Three Greenfire projects received awards from various outlets this month. The awards recognize projects completed within the last year that have exceeded expectations and demonstrated a positive impact on the surrounding community.

The Milwaukee Business Journal’s 2022 Real Estate Awards received over 140 nominations for projects in the Greater Milwaukee Metropolitan area. The Daily Reporter’s Top Projects of 2021 received over 100 nominations from projects across the State of Wisconsin. And the City of Milwaukee’s 25^th Annual Mayor’s Design Awards honored projects within the city. Each banquet honored the projects with a plaque and a short presentation highlighting scope of work, unique construction features and challenges, and usability.

The Forest County Potawatomi Community Center, new construction of a 110,000 SF structural steel recreational building, received Top Projects of 2021 recognition. Waukesha City Hall, new construction of a 55,000 SF government building, received Top Projects of 2021 recognition as well along with the 2022 Real Estate Award Best New Development – Government award. 37^th Street School Senior Apartments, an historic renovation of a former Milwaukee Public School adapted for senior housing, was selected as a Mayor’s Design Award recipient.

We are honored and humbled to be included among the many notable honorees for each of these awards. We thank the Forest County Potawatomi Community and Potawatomi Business Development Corporation for their backing and support. We would also like to express our appreciation for our customers, subcontractors and partners who help bring these projects to life. We also to recognize our amazing team for their hard work and dedication in delivering quality, innovative, and impactful projects. The combination of everyone’s involvement allows us to build these impressive developments and bring value and improvement to our surrounding communities.

Congratulations to the Forest County Potawatomi Community, City of Waukesha, and Heartland Housing Alliance (owner of 37^th Street Apartments) for their exceptional vision and dedication to these projects.

The Tribute Apartments, a new mixed-use building situated at the east end of the R1VER site, are complete and turned over for resident leasing. R1VER is a first-class waterfront development along a bend in the Kinnickinnic River that leads into the Harbor District and Bayview neighborhoods of Milwaukee. The development features the new 8-story Michels Corporation office building with future phases consisting of a second office building and a 100-unit hotel. Greenfire was contracted to build the 95-unit apartment building, the second building on site, that includes a café, retail, and restaurant space.

The Tribute Apartments consist of two buildings connected by a multi-level skywalk. The northern building features a riverfront restaurant at grade level that includes a large patio and connects to the R1VER riverwalk. The southern building features a café at southeast intersection in addition to multiple retail spaces. Other building amenities include a grade-level clubroom, access to the riverwalk, and an outdoor amenity deck with a turfed pet run, a fire pit for tenants, and multiple grilling stations.

The entire R1VER site is supported by a network of over 800 piles that form a deep foundation system to support the cast-in-place concrete podium and structural steel with vertical construction above. Upon completion of the podium, Greenfire was contracted to construct the four residential floors atop and bring the grade-level commercial spaces to white-box. This required detailed coordination of the scope and schedule to seamlessly transition work from the foundation and podium contractor to avoid safety issues and float in the schedule. At all of the commercial spaces, the team installed windows and added a structural concrete slab and retractable glass garage doors in the restaurant. For the exterior, work includes construction and installation of the amenity deck landscaping along with additional site landscaping.

The Greenfire preconstruction team was heavily involved prior to this point working with the owner and design team to optimize design efficiencies which resulted in cost savings and allowed for finish upgrades. Meanwhile, on site, the construction team had the monumental task of working in a high-profile, compact site with multiple contractors present. Working together, the team formed a detailed site logistics and phasing plan that accounted for personnel safety, material procurement and heavy machinery operation all while maintaining a productive jobsite.

We are proud to take an active role in this visionary redevelopment of the waterfront along the Kinnickinnic River. We would like to recognize the hard work and dedication of our project team that includes Alex Siehoff, Project Manager, Tim Williamson, Superintendent, Jordan Guth, Project Engineer, Gage Christianson, Project Engineer, and Angelo Rodriguez, Assistant Superintendent. We would also like to thank Michels Corporation for selecting Greenfire as their CM for the Tribute Apartments. We were also fortunate to work, once again, with our friends at RINKA+ on another transformative project.

Greenfire exhibited at the 2022 American Institute of Architects (AIA) Architecture Expo which was held at the Monona Terrace in Madison. This was our first year attending the two-day event which is brings together design and engineering firms across the state along with the region’s leading supply vendors to discuss current practices, climate, and trends.

Greenfire hosted a booth which gave us the opportunity to meet with architecture and engineering firms across the state to solidify Greenfire as a reputable construction firm. Pepi Randolph, VP of Business Development, Simmi Urbanek, Director of Marketing, Maureen Carlson, Regional Business Development Manager, Kyle Widenski, Marketing Manager, and Michael Moe, Business Development Coordinator connected with new and previously partnered firms to extend our brand as a resource for commercial and public construction. We also hosted a few individual firms at a dinner to further connect and discuss our capabilities and direction.

In all, we established relationships with new firms, maintained valuable connections with existing partnered firms, and presented Greenfire as a leading, reputable construction firm throughout the region. As we continually pursue and grow our capabilities, we are pleased with the groundwork our team accomplished at this event.

On April 14, Milwaukee’s 414 area code, Milwaukeeans celebrated the people, places, and spirit that make the city unique. It’s an unofficial holiday, but we take it seriously. And what better way to celebrate this holiday, than with the first home game of the season for our Milwaukee Brewers? Greenfire showed our love for this city by dressing up in our own branded baseball and Milwaukee gear. The Brew Crew must have heard us because they beat the St. Louis Cardinals 5-1 for the first home game of the season.

Land Quest hosted a ribbon cutting and an open house this month to mark the turnover for the first of five buildings that make up the Gateway Lofts project in Kenosha. The project is a culmination of a partnership with Gateway Technical College and the City of Kenosha to provide accessible housing for their students and local residents.

Individuals on behalf of Land Quest, Gateway Technical College, and the City of Kenosha spoke in front of a gathered crowd to share their thoughts, anecdotes, and optimism surrounding the project and its effect on the community. Afterwards speakers and those gathered for the event gathered at the entrance of the building to cut the ceremonial ribbon to officially open Gateway Lofts to the public. Guests were invited inside to tour the facility, view construction progress of the rest of the site, and socialize with other guests and residents over a variety of food options from local food truck vendors.

We are honored to serve as the CM on this transformative project and would like to thank Land Quest and Ryan Douglas for selecting Greenfire as their trusted building partner. The project team includes Mike Smith, Senior Project Manager, Dave Kwiatkowski, Superintendent, and Mitchell Berti, Project Engineer. We are proud of their determination and dedication to this project and look forward to seeing the entire project turn over in June!

Mackson Corners is a visionary project led by Merge Urban Development Group to redevelop the former industrial waterfront along the Fox River in Oshkosh into a vibrant and active streetscape. The development features three phases of construction. Phase One is Mackson Corners Waterfront – a 74-unit multi-family building with seven walk-up townhomes that sit just 25 feet from the river front. Phase Two consists of two additional buildings including a mixed-use building along Jackson Street, similar to the neighboring Brio to the north, and a commercial office building. Phase Three is slated for future residential or mixed-use development. In total, Mackson Corners brings 260 units to the market along with a variety of commercial and public spaces.

The development sits on the former Cook & Brown Lime Co. property – a brick manufacturer incorporated in 1874. It was established the year before a fire destroyed much of the wooden structures in downtown Oshkosh which the city then decided to rebuild in brick. The company quickly grew as a result and began using boats to bring limestone from the east side of Lake Winnebago to the industrial plant via the Fox River and there the company manufactured brick, lime, and mortar. Over the years, the site also housed multiple other commercial and industrial properties, including a sawmill and railroad station.

Fast forward to today and the Waterfront building is currently under construction. The building consists of a cast-in-place foundation with precast columns, beams and plank that supports a combination of structural steel and three residential floors of stick framing above.

Work on the site started in late October with the team driving more than 200 geo piers to stabilize the soil and produce proper conditions for construction along the river. Excavation and foundation work started in mid-December. The team sequenced excavation and foundation work due to the time of year and weather conditions to avoid any potential site freezing and allow for proper placing of footings. As foundation work progressed, the team hauled in sand and gravel for back fill to further stabilize the site. The foundation was finished in mid-March and due to the soil organics from years of industrial use and a heavy layer of sawdust, the team installed an active methane mitigation system. The system includes a permeable layer of clear stone and fabric divider to allow it to breathe. The system is installed at the southern units with the Eastern Lobby system wrapping up in the coming weeks.

As for construction, the finishing slab is installed on the south end of the building and progressing to the Eastern Lobby. The team is also currently laying structural steel to frame the walk-up units in addition to framing the rest of residential units on the first floor. The walk-up units are tiered along the river front, with a patio and entry way two feet above grade. As residents enter, a staircase leads up to the main living level. Unit framing is slated to be complete by mid-May for all four floors when the team transitions into roof work. Window installation is scheduled to progress simultaneous to the team making the building watertight. MEP installation is to follow after. The Waterfront building is slated to be complete by the end of the year.

Construction on a former industrial site is not the only unique feature of this project. The team worked with the Parks Department to obtain a construction easement to close down the river walk and sidewalks daily to allow for walk-up unit construction and exterior site work. Due to the compact nature along the river front, the property line is setback only five feet from the furthest foundation, which the team overcomes to ensure quality construction and safe navigation.

In all, we are proud to take an active role in this visionary redevelopment effort – and one that includes the Brio building, another mixed-use project in Greenfire’s portfolio. The project team includes Kevin Hansen, Sr. Project Manager, Alan Augustynowicz, Superintendent, and Mariah Herron, Project Engineer. We would like to thank Merge Urban Development Group for selecting Greenfire to carry out their vision and we are excited to partner once again with our friends at Slingshot Architecture on another transformative project.

At Greenfire, we know when it is time to work and when it is time to play. We also know our success is a direct result of the hard work and dedication of our team. In recognition of our team, both of our offices celebrated their efforts by hosting Employee Appreciation parties.

The Milwaukee headquarters office celebrated with a happy hour with appetizers and a raffle. The team also played some games including pool and bag toss. The Northern Operations office in Wausau took to the lanes and went for a night of bowling. The team fared well with drinks and appetizers as well… but we’ll spare the details on their scorecard!

Thank you to all of our employees for their willingness to go above and beyond that makes Greenfire a leader in construction services.

February arrived then disappeared.

We volunteered to collect warm winter gear during the coldest month of the year. We attended university fairs to present Greenfire for those taking the next step in their collegiate career. And we’re excited to see significant progress appear at a high-profile project in the Lake Country frontier.

Read more here in the February 2022 edition of The Spark.