Displaying items tagged: OwenAmesKimball Co

A roundup of promotions, new hires, advancements and award winners in West Michigan.

Grand Rapids-based construction management firm Owen-Ames-Kimball Co. is expanding to Colorado after several years of strategic planning.

The construction industry experienced widespread pauses on projects in 2020 during the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the backlog made for a packed year in 2021, which features a range of ongoing projects including housing developments and reuses of former industrial buildings.

GRAND RAPIDS — A hub for talent recruitment, skills development and job placement is expected to open early next year in Grand Rapids in hopes of filling the workforce pipeline for West Michigan construction jobs.

K-12 school bond projects have emerged as an increasingly reliable source of work for West Michigan construction and architecture firms, even though some districts opted to delay putting projects to a vote this year because of the pandemic.

West Michigan’s construction industry has long faced a talent shortage fueled by a worker exodus during the 2008 recession, stigma around going into skilled trades, and firms failing to recruit a diverse workforce. 

GRAND RAPIDS — Associated Builders and Contractors of Western Michigan has announced the winners of its 33rd annual Excellence in Construction awards.

Two West Michigan-based general contractors are building a new $25 million senior care residential center in Punta Gorda, Fla. 

Even as West Michigan’s economy continues to improve, its public education system faces considerable uncertainty.

Here is the MiBiz Growth Report for April 3, 2017.

• M&A: Industrial and fastener distributor Manufacturer’s Supply Co. has signed an agreement to sell certain assets to Winona, Minn.-based Fastenal Co. (Nasdaq: FAST). Fastenal expected to close on the deal for Manufacturer’s Supply, or Mansco, at the end of March, after this report went to press. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Hudsonville-based Mansco generated roughly $50 million in sales in 2016 from locations in Michigan, Alabama and Texas. It was founded in 1928. President Jim Mol has operated Mansco for the last 25 years. Mansco supplies a range of fastener products “with a particularly strong market position with commercial furniture OEMs,” a market to which Fastenal “has not meaningfully contributed in the past.”

By and large, 2016 made for a record year for many in West Michigan’s commercial real estate and construction sectors. 

Despite a number of recent global and national industry reports pointing to potential slowdowns in the construction sector, West Michigan contractors say they remain busy and confident for the foreseeable future. 

The joint venture known as G.O. Construction, consisting of Grand Rapids-based Owen-Ames-Kimball Co. (O-A-K) and Holland-based GDK Construction Co., has completed $42.8 million worth of construction projects for Hope College in Holland.