Disconnected
Electricity transformed rural America nearly a century ago. Now, millions of people on farms and in small towns desperately need broadband.
The true scope of the broadband access problem is unknown because federal data is widely known to underestimate coverage gaps.
Rick Barrett, Kelli Arseneau and Christopher Miller, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Published
2:10 pm UTC Jun. 3, 2021
Athens, Wis.
- As the last hour of daylight fades, Kat Becker parks across the street from the Peterson/Kraemer funeral home.
Becker shuts off the engine of her powder blue Toyota Prius and reaches for her laptop computer. Her two children, Maple and Ted, peer over her shoulder from the back seat.
Developer Rick Barrett is excited, greeting first construction equipment arriving on site. By Jeramey Jannene - May 11th, 2021 11:51 am //end headline wrapper ?>Rick Barrett at The Couture construction site. Photo by Jeramey Jannene.
So much so that as construction starts on the 44-story, 322-unit The Couture tower, he’s talking about developing an even bigger building. The 44-story apartment tower will be the tallest residential building in the state. He would like to one day build the tallest building of any kind.
Barrett held court on the project site, 909 E. Michigan St., Tuesday morning as construction equipment from J.H. Findorff & Son was unloaded around him.
Wisconsin’s tallest housing tower, The Couture, gets underway in Milwaukee
Officials gather on Tuesday for a groundbreaking ceremony at the site of the Couture project, near where Lincoln Memorial Drive meets East Michigan Avenue, in downtown Milwaukee. Work is finally getting underway on the long-planned 44-story residential tower, a project that has been on the books for nearly a decade. (Staff photo by Nate Beck)
Crews formally broke ground on Tuesday on the Couture high-rise project, a 44-story tower that will eventually overlook Lake Michigan in downtown Milwaukee after being in the works for nearly a decade.
The ceremony came after the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development announced last week that it had put the finishing touches on a $104.7 million construction loan and guarantee for the $188 million project the largest deal of its kind for the agency’s Midwest region since 2000.