No. 1

Hummer dealership is first in world

Bergstrom Hummer-Milwaukee Dealership Milwaukee

By Candace Doyle

The Bergstrom Hummer-Milwaukee Dealership is the first stand-alone one in the world.

That's quite a claim to fame, but the $3.4 million, 26,000-square-foot building has more to boast about: The plans used to build it are now the prototype for the 125 new Hummer stores to be built across the country this year, said Jim Stahl, project manager for Miron Construction Co. Inc., the Neenah-based general contractor for the Milwaukee project.

"Our drawings are being used by all the other contractors for the buildings," said Stahl. "It's a real feather in our cap."

For those reasons alone, the project is a source of pride for Stahl and Miron, as well as the architects and owner, John Bergstrom.

But Stahl said he's proud of the project because of some of its other challenges, including stabilizing the soil on the site in the second week in January, not the most opportune time to start a project in Wisconsin. Stahl said that work alone cost $250,000.

The project also called for some unusual materials — such as mock steel used more typically in southern construction — that posed challenges, as did simply getting materials to the site, as tile in the building is from Italy and the dealership's special entrance doors came from California and Arizona.

But perhaps the greatest challenge, Stahl said, was meeting the many design demands of General Motors and its Hummer Division.

"Changes were made on the fly to keep the project moving," he said.

Fast lane

The project's time line was tight, too, Stahl said, with the dealership using 138.5 tons of steel and reaching completion in 24 weeks.

Project Name: Bergstrom Hummer-Milwaukee Dealership Location: Milwaukee Submitting Company: Miron Construction Co. Inc., Neenah General Contractor/Construction Manager: Miron Construction Co. Inc., Neenah Architect: Pavlik Design, Florida, and Gries Architectural Group, Neenah Engineer: Harwood Engineering, Milwaukee Owner: Bergstrom Automotive Group, Neenah Project Cost: $3.4 million Start Date: January 2002 Completion Date: July 2002

Florida-based Pavlik Design, a firm known for its work for Neiman Marcus and Disney, created the building's original design, said Miron's Craig Uhlenbrauck,.

Pavlik was employed to give the Quonset-hut dealership's 22-foot steel H entrance a themed look, making it feel like "an adult amusement park," said Bergstrom.

With its off-road course, customers can test drive Hummers in water and over rocks, mud or highways, and the interior of the dealership has 14-foot ceiling fans that resemble helicopter blades.

Another interesting feature of the dealership is the Hummer suspended from the ceiling by a strapping device similar to what the military used to drop the vehicles from helicopters to the ground during military operations.

Stahl said customers' responses have been "extremely positive," as have the responses of those involved in the project.

"The original design group from Florida was very happy with the project," he said. "John Bergstrom was extremely pleased. I think we met everybody's expectations."

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