Hilton Milwaukee City Center

PROJECT DETAILS

Rising to the Challenge on Historic Downtown Hilton

As one of Milwaukee’s premier hotels, the Hilton Milwaukee City Center is a busy place.  When it became time to replace the aging roof system at the base of the antenna tower, as well as the north and south penthouse roofs, the ability to get the job done quickly was essential.  Add the factors of a building height of more than 250 feet with accompanying high winds, the need to remove two transformers each weighing just over 4,800 pounds, along with its metal enclosure, and the existence of a massive antenna tower rising to 630 feet, and you have one challenging project.  Further, project staging for the crane and materials required the complete closure of the building’s main entrance along 5^th Street south from Wisconsin Avenue.

The removal of the existing roof, estimated to be more than 25 years old, included a walkway/protection board over a modified bitumen membrane over a built-up system on a concrete deck.  The main roof also held a metal shed housing the television station transformers.  This structure, along with both transformers, two 4,600-pound elevator motors and two boilers were removed by crane.  Two 40-foot flagpoles from the north and south towers were also hoisted down.  The iconic communications tower on the main roof, however, remained in use, so FJAC crews had to work around the structure and its massive steel girders.  The 9,600 square feet of the three roof sections was reroofed with Derbigum modified bitumen roofing system over a base membrane, a gypsum-fiber roof cover board and two layers of polyisocyanurate insulation.  Sheet metal complemented the roof system’s watertight integrity using a two-piece perimeter counterflashing, metal wall panels to cover openings exposed by the removal of the metal structure and the installation of a commercial steel door.  FJAC crews were praised for an incredible job in completing this challenging project with quality, safety and in a critical one-month timeframe.  Thanks to their efforts, the business along 5^th Street flowed freely once more while hotel guests remained dry within.