Building The Future Together

Hunzinger Construction Company recently completed a large Class A office build out project for Empower, a division of Great West Financial, at the Chase Tower at Water and Wisconsin in the heart of downtown Milwaukee. The project was extremely fast-tracked and completed in only 10 weeks, bringing 367 full-time employees to downtown Milwaukee. Perkins + Will of Chicago, were the project architects.

On September 23, 2015, Hunzinger’s Project Management team of Principal Kevin O’Toole, Project Executive Jon Jansen, Project Manager Ryan O’Toole and Superintendent Chris Brzeski stepped foot onto the gutted floors of the Chase Tower and held their first meeting with Great West and Chase Tower staff. On October 13, 2015 Hunzinger received the Issued for Construction Drawings and mobilized. Hunzinger’s crews began by completing demolition of the elevator lobbies and the restrooms. The project included multiple private offices, conference rooms and team rooms, IT rooms, Main Distribution Facility/Independent Distribution Facility Rooms/UPS Room, 6 restrooms, 3 break rooms and 3 stunning elevator lobby areas.

Hunzinger crews completed selective demolition, rough and finish carpentry, masonry, concrete decking and all interior glazing work. The project posed many challenges as it had to be coordinated during off hours and weekends due to the daytime occupancy of adjacent office floors and the broadcasting studio of WUWM radio station.

Subcontractors on the project included Wall-tech, Inc., providing drywall and painting, Venture Electric completed the electrical modifications and installed the new fixtures, JM Brennen was on the plumbing and HVAC, Total Mechanical the fireproofing, Austad & Son installed all 65,000 sf of acoustical ceiling, Hetzel Tile & Marble, Inc. installed the floor and wall tile, Cathedral Builders provided the millwork and Flooring Resources of Chicago did an amazing job installing all the VCT flooring and carpet. Lewis Sound was responsible for installing all televisions, monitors and video conferencing in the state-of-the-art training room.

When reflecting on this large, complex project with an incredibly short schedule, Ryan O’Toole Hunzinger Project Manager said that, “all the subcontractors on this project were outstanding and the primary reason for meeting the schedule and making this project such a huge success.” He said that all the workers got along and worked very well together in a true collaborative effort. Every person took great pride in their work, brought a positive attitude to the job and were team players above all else. It’s a huge plus and it makes a big difference when everyone is on board and we are all working together. This job got done because we had a fantastic team working around the clock to ensure this job was completed on-time and within the schedule’s aggressive parameters. Empower began occupying its office space on on December 4, 2015.