Newsmakers nomination deadline extended until Sept. 6

Who were the outstanding members of Wisconsin’s building industry in the past year?

Now’s the time to recognize our industry’s greats: The Daily Reporter is accepting submissions for its 2019 Newsmakers of the Year until Sept. 6

Nominate a colleague today to be honored by The Daily Reporter as a Newsmaker of the Year – a person, company or organization that led Wisconsin’s construction and design industry in a positive direction in 2019.

We’re looking for leaders from across the state, from every level of construction, design and development, to be honored in an October special section of The Daily Reporter and at a dinner awards event on Thursday, Oct. 25. Nominees must be based in Wisconsin.

To submit nominations click here. You can also submit a hard copy if preferred, to: Jenny Byington, The Daily Reporter, 225 E. Michigan St., Suite 300, Milwaukee, WI 53202

Questions? Call 414-225-1803 or email Jenny Byington at jbyington@dailyreporter.com.

Categories are:

•    Architect of the Year 
•    Builder of the Year
•    Charitable Organization of the Year
•    Educator of the Year
•    Emerging Business of the Year
•    Engineer of the Year
•    Estimator of the Year 
•    Developer of the Year
•    Green Builder of the Year
•    Humanitarian of the Year
•    Innovator of the Year   
•    Interior Designer of the Year            
•    Law Firm of the Year
•    Mechanical Engineer of the Year
•    Project Manager of the Year
•    Public Official of the Year 
•    Road Builder of the Year
•    Service Provider of the Year
•    Subcontractor of the Year
•    Super Super of the Year
•    Unsung Hero of the Year
•    Up and Coming Company of the Year 
•    Woman-Owned Business of the Year
•    Veteran-Owned Business of the Year
•    Minority-Owned Business of the Year 

BUILDING BLOCKS: Dane County Job Center Solar Project

County Executive Joe Parisi, center, is joined on Tuesday by Tyler Huebner, executive director of RENEW Wisconsin (right) and representatives of Strang Inc. and Full Spectrum Solar for a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the Dane County Job Center Solar Project. (Photo courtesy of Dane County)

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PROJECT: Dane County Job Center Solar Project

LOCATION: Dane County Job Center, 1819 Aberg Ave, Madison

SIZE: 498 panels

COMPLETION OF PROJECT: April

CONTRACTORS: Full Spectrum Solar, Madison; Forward Electric, Monona

DESIGNER: Strang, Inc., Madison

SIGNIFICANCE OF PROJECT: The largest of Dane County’s 16 solar arrays, this project will help local officials get even closer to their goal of having the county get all of its energy from carbon-free sources by 2050. The job-center array’s 498 panels are expected to generate 205,000 kilowatt hours a year. That will provide about 25 percent of the power used at the job center and save the county $18,000 a year.

Dane County now has 600 kilowatts of installed solar-generation equipment. The county also has solar arrays at its East District Highway Garage and Medical Examiner’s Office, the Henry Vilas Zoo and the Dane County Regional Airport.

Flagger injured in construction-zone crash near Ashland

By Dan Shaw
dshaw@dailyreporter.com

A construction-zone flagger was sent to the hospital in Ashland earlier this week after being struck by a driver at a work site.

Vickie Williams, a 43-year-old woman from Odanah, was hit around 12:12 p.m. on Monday at a work zone near where State Highway 112 meets Maple Lane in Ashland County and was taken to Memorial Medical Center in Ashland to be treated for serious injuries. The crash was caused by a Toyota RAV4 driven by Gerald Robertson, a 77-year-old man from Mason.

According to the Wisconsin State Patrol, Robertson, upon approaching the construction zone, found a
line of cars ahead of him. Rather than wait, he chose to drive onto the highway’s right shoulder in an
attempt to go around four stopped vehicles. Williams was struck in the midst of that maneuver.

Robertson did not report any injuries.

Sgt. Tim Weiberg of state patrol’s Northwest Region Spooner Post said on Wednesday that he has no
new information on Williams’ status. An official at Memorial Medical Center declined to comment.

The Wisconsin Department of Transportation is currently repaving State Highway 112 from State
Highway 118 to U.S. Highway 2 in Ashland County. That work, which is being done in conjunction with the repaving of Highway 118 from Ashland Bayfield Road to Highway 112, is projected to cost $2.9 million. The work is being done by Northwoods Paving, of Ashland.

Whitmer won't accept 'status quo' in road, budget talks

LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Gov. Gretchen Whitmer says she won't sign a "status-quo" budget, stepping up her criticism of Republican legislative leaders for not offering a viable alternative to her proposed 45-cents-a-gallon fuel tax hike to fix the roads.


The Democratic governor held a news conference Wednesday, about a month before the budget deadline.


She said GOP lawmakers are "screwing around" and have not offered a legitimate plan nearly six months after she made her proposal. She criticized their call to shift money for schools to the transportation budget.


Senate Majority Leader Mike Shirkey accused Whitmer of creating a "fabricated crisis" and said legislators will pivot to sending her a budget plan.


Whitmer officially ruled out taking longer to address unfunded liabilities in the school employees' retirement system to free up revenue for roads.

Zignego gets $10M highway-expansion contract in Dane County

Zignego has won a roughly $10 million contract to rebuild a roughly 1.2-mile stretch of State Highway 19 in Dane County.

The Wisconsin Department of Transportation announced on Tuesday that it had accepted Zignego’s bid of $10,018,451.19 for the project. The Waukesha company’s price beat out offers from five competitors: Integrity Grading and Excavating, of Schofield; Edgerton Contractors, of Oak Creek; Michels Corp., of Brownsville; LaLonde Contractors, of Waukesha;  and James Petersen & Sons, of Medford.

Zignego’s bid was also consistent with WisDOT’s estimate for the work, which predicted it would cost between $9 and $10 million. The project plans call for adding two lanes to State Highway 19’s current two lanes between River Road, north of Madison, to the Interstate 39/90/94 interchange. To bridges will also be built over the Yahara River to replace deteriorating structures.

The contract was just the latest from WisDOT’s August letting to be awarded. Last week, state officials accepted Payne & Dolan’s $21,813,451.16 bid for the resurfacing of a 22-mile stretch of Interstate 41 from U.S. Highway 45 in Milwaukee to the Dodge County Line. The offer beat out bids from Zignego, for $22.2 million; and Michels Corp., for $23.3 million. Payne & Dolan’s offer was in-line with WisDOT’s estimate for the project, which predicted the project would cost between $20 million and $25 million.

Also from August’s letting, WisDOT accepted:

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•   Rhinelander-based Musson Bros.’ low bid of roughly $4.2 million for a project on Highway 141 in the Marinette County city of Niagra.  
• Mosinee-based American Asphalt of Wisconsin’s bid of $2.4 million for a job between Babcock and Pittsville in Wood County. That was the only bid submitted for that project.

Madison officials change directions again on Judge Doyle project

By Nate Beck
nbeck@dailyreporter.com

Crews overseen by J.P. Cullen work on the Judge Doyle Square project in Madison on July 30. The Madison Finance Committee decided on Monday to no longer negotiate with Gebhardt Development for the completion of part of the massive project, which includes housing built on top of commercial space and parking near Capitol square in Madison. The committee previously favored Gebhardt because of its plans to place a large number of affordable housing units in the complex, and in-part because of the company’s assurances it would work with a union contractor. Now, with the Madison City Council’s approval, city officials will instead work with Stone House Development, which has previously said it would enlist the nonunion contractor Stevens Construction for the project.

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A Madison committee on Monday backed away from its previous pick of a developer to finish the massive Judge Doyle Square project blocks from the state Capitol, instead favoring a company that drew criticism for its plans to hire a non-union contractor to build the project.

After emerging from a closed session, the city’s Finance Committee voted to cut ties with Gebhardt Development, a company that the committee had recommended in June for the completion of a mixed-use high-rise atop a parking garage at Judge Doyle Square site.

The city instead will work with Stone House Development, the favorite of city staff, and a target of union criticism for its plans to hire the non-union contractor Stevens Construction for the project. 

Stone House will not be the first developer to work on the project.

A previous developer had cut ties with the city following a legal spat. Proposals for the completion of the second phase of Judge Doyle Square subsequently came not only from Stone House and Gebhardt but also the Madison developer Mandel Group.

The committee chose Gebhardt in June in part because its $52 million proposal to build a 196-unit complex included plans for 78 affordable apartments as well as market-rate units. Gebhardt, in other words, was proposing to build more units for low-income tenants than other developers.

Stone House’s proposal is more modest. The developer plans to have a 159-unit apartment complex with 7,000 square feet of retail space. The $40 million project would set aside 37 units for low-income renters.

In coming out for Gebhardt, city officials could not explicitly say they did not like Stone House’s plans to hire the non-union contractor Stevens Construction. Instead, during a meeting in June, officials were restricted to discussing contractors’ relationships with labor – a consideration that a city attorney decided they could legally take into account.

In now deciding to go with Stone House, city officials have increased the chances that Judge Doyle Square will be finished by a nonunion contractor. The full common council is likely to consider the recommendation in favor of Stone House in September.

“Our negotiating team will move forward in that direction,” said Madison Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway.

A number of factors caused concerns about Gebhardt during negotiations this summer. One big question was over Gebhardt’s initial plans to separate the project’s low-income units from its market-rate condos in the high-rise. That idea drew concern from some city officials, who wanted to have low-income units scattered throughout the building.

Costs were also a concern.

Gebhardt had previously said it would the hire union contractor J.P. Cullen to build the high-rise part of the project. Cullen was in charge of the construction of the parking garage that the rest of the complex will ultimately sit on.

But Otto Gebhardt, of Gebhardt Development, told the committee on Monday that cost concerns had forced his company to part ways with Cullen. Gebhardt, he said, was now in talks with other union contractors.

“I think from a city standpoint we thought this might be the best match because they know part of the building that you're going to be building on,” said Alderwoman Donna Moreland. “So it concerns me a bit that they're not going to be a part of it anymore.”

TOP BIDDERS: The biggest winning bids from around Wisconsin this past week

1. AMOUNT: $21,813,451.16

AWARDED TO: Payne & Dolan Inc., Waukesha

PROJECT: WisDOT Project No. 5,Washington County

2. AMOUNT: $4,264,390.64

AWARDED TO: Musson Brothers Inc., Rhinelander

PROJECT: WisDOT Project No. 8, Marinette Co.

3. AMOUNT: $2,433,667.29

AWARDED TO: American Asphalt of Wisconsin, Mosinee

PROJECT: WisDOT Project No. 10, Wood County

4. AMOUNT: $1,459,000.00

AWARDED TO: Van Ert Electric Co. Inc., Kaukauna

PROJECT: King/ Electric Distribution System Replacement

5. AMOUNT: $1,048,637.19

AWARDED TO: Zignego Co Inc., Waukesha

PROJECT: Wauwatosa/ Street and Utility Improvements

6. AMOUNT: $959,811.00

AWARDED TO: M.J. Construction Inc., Milwaukee

PROJECT: Milwaukee/ Water Main Relays

7. AMOUNT: $938,024.00

AWARDED TO: American Sewer Services, Inc., Rubicon

PROJECT: Milwaukee/ Water Main Relays

8. AMOUNT: $879,203.85

AWARDED TO: McCabe Construction Inc., Eau Claire

PROJECT: WisDOT Project No. 9, Iron County

9. AMOUNT: $867,273.70

AWARDED TO: American Asphalt of Wisconsin, Mosinee

PROJECT: WisDOT Project No. 11, Waupaca County

10. AMOUNT: $569,193.00

AWARDED TO: Drax Inc., Madison

PROJECT: WisDOT Project No. 4, Columbia Co.