A foreclosure judgment has been issued in connection with downtown Milwaukee’s unfinished Edison apartment tower – setting the stage for the project site to be sold.
Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Glenn Yamahiro granted the default judgment to the project’s general contractor, C.D. Smith Construction Inc.
Fond du Lac-based C.D. Smith in March filed a foreclosure suit, claiming it’s owed $11.3 million by affiliates of Madison-based Neutral, the Edison’s developer.
Yamahiro on June 29 issued the judgment after Neutral failed to respond to the lawsuit within the 20- to 40-day period mandated by Wisconsin law.
Yamahiro also ruled against Neutral’s request that C.D. Smith submit its foreclosure case to an arbitrator before going to court.
That request was improperly filed by Neutral CEO Nate Helbach, who’s not an attorney, Yamahiro said.
“Not sure what Mr. Helbach is thinking or not thinking at this point,” he said.
Helbach didn’t immediately respond to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel’s request for comment. Neither he nor a Neutral attorney appeared at the hearing.
C.D. Smith will make an additional court filing before Yamahiro issues a written forclosure order.
Benjamin Prinsen, a C.D. Smith attorney, declined to comment after the hearing on when the judgment would be final.
Assuming C.D. Smith ends up acquiring the partly completed project site, 1005 N. Edison St., the company could then sell the property to another developer.
Site could become workforce housing
Neutral executives have talked with potential partners about the site, city Development Commissioner Lafayette Crump told Common Council Zoning, Neighborhoods and Development Committee members on April 14.
Workforce housing, with apartments targeted to people earning up to 100% of the Milwaukee area’s median income, is among the possibilities, Crump said then.
Crump declined to comment after Yamahiro’s ruling.
Neutral in spring 2025 started building the 31-story, 357-unit apartment tower.
At a June 2025 groundbreaking ceremony, Helbach said the Edison would be North America’s tallest mass timber high-rise.
That environmentally sustainable construction technique uses layers of wood pressed together to create columns, beams, and other building frame components.
Construction stopped in September with the Edison facing higher costs tied to inflation and tariffs. Neutral called it a temporary pause to address cost pressures.
But, in October, Crump told the zoning committee the project was facing a $25 million funding gap tied to increased material costs.
In November, C.D. Smith removed the site’s construction crane and other equipment from the site, which overlooks the Milwaukee River. The foundation work and other improvements remain.
The contractor filed the foreclosure suit on March 6.
Tom Daykin can be emailed at tdaykin@jrn.com and followed on Instagram, Bluesky, X and Facebook.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Edison foreclosure judgment issued. Site could be sold for new project
Reporting by Tom Daykin, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
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By Tom Daykin, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel | USA TODAY Network
