Construction on Wisconsin’s tallest residential tower has reached a major milestone with ironworkers installing a Liebherr HammerHead Tower Crane provided by Morrow this past week.
Currently, the tower crane sits at 175 feet, and eventually, the crane needs to be jacked up to 621 feet to complete the work on the 44-story skyscraper. The Liebherr Crane selected for the project can lift 16,000 pounds at the maximum radius.
Senior project manager Eric Sadler told WISN 12. “It’s really signaling. We’re at the end of our excavation work and starting to come vertical,”
Craig Glover, a 26-year veteran crane operator s manning the tower crane.
“There’s always so much going on. You always have to worry about everything that you’re doing,” Glover said.
He makes the climb to the operator’s cabin every day and comes down when the daily lifting work is complete.
Glover said he didn’t mind the five-minute climb for now and he stated. “By the time the crane triples in height, they’ll have a cross-over bridge so I’ll just take the elevator or the skip hoist up and just walk from the building to the tower and just go up the last 100 feet,” Glover said.
The crane’s primary lifting requirements will be to aid the construction crew in building the concrete superstructure, but will also be used to lift precast panels, the glass window system, stairs, and roofing materials.
The $122 million project will provide an estimated 4,400 construction jobs. The historic project will include 322 units and has been in the works for nearly a decade.
Glover said he is excited to be part of constructing one of Wisconsin’s tallest buildings.
“That’s why I’m here. I had the opportunity to work in Madison closer to home, but this is one of those jobs that doesn’t happen very often for me. I jump at this any chance I would get,” he said.
Craig Glover making his daily walk and climbing the Liebherr Tower Crane to the Operators Cabin
Originally Published by WISN
