Episode 70: Milwaukee's Tallest Mass Timber Tower Heads to Foreclosure

Milwaukee's Edison tower — once promoted as the tallest mass timber building in the United States — is heading toward foreclosure after Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Glenn Yamahiro granted a default judgment on June 29 in favor of general contractor C.D. Smith Construction. The case exposes the compounding risks facing first-of-type mass timber projects: an undercapitalized deal structure, a $25 million funding gap, and a lumber tariff environment that pushed combined Canadian softwood duties to 35%. For developers, GCs, and capital partners evaluating mass timber at scale, the Edison collapse is a concrete case study in what happens when pro forma ambition outpaces project finance discipline. Key Takeaways: C.D. Smith Construction was granted a default judgment on June 29 and claims it is owed $11.3 million by Neutral affiliates The Edison SPE and The Edison Project LLC. A city official identified a $25 million funding gap on the project as of October 2025 — before the foreclosure process began. 11 additional firms have filed for unpaid bills tied to the Edison development, including Chicago-based Hartshorne Plunkard Architecture. U.S. Commerce Department more than doubled countervailing duties on Canadian softwood lumber last August, pushing combined anti-dumping and countervailing duties from 14.5% to 35%. 85% of U.S. imported lumber comes from Canada; the U.S. imports roughly one-third of all lumber it consumes — making mass timber projects disproportionately exposed to Canadian tariff swings. C.D. Smith needs one additional filing before Judge Yamahiro issues the formal foreclosure order, meaning the property could be sold to a new developer. Neutral CEO Nate Helbach's attempt to compel arbitration was dismissed because he filed the request himself rather than through a licensed attorney. The Edison foreclosure should be read as a stress test, not a verdict on mass timber. The structural system isn't what failed — the capital stack did. Developers pursuing first-of-type or record-scale mass timber projects in the current tariff environment need to build substantially larger contingency reserves and stress-test lumber cost assumptions against a 35%+ duty scenario before breaking ground. Watch whether C.D. Smith ultimately acquires the site and what it does with it — that outcome will shape whether the Edison parcel becomes a cautionary tale or a reset opportunity for a better-capitalized team. Subscribe to Built Different for daily updates on Modular construction reality.