Case Studies Institutional

Shaun Cormier’s career as Facilities Director for the Town of Marion, Massachusetts, has been transformative. For more than a decade, he has devoted himself to creating and leading a department responsible for the maintenance and operations of over 50 municipal buildings, including government offices, community centers, recreational fields, public bathrooms, and more. Through his dedication […]

That $100 million-plus project took some doing. So Paul Kacha explains how his company, the general contracting and procurement specialist Framaco International, put the finishing touches on the new U.S. Embassy in the Papua New Guinea capital of Port Moresby a year ago.  This being the South Pacific island’s first LEED-certified building and one that […]

He may be middle-aged, but Jorge Toro can relate to young people. So many of them, he says, are looking for more than just a job; they also want to be spiritually and/or emotionally fulfilled. He says they might find what they’re looking for on the Cru facilities team if they’re good with their hands, […]

When the Orthodox Union moved several blocks from its old New York City headquarters, the organization had a chance to start over. With the vision and direction of the executive vice presidents, Shoshana Polakoff and her colleague took a cavernous, bare-bones space with random wood planks and wires lying about and turned it into a […]

So John Treadwell’s back where he started his career, here in Edmond, Oklahoma. But he’s come a long way during the 13 years that passed—a time that saw him do just about everything a builder can do.  Though not yet 40 years old, he says he’s accomplished enough to return to what feels like home […]

When visiting a pool, people may think about cooling off in the water, getting some refreshing exercise or simply having some fun. Most aren’t considering the air quality around an indoor pool. And at Wood River Community YMCA they don’t have to because Property and Facilities Manager Brian Dirksmeier has it under control. When he […]

He can’t disclose much about his employer’s projects, many of which involve the U.S. Department of Defense and its contractors. Suffice to say, Corporate Office Properties Trust and its director of government construction, David Norfolk, are expected to meet high standards—and keep details under wraps. Headquartered in Columbia, Maryland, COPT is a NYSE-traded real estate […]

Big things were afoot when Ken Cooper joined Larimer County, Colorado, government in 2016 as its director of facilities. As part of a facilities master plan he helped develop, the county was considering widespread improvements and expansion for county operations, most immediately to criminal justice and public health buildings. Yet there was always the chance […]

Ferris Batie isn’t interested in putting Band-Aids over problems. When the cooling tower and chiller broke at Chicago City Hall in 2016, he opted to replace and upgrade it instead of fixing it. And while that was more expensive up front, it cut the system’s operating costs in half. The project, as well as other […]

The police building in Mooresville, North Carolina, had plenty of space in 2001 when it was built, comfortably housing its staff of 50. Now more than double that number cram into the offices each day—but not for much longer. The new police headquarters are a necessary upgrade, says Christopher Wyckoff, director of facilities for the […]