The $42.5-million redevelopment and restoration of part of the historic Pabst Brewery is one of the largest historic renovations in Wisconsin. The design aimed to retain the former bottling building’s industrial quality consistent with a district on the National Register of Historic Places.

The first floor was restored and repurposed into a mixed-use development that includes residential units, offices, a food court and a convenience store. The second and third floors house residential units ranging from studios to four-bedroom lofts. But many housing units lacked perimeter walls for windows, so teams cut two atriums into the historic building by partially dismantling the second floor in an area that allows daylight to the lowest level of the building. To complete the daylighting strategy, many of the remaining historic windows were restored and lost windows were reconstructed.

Existing timber-and-iron frame structural elements were preserved and exposed in most of the student apartments as well as in the public and circulation spaces. The dilapidated and damaged brick-and-stone exterior was restored to exacting federal standards.

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