ALL ABOARD: Kelly Turner, City Utilities’ transit director, and Chris Haller, facilities manager, stand at the new bus depot, which was 10 years in the making.
City Utilities named Developer of the Year
Jana Bounds
Posted online
Top honors at the 2016 Salute to Design and Construction awards Nov. 10 went to City Utilities for the bus transfer station that opened in May.
The Developer of the Year award recognizes CU’s effort to accommodate a larger fleet of buses and eliminate pedestrian crossings in front of drivers. Architecture firm H Design Group LLC and contractor DeWitt & Associates Inc. collaborated on the $4.4 million, 5,859-square-foot station on 2.7 acres at 211 N. Main Ave.
Chris Haller, manager of facilities management for City Utilities, said the bus station was 10 years in the making.
“In the end, all of the effort culminated into the best of many things, including the location. The consultants team that we hired really put together quite an improvement for that site,” he said.
They also were able to work with Springfield Public Works to complete adjoining sections of streetscape, which Haller said was essential to minimizing disruption.
Previously, the CU bus station at McDaniel Street and Patton Avenue was in use for nearly 30 years and the Federal Transit Administration contributed $3.6 million to the project since a replacement site was sought, beginning in 2006.
“For anybody who had a sense of what the old station was like, had ever been there, to walk out there and experience the atmosphere and the operation at the new one, there’s just no comparison,” Haller said.
During the Salute to Construction banquet at Ramada Plaza Hotel & Oasis Convention Center, the Design Team of the Year was awarded to companies behind Springfield Public Schools’ $10.2 million renovations at Kickapoo High, 3710 S. Jefferson Ave.
“The communication among all the project teams was second to none,” said Chrissy Groeteke, spokeswoman for DeWitt & Associates, general contractor on the project.
The team comprised Buxton Kubik Dodd Creative as architect, Toth and Associates Inc. as structural and civil engineer, and Malone Finkle Eckhardt & Collins Inc. as mechanical, electrical and plumbing engineer.
The project added an east entrance and 900-seat auditorium that now doubles as a Federal Emergency Management Agency safe room, Groeteke said. A professional quality performing arts center provides students hands-on experience with theatrical productions.
“[It] also includes an orchestra pit and a complete fly loft with a staging curtain drop system,” DeWitt project manager Kelsey Kincaid said via email. “The addition is flanked by support facilities for the performing arts program including dressing rooms, make up areas and a newly enhanced south entry into the main facility.”
The Kickapoo project earned another Salute to Design and Construction Award. A&M Crete Inc. was named Craftsman of the Year by the local chapter of the American Institute of Architects for its concrete flooring work at the high school.
“When we got there, the conditions were ideal for us to be able to install our flooring system,” said co-owner Kevin Scheer, crediting DeWitt & Associates’ coordinating efforts.
The work of A&M Crete, co-owned by Micah Stowe, included grinding, staining and polishing concrete floors.
“We matched the same color to the previous renovation of the commons area. It was a flow through that had several unique colors and designs as per the architect,” he said.
Organized by the Salute to Construction Council, an 11-member event committee assessed the honorees. The council represents 26 organizations, including the Springfield Contractors Association, Home Builders Association of Greater Springfield, Springfield Area Chamber of Commerce, AIA and several unions.
SCA Executive Director Kathy Baer said nomination forms are sent out to membership and a point system is used to determine the Developer of the Year. The Project Team of the Year is established similarly but with a site visit.
The O’Reilly Clinical Health Sciences Center project at Missouri State University had two AIA award-winning superintendents on board: J.D. Anthony and Alan Essary, both from DeWitt & Associates.
Debi Murray from Murney Associates, Realtors, also was among honorees. She received the Vesta Award, created by the Southwest Missouri Chapter of the National Association of Women in Construction to honor women with over 10 years of construction experience.
