Carleton Building Company

Carleton Building Co. is

coordinating the 24-hour-a-day, seven-day-a-week construction

by Jan K. Allen

SBJ Contributing Writer

Work began in early March on the new Sinclair Financial Group building, located at 3901 S. Fremont, south of Primrose. Completion of the first two floors of the free-standing building is slated for April 25.

Construction crews are working 24 hours a day, seven days a week to meet the ambitious deadline, according to the general contractor, Kevin Carleton, president of Carleton Building Company.

Even with unseasonably bad weather in late March, Carleton said he expects to meet the deadline. Several hundred people will be involved in the project to make it happen, he added.

"The remarkable thing from a construction standpoint is we just started erecting steel around the ninth of March," he said.

The first phase of construction will be a 30,000-square-foot, two-story structure with parking facilities for 150 automobiles, said Damian Sinclair, chairman and chief executive officer of Sinclair Financial Group.

In December of this year, work will begin on an additional four stories, giving the financial-services company 100,000 square feet of office space upon completion.

Sinclair cited the reason for the rush as the space crunch caused by the rapid growth experienced by his company in its present locations. Sinclair Financial Group now occupies the former Roosevelt Savings Bank building at 1444 E. Sunshine. Sinclair also leases two branch offices, housing nearly 100 employees at all three facilities.

"We want to consolidate and allow more room to grow," Sinclair said.

The total cost of the Phase I building, including the land and other improvements, will run about $3.5 million for the first phase of the project, Sinclair said.

It will take approximately another $3 million to complete the additional four stories, he added.

The main challenge on the second phase is not to interfere with business traffic while the outside work is being done, Carleton said. But the outside work, using large cranes, should only take about two weeks, he said.

Sinclair Financial Group is a consumer credit institution making real estate and other consumer loans, according to Sinclair.

The closely held corporation is owned by Sinclair and his wife Susan, who is senior vice president and corporate attorney for the firm.

The Sinclairs, with their two daughters, Shane, 13, and Juliene, 10, relocated here five years ago from Phoenix, Ariz. The couple said they feel privileged to have found a place like Springfield in which to base their business operation.

"We feel really lucky to be part of such a good community," Damian Sinclair said.

Growth of the local company has been rewarding, not only in this area but nationwide, according to Sinclair.

"We've experienced remarkable growth, and we are currently in 40 states," he said.

Several subcontractors are involved in the joint effort to complete the project, Carleton said.

"We've had great cooperation between all of them," he added.

Carleton also pointed out that the only way for a project this big to be completed in the time allotted is through a team effort between the owner, architect and general contractor.

The metal framework will support an all-glass exterior with some masonry at the entrances, he said.

The five-acre tract will be enhanced with $170,000 worth of landscaping, including a small lake, Sinclair said.

Landscaping specialist Brian Letterman, owner of L & S Landscaping, will also install trees, shrubs, flowers and an irrigation system on the premises.

For customer convenience, the property will have two entrances, one on Fremont and the other on Independence, off Bradford Parkway behind Cox Medical Plaza, Sinclair said.

On the Fremont side, the entrance will benefit from the intersection at Independence, which will soon include a stop light and turn lanes, Sinclair said.

Jack Hood and Steve Logan, of Hood-Rich Inc., are the architects on the complex.

Great Southern Savings is the lender for the project.

PHOTO CAPTION:

The Sinclair Financial Group building, 3901 S. Fremont, was started in early March. The contractor has set an ambitious completion deadline of April 25. [[In-content Ad]]