Hot spot

The Milwaukee Urban League doesn't want to leave a vacant building behind when it moves from its headquarters at 2800 W. Wright St. in Milwaukee. With that in mind, the Urban League teamed up with Gorman & Company, Madison, on a development plan for the site. Gorman will act as co-developer, architect and general contractor on a historic adaptive reuse and new construction project that will convert the Urban League's building into the four-story Wesley L. Scott Senior Living Community. New construction will represent the majority of the estimated 110,000-square-foot project, which will create 84 apartments for seniors in Milwaukee's Metcalfe Park area. Bids for the project should hit the streets in August or September, and construction should start in October. Gorman is planning a May 2006 completion.

In memoriam

Mark D. Redmond, Delafield, died June 20 after a 20-month battle with cancer. Redmond, 51, started Redmond Construction Company in 1976 with his father. While his father directed the construction company, Redmond focused on real estate development and formed the Redmond Commercial Development Corp. in the early 1990s. When his father retired in 2000, Redmond took over his father's share in the Waukesha contractor and renamed it The Redmond Company. … Robert S. Burns, Franklin, died June 11 of undisclosed causes. Burns, 69, was the owner and operator of Burns & Sons Plumbing, Franklin. … Duane Nobs, La Valle, died June 19, and Todd Labansky, Reedsburg, died June 20 after both men were exposed to toxic gases at a construction site in Sauk County. Labansky, 44, was the owner and operator of B&L Excavating Inc., La Valle, and Nobs, 56, worked for the company. Nobs also served as the La Valle village president for the last eight years.

On the horizon

Lotus Enterprises, Silver Lake, is planning the construction of an estimated $1.5 million, 24,000-square-foot warehouse in the Silver Lake Business Park. … Riverroad Development, Allenton, and the city of West Bend are working on plans for a 64-acre industrial park on the city's southeast side. … Potter Lawson Inc., Madison, is working with the Racine County Board of Supervisors on plans to expand the Racine County Jail at a cost ranging from about $15 million to about $19 million. … Fischer-Fischer-Theis Inc., Waukesha, has earned state approval for its design of an estimated $7.9 million readiness center at Camp Douglas. … Engberg Anderson Design Partnership Inc., Milwaukee, is working with the Cedarburg Public Library on an estimated $7.9 million new library in Cedarburg. … Grumman-Butkus Associates, Wauwatosa, signed on to provide consultant services for an estimated $2.5 million HVAC and electrical power distribution renovation in the Instructional Services Building at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay. … The Wisconsin Department of Transportation is planning a 12,000-square-foot commuter center/park and ride in West Bend. … Mandel Group Inc., Milwaukee, has proposed redeveloping the old St. Mary's Church and property on Watertown Plank Road in Elm Grove into The Watermark Condominiums. … Angus-Young Associates Inc., Janesville, and the Watertown Public Works Department are eyeing a 2007 construction start for a new city public works facility. … HGM Architecture Inc., Oshkosh, is working with the Lincoln County Law Enforcement Committee on an improvement plan for the Lincoln County Safety Building in Merrill.

Dotted Line

Pieper Electric Inc., Milwaukee, won a $1.5 million contract for work on a regulator building at General Mitchell International Airport in Milwaukee. … Payne & Dolan Inc., Waukesha, landed a $2 million contract for highway paving work in Waukesha County. … MSI General Corp., Oconomowoc, will design and build Newport West, a 17,995-square-foot retail facility in Lake Geneva. MSI was selected by Fluid Handling Inc. to design, engineer and build a 2,900-square-foot warehouse addition to Fluid's Milwaukee facility. MSI was selected by Cain Industries to design and build office space on the company's storage mezzanine at its Germantown facility. … R&R Wash Materials Inc., Ripon, will construct taxiway improvements at Dodge County Airport in Juneau after winning a $1.6 million contract for the work. … Sun Prairie Sand & Gravel, Sun Prairie, landed a $3.6 million contract for an urban roadway project in Sun Prairie. … Magill Construction Co. Inc., Elkhorn, won a contract to build a new church for Burlington United Methodist Church. Magill also won a contract to build a connector ramp addition for Miniature Precision Components Inc. in Walworth. Magill also won contracts for a remodeling project at Mercy Health Systems' Oncology & Breast Center in Janesville and a gym floor replacement at Aldrich Middle School in Beloit. … Shefchik Builders Inc., Menomonie, will build the Great River Road Interpretive Learning Center in Prescott after winning a $1.3 million contract for the job. … Bachmann Construction Co. Inc., Madison, landed a $2.8 million contract to expand the city of Madison's engineering services building. … Joe Daniels Construction Co., Madison, won a $1.4 million contract to reconstruct State Street and adjacent streets in Madison. Joe Daniels also won a $4.5 million contract to construct the Goodman Community Pool project in Madison. … A.W. Oakes & Son Inc., Racine, landed a $1.7 million contract to construct street utilities in Racine. … J.H. Hassinger Inc., Menomonee Falls, was selected to renovate the district office at Arrowhead Union High School in Hartland. … Michels Corp., Brownsville, won a $2.2 million contract to reconstruct a taxiway at the Outagamie County Regional Airport in Appleton. Michels also won a $3.1 million contract for horizontal directional drilling for a sanitary-sewer project in River Falls. … Capitol Underground Inc., Middleton, landed a $1.3 million contract for street and alley reconstruction work in Madison. Capitol Underground also won a $3 million contract for an interceptor sewer project on Pflaum Road in Madison. … Dave Cecil Builder, Winter, won a $1.5 million contract to build a tribal facility for the Lac Courte Oreilles Band of Ojibwa in Hayward. … Zenith Tech Inc., Waukesha, will relocate the Escanaba and Lake Superior Railroad in Ontonagon Township, Mich., after winning a $17.9 million contract for the job. … Oudenhoven Construction Inc., Kaukauna, won a $3.1 million contract to modify a wastewater-treatment plant in Wittenberg. … Seater Construction Co. Inc., Racine, will construct the Kenosha Transit operations and maintenance garage in Kenosha after winning an $11.8 million contract for the job. … Don E. Parker Excavating Inc., Hortonville, secured a $2.2 million contract for the 2005 utility installation and street reconstruction project in Fond du Lac. … Infra Source Inc., New Berlin, took home a $1.3 million contract for sanitary-sewer system work in Oconomowoc. … Pember Companies Inc., Menomonie, won a $1.9 million contract to construct the Schofield Avenue streetscape in Weston. … Vinton Construction Co., Manitowoc, landed a $5.4 million contract for a concrete paving job in Oshkosh. … Roberts Roofing & Siding Inc., Glendale, will replace the roof at Hamilton High School in Milwaukee after winning a $2.3 million contract for the job. … J.P. Cullen & Sons Inc., Janesville, won an $8.8 million contract to construct a new elementary school in Dubuque, Iowa. … E&N Hughes Co. Inc., Monroe, landed a $1.2 million contract for a street and utilities project in Beloit. … J.F. Ahern Co., Fond du Lac, will construct well improvements in Waukesha after winning a $1.1 million contract for the work. J.F. Ahern also won a $1.1 million contract for a wastewater-treatment plant rehabilitation in Portage. … Bane-Nelson Inc., Kenosha, won a $1.2 million contract for site and landscape improvements to Mon-ument Square in Racine. Bane-Nelson also won a $1.4 million contract to construct a 30-inch water main in Kenosha. … LaLonde Contractors Inc., Milwaukee, took home a $1.4 million contract for concrete street reconstruction work in Racine. … Selzer-Ornst Co., Wauwatosa, was selected as the general contractor for the 25,000-square-foot Audi North Shore auto dealership project in Brown Deer. … A-1 Excavating Inc., Bloomer, won a $1.5 million contract for street and utility reconstruction work in Eau Claire. A-1 also won a $2.1 million contract for sewer, water and road construction work in Kronenwetter. … Parisi Construction Co. Inc., Verona, landed a $1.3 million contract for the West Verona Avenue reconstruction in Verona. American Asphalt of Wisconsin, Wausau, took home a $2.1 million contract for asphalt surfacing work in Marathon County. … Miron Construction Co. Inc., Neenah, will construct the new East District Police Station on Thompson Drive in Madison after winning a $2.7 million contract for the job. Miron also won a $2.1 million contract for a well reservoir and pumping station project in Madison. Miron also won a $1.2 million contract for maintenance and repair projects for heating plants in multiple buildings on the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus. … Fowler & Hammer Inc., La Crosse, will construct the Family YMCA North in Onalaska after winning a $7.2 million contract for the job. … Super Excavators Inc., Menomonee Falls, landed a $21.4 million contract for the Hart Park project in Wauwatosa. … Advance Construction Inc., Green Bay, won a $1.1 million contract for the Water and Wisconsin streets reconstruction in West Bend. … Fischl Construction Corp., Madison, secured a $3.8 million contract to build a new public library in Verona. … Henshue Construction Inc., Madison, will construct the second phase of the Willow Creek storm box relief sewer after winning a $1 million contract for the job.

By design

The village of Winneconne wants to give its downtown a facelift. The theory is that a more attractive downtown will give the local economy a shot in the arm, drawing more pedestrian traffic and spurring more business starts in the downtown area. With that in mind, the village has teamed up with Short Elliott Hendrickson Inc., Appleton, on a five- to six-block Main Street streetscape project right through the village's downtown. The project, with a preliminary construction cost of $800,000, will cover street reconstruction from curb face to curb face, utility work, new lighting, benches, kiosks, trash receptacles, way-finding information, landscaping and stamped and colored concrete. Bids for the project should hit the streets in spring 2006, and the village hopes to start construction in July 2006. Completion is slated for November 2006.

Giving back

The La Crosse Area Builders Association gave an Onalaska family a fresh start with a home makeover project through LABA's Rebuilding Dreams program. The rebuilt house appeared in the LABA Parade of Homes. County Materials Corp., Marathon, donated about 750 County Pavers for the job. … The Tri County Contractors Association recently named Daniel Frost of Kenosha and Nicholas Brown of Sturtevant as the recipients of the third annual TCCA scholarships. Frost received a $1,000 scholarship, and Brown received a $500 scholarship.

Your honor

Lunda Construction Co., Black River Falls, won the 2004 Great Lakes and Ohio River Division Civil Works Construction Contractor of the Year Award from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for the company's project management on the Machinery Renovation-Fox River Dams in Green Bay, its rescue efforts for a boater in distress and its safety record over the course of a four-year project. … R.A. Smith & Associates Inc., Brookfield, won the 2004 Outstanding Highway Construction Award for Excellence in Asphalt Paving from the Southeast Region of the Wisconsin Department of Transportation for the company's construction services on the two-mile reconstruction of Granville Road from County Line Road to Mequon Road in Ozaukee County.

Peer Review

Into the sunset

Wilcox ready to call it a career

There won’t be a 4:30 alarm going off next to Sam Wilcox’s bed in Edgerton on the morning of Sept. 9.

He won’t get up and drive the 30 minutes or so from his house to the building trades on Park Street in Madison. He won’t sit behind his desk in the Iron Workers Local 383 office. He won’t field calls from contractors or herd ironworkers to various construction sites throughout the local’s 29 counties. There won’t be any committee meetings to attend, contracts to negotiate, pension and annuity funds to watch over or insurance plans to manage.

For the first time in 15 years, Wilcox won’t be Local 383’s business manager.

“On Sept. 8, I’m retiring,” said Wilcox, 55. “I think I’ve certainly done a lot of positive things for the ironworkers. I think I’ve improved the working lives of members, and that’s the best feeling you can have.”

Starting Sept. 9, Wilcox will have some time on his hands, and he already has an idea of what he’ll do with it.

“I’m going to chase a few ducks and fish for a year or so, and then I’ll sit back and see what I’m interested in,” he said. “I’ve never had time off. The real trick will be if I can sleep past 4:30 or 5 in the morning.”

His life might change dramatically after Labor Day, but at least Wilcox will be in familiar surroundings. He still lives in the city in which he was born and raised.

After graduating from Edgerton High School in 1967, he went to the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He worked construction in the summer for FP&T, a union curb-and-gutter contractor that has since moved to Arizona. After one year of school in Madison, he decided to take a semester off to work more construction.

When he returned to college in 1969 to continue studying natural resources, it was at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point. It didn’t last long.

Best of the web Abandoned is a Russian Web site at www.abandoned.ru that showcases abandoned buildings in the former Soviet Union. Most of the structures were abandoned as a direct result of the fall of the Soviet Union in the 1980s and 1990s. The site contains 456 photos of 14 structures from throughout the region. — Rick Benedict

“I was drafted in 1969,” Wilcox said. “You get a letter from the county draft board, and you know it’s done. You don’t even have to open the letter. The options of going anywhere other than Vietnam were pretty slim. I was 19.”

After basic training, Wilcox joined the 101st Airborne Infantry in Vietnam in January 1970 as a radio telephone operator for Charlie Company.

“It was not a good job to have,” he said. “If you can’t do the communication by radio, you can’t get the air support you need.”

He was discharged on Dec. 22, 1970, spent about six months at Fort Mead in Maryland and returned to college at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater. He finished summer school before switching to construction for good, first with FP&T and then with Janesville’s Helgesteel Corp., where he stayed for six years.

“I was a laborer, and, in 1978, I got an apprenticeship with the ironworkers,” Wilcox said. “For people who are willing and looking for a career, an apprenticeship with the ironworkers or in any other trade is a wonderful, wonderful job.”

It’s also a job that let Wilcox do what he loved.

“I like to build things, and as the years went on, I learned how to build bigger things, and that’s enjoyable,” he said. “The opportunity was there to get started in construction and go from pouring concrete for curbs and gutters to building multibillion-dollar jobs.”

But it wasn’t just the ironwork that attracted Wilcox. It was the union. By 1984, he was on the local’s executive board. In 1990, the local’s president and business manager called to see if he wanted to run for business manager.

“I didn’t have a clue,” Wilcox said. “I thought about it for a few days and said, ‘Sure,’ and lo and behold, I won.”

And he kept winning. With elections every three years, he was opposed in the first election, unopposed the second, third and fourth and opposed the fifth.

Victorious elections are nice, but it’s the ironworkers and their accomplishments that will stick with Wilcox when he walks away.

“It’s amazing what good people can do,” he said.

- Chris Thompson

A group of walkers for the Stevens Point/Wisconsin Rapids American Heart Walk in May 2004 pauses for a moment before hitting the pavement. The walkers are (from left) Dean Ryerson of the Wisconsin Rapids School District, Debra Adams of the American Heart Association, an unidentified local hospital representative, retired Sentry Insurance employee Adrian Omernick and Dave Kievet, general manager for Oscar J. Boldt Construction. Photos courtesy of The Boldt Company

Off the clock

A walk in the park

Maybe employees at The Boldt Company just can’t stand still.

Maybe they take Nancy Sinatra at her word when she sings, “These Boots Were Made for Walking.”

Perhaps they like to hear their dogs barking.

Whatever the reason, employees and executives at the Appleton construction company like to walk. In the last year, 80 employees walked in the American Heart Walk in Appleton, five ambled in the American Heart Walk in Milwaukee, 24 took to the streets in the American Cancer Society’s Sole Burner in Appleton, an unknown number took a stroll in the American Heart Walk in Stevens Point and, most recently, 117 put rubber sole to the road for the Fox Valley Walk to Cure Diabetes in Neenah.

All together, those walks helped Boldt raise around $43,000 for charity.

“We’re not only building buildings, but we’re building communities and building relationships,” said Tom Boldt, the company’s CEO. “We’re a walking bunch.”

And all that walking really means something. Paul Coenen, vice president of northern operations for Boldt Construction, learned nine years ago that his daughter, Laura, had diabetes. In the first year after the diagnosis, Coenen got involved with the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation and its walk for a cure.

Bob DeKoch, president and COO of The Boldt Company, joins Julie Kersten, Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation Northeast Wisconsin executive director, at the Fox Valley Walk to Cure Diabetes in May

“Initially, it was more of a personal thing with my wife and I and the people with children with diabetes,” he said. “Then, about eight years ago, we started recruiting people from the company for the walk. In the early years of the walk, they were making in the low teens.”

This year, the walk raised $480,000, $27,000 of which came from Boldt’s involvement.

“It means I work for a company that is very conscious of things going on in the community,” Coenen said. “I could always feel that in one form or another, Boldt would always support this walk, my daughter and others afflicted with this. It means a lot to me that the company so strongly supports these causes and, in particular, this cause that is so near and dear to my family.”

And, according to Coenen, nobody’s feet are worse for the wear.

“At Boldt, we’re all in such great shape that our feet never get sore,” he said.