Case Studies February 2020

Up north, they might call it Yankee ingenuity. Down south, it might go by another term, but it’s still the same: thrifty use of whatever’s available to complete a task. Which was how one of Alabama’s newest Planet Fitness gyms was able to meet its scheduled opening by 2018’s end. Only that didn’t appear likely […]

On a long winter’s night, what could be better than cozying up to a warm hearth, a good book or binge-worthy Netflix show to help you wind down? Be it pine crackling in the fireplace or the soft flame of a gas log or heater insert, a good fire takes away the chill—and brings charm […]

An arborist at heart and a campus facilities director by profession, Andrew Freeman finds the two endeavors complementary in his role at Ohio University Zanesville and Zane State College. “Trees enhance the campus environment,” he emphasizes during a December interview with Blueprint. “Sometimes, however, they have to be relocated, and that has been an ongoing […]

It really was a game of inches—two of them, to be precise. In 2017, when Hurricane Harvey inundated the Texas Gulf Coast, the Market Basket grocery store in Mauriceville, Texas, was one of countless properties to experience significant flooding. So when it came time to build a replacement store, company Director of Facilities Brad Arceneaux […]

Years ago, if David Timm’s pager went off at 1 a.m. with news that water was inundating the basement of St. Mary Mercy Hospital, he might’ve lost his mind. Therein lies the beauty of being a director of facilities for more than three decades: If you’ve seen it once, you’ve seen it a thousand times […]

When Dave Verna sends drawings of piping installations to a foreman who will be working on the roof of a dangerous high-rise building, that employee will know exactly where to put a strategic weld or the best place to install valves. How does that happen? It’s because that employee has seen it all before, Verna […]

It was a three crane construction operation, requiring high-swinging maneuvers to set the columns and beams for a new 19-story Hampton Inn and Suites in Midtown Atlanta and Mike White had never seen anything like it before. There, on the tight city streets, massive derricks were being used to assemble and dismantle other cranes just […]

Movin’ on up in the South Side is proving a tough job for the University of Chicago Medicine system. The demand for new and expanded services is there, but the land is not. When the system does find new spaces to buy or lease, Director of Architectural Services Deb Antes leads the buildout process. She […]

In sports, as athletes approach retirement, they sometimes graciously help train the players who will replace them, giving them the benefit of their experience even as their physical skills have eroded. Jack Martin, who founded JBI Electrical Systems in Fort Worth, Texas, 30 years ago, is taking the same approach, even if with skills still […]

From the time he was working as a groundskeeper at an apartment community fresh out of high school, Chad Moulin knew his roots would be in property management. A few decades and states away from those beginnings, the senior director of facilities for GK Management Co. Inc., has learned a lot about taking care of […]