By Nate Proell, OnMilwaukee Intern   Published Aug 21, 2017 at 5:42 PM

As of today, Aug. 21, 2017, the Downtown Northwestern Mutual Tower and Commons is officially open. 

Standing at 32 stories high, the Northwester Mutual Tower is the second largest building in Wisconsin. At 550 feet tall, the Tower is a mere 51-feet shorter than the U.S. Bank building. Both the Tower and Commons together make a total of 1.1 million square feet.

Built with a total of 3,579 glass panes, the Northwestern Mutual Tower and Commons is built to let in as much natural light as possible to help promote a healthy and positive environment. The building will be submitted for Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design (LEED) as nearly 36,000 square feet of the Commons roof is certified "green roof." 

The project has employed more than 2,600 individuals with nearly 1,200 of them being local residents who were hired through Milwaukee's Residents Preferred Program. 

Much of the first floor is open to the public and includes the interactive Northwestern Mutual Experience and a Starbucks that is open weekdays from 6:30 a.m. to 6 p.m.

In total, Northwestern Mutual invested $450 million into the project. 

To take a first look inside this state-of-the-art building and everything it entails, watch this exclusive OnMilwaukee video.