Northwestern Mutual building moving ahead, will redefine downtown

 It's a big hole in the ground right now, but after this weekend, the Northwestern Mutual building could start taking shape. Contractors poured concrete on the foundation for the new building starting Friday night.  

Cement trunks moved in and out of the site. They'll move 10,000 cubic yards of concrete - about the size of an NFL football field that's five feet thick.

\"The concrete foundation walls and the whole tower can start to come out of the ground,\" Rick Schmidt, from CG Schmidt, said.  \"This is really step one in getting this whole tower going and getting it out of the ground so people can see it.\"

Mayor Tom Barrett had his first look at the progress Saturday.  He's excited about the project and the amount of Milwaukee residents working on it.

\"I absolutely love seeing city of Milwaukee residents working on this project because there's so  many people who need work,\" Barrett said. 

He said the NM project is making downtown Milwaukee a destination.

\"We're seeing hundreds and hundreds of apartments that are cropping up in the downtown area because of investments like this,\" Barrett said.  \"The dividends are huge.\"

The concrete pour is supposed to be wrapped up Saturday night.