PROJECT SPECS Project Name: Blue Harbor Resort Location: Sheboygan General Contractor/Construction Manager: Kraemer Brothers LLC, Plain Engineer/Architect: Architectural Design Consultants Inc., Lake Delton Owner: Great Lakes Companies Inc., Madison Project Cost: $30 million Start Date: June 2003 Scheduled Completion: June 2004

Kraemer fights time
for Blue Harbor

The best golfers in the world will converge on the Sheboygan and Kohler areas next August for the PGA Championship at Whistling Straits Golf Course.

They're going to want a nice place to stay, good options for dining and fun diversions for their kids while the fathers are earning a living on the links. Thousands of fans and media will follow those golfers, happily burying the region with people and making it the focal point of the golfing world for a week.

So it would be an understatement to say Kraemer Brothers LLC, Plain, has to meet its deadline constructing the Blue Harbor Resort on the shores of Lake Michigan in Sheboygan. The contractor kicked off its project in June and must reach completion by June 2004.

PROJECT FACT The Blue Harbor Resort is already booked for the PGA Championship at Whistling Straits in Kohler from Aug. 9-15, 2004, a little more than a month after Kraemer is scheduled to complete the resort project.

"The biggest challenge is time," said Kevin Kraemer, vice president of Kraemer Brothers. "Basically, from the time we got started, we've got 11 months to do it. As far as building, that's what we're good at. Having a big project is not a problem. The problem is getting it done.

"We're very comfortable with this. Anytime you undertake a project of this size and scope, it's a challenge."

Kraemer is facing several different projects within the resort job. There's a 190,000-square-foot, 189-room hotel. There's also a 30,000-square-foot water park with a 70,000-square-foot support structure as well as a 30,000-square-foot convention center and restaurant.

Kraemer Brothers' Jerry Resop supervises the installation of a pirate ship that will rule the waters of the Blue Harbor Resort's water park.	A Kraemer Brothers' crew pours concrete in the basement of the Blue Harbor Resort's water park.

In other words, the Blue Harbor Resort will offer everything a traveling professional golfer might want.

"They would like to be open and getting the hotel debugged for the major golf tournament," Kraemer said. "It's a major event in the area, and they're already booked for it. So, we've got the whole world watching us."

If there's an audience waiting to see how Kraemer Brothers performs, Kraemer said he's not worried. According to the project schedule, the company will have the roof trusses and the roof complete for the hotel and water park before winter sets in.

"Our major goal is that by December the buildings are substantially closed," Kraemer said. "We're right on schedule with the project and don't intend on getting behind."

- Chris Thompson