, all fabricated at our Milwaukee shop, is decorative but also provides water-proofing,” Johnson said. The sheets, each about 1.5x2 feet, are interlocked via tongue-and-groove connections, and held to the structure with clips. Installation crews worked their way up from the lower level of the tower, using swing stage baskets to access the heights.
There were times when high, swirling winds kept the sheet metal crews on the ground for safety reasons.
The flat roofs were installed on portions of the top three floors, in an inverted style with the main membrane directly on top of the concrete deck. Extruded insulation was then placed over |
the membrane and sealed, with ballast and pavers used for the top layer.
Site restrictions affected installation of the flat roof, too. “All that ballast stone for the flat roof had to be hauled up the freight elevator in wheelbarrows,” Johnson said. “Use of a crane was not an option.”
The University Club Tower has 53 units – two units per floor, all with 10-foot ceilings. Most of the units have already sold. The building will offer residents other amenities, as well, in addition to the green roof garden. Those amenities include an 8,000-square-foot health club with a pool, a common room with caterer kitchen, a wine tasting room, a cold room for grocery and flower deliveries, and much more. Each unit was designed to maximize views of the city and lake, both from the interior and from the 300-square-foot terrace that each unit has.
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