Building The Future Together

Hunzinger is so proud to have been part of the Progressive Community Health Center Lisbon Avenue Clinic team and we are humbled to have received the Wisconsin Commercial Real Estate Women’s (WCREW) Judges’ Choice Vision award for the construction and design of their new Lisbon Avenue Health Center.

Jenni Sevenich, Progressvie’s CEO and Connie Debbink CFO accepted the award on behalf of the team at WCREW’s 15th Annual Showcase Awards Dinner held at Discovery World on Milwaukee’s beautiful lakefront. The successful project team reunited to attend the award banquet that was very well attended by architects, developers, attorneys and real estate professionals. Jenni and Connie were joined by Monique Charlier, owner of Rivet LLC, the Owner’s Representative, Randy Beckwith lead architect for the project with HGA and Jim Hunzinger, Joan Zepecki, Dan Davies and Michael Jahns of Hunzinger.

In her acceptance speech Jenni thanked the judges for acknowledging the importance of the new clinic to Milwaukee noting that, “it shows the community we are invested in them, that they matter and their health matters and that we are here to stay,” she continued, “Hunzinger is iconic in the construction community but they really became part of the mission. I couldn’t be happier with our team.”

Jim Hunzinger echoed that sentiment noting, “This was so much more than a construction project for us. This was about having a hugely positive impact in our community and in the lives of individuals who deserve to have access to quality healthcare.”

Founded in 1998, WCREW helps women in all disciplines of the commercial real estate industry achieve success by providing opportunities to learn, lead, network, and do business together.

The WCREW Judges’ Choice Vision:

Progressive Community Health Centers is confronting the challenges of Milwaukee’s Central city health care environment by expanding their Lisbon Avenue Health Clinic, located at 3522 W. Lisbon Avenue. They had outgrown their previous space and hired Rivet, LLC as their Owner’s Representative to guide them through the complex funding and construction processes. HGA Architects and Engineers were hired to design the project and Hunzinger Construction Company was hired to serve as Construction Manager. The project was nearly a decade in the making with fundraising efforts and planning really coming together in the spring of 2013. The culmination of this hard work resulted in a new almost $12 million facility that opened for new clients in February of 2015.

The new three-story building increases Progressive’s capacity to service a community desperately in need of health care services. The new facility is 42,000 square feet, compared to the old 8,500 square foot facility. The new clinic features 24 primary care rooms, 13 dental suites, three specialty care exam rooms, six OB/GYN exam rooms, administrative office space, phlebotomy lab, health education center, and a partially finished basement that can be built out for future expansion needs.

The project received funding from a variety of sources including a $5 million capital grant from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Health Resources and Services Administration, $500,000 from the Milwaukee Health Care Partnership, $100,000 from the City of Milwaukee’s CDGB funds, $25,000 from the Elizabeth Elser Doolittle Trust, $50,000 from other private foundation grants and a donation of $2 million from Froedert Health, as well as, utilizing new market tax credit financing.

The project began having an immediate impact on the community when Progressive established small, minority and women owned business contracting goals as well as local workforce hiring goals. Contracts totaling at least 25% of the total construction costs had to be awarded to Small/Minority/Women Business Enterprise (S/M/WBE) firms. Hunzinger far exceeded the 25% goal with 41.93% of all contracts dollars sent going to S/M/WBE firms. Hunzinger worked hard to ensure that the percentage of diverse contracts remained well above your 25% goal throughout the project. Hunzinger hired Prism Technical Management and Marketing Services, LLC to track the monthly expenditures to ensure that project goals were met. Diverse firms that have been utilized on the project include Prism, Rams Contracting, Arteaga Construction, B & D Contractors, Sonag Redi-Mix, Heider & Bott, Express Insulation, Affirmative Supply, Hurt Electric, KMI, Hetzel Tile, Halverson Carpet, Hess Sweitzer Painting, Wireless Connections and Gibraltar Industries.

Progressive wanted to have a positive impact on the neighborhood surrounding the clinic and, as a result, established a Local Workforce Utilization Requirement that at least 10% of the labor hours of the work be performed by workers that reside in the following Priority 1 Zip Codes 53208, 53210, 53206, 53205, 53233, and 53203. These Zip Codes surround the clinic site. Hunzinger far surpassed that goal as well with 15.7% of all work hours performed by Priority #1 residents living in the clinic’s neighborhood and 35.8% of all the work being performed by City of Milwaukee residents.

On all levels, the project has been a huge success and is going to have a major impact on the lives of neighborhood residents for years to come.