Case Studies Region: Midwest

In its heyday, it lured shoppers from all around Frankfort, Kentucky, offering everything they needed for their homes, wardrobes and leisure time. But heydays come and go, and the bustling Kmart fell closed in January 2018. A little over a year later, it was demolished, but the site did not remain a vacant field harkening […]

Located in Mahnomen County, White Earth Reservation is a rare and beautiful place. One of the biggest cattle-raising areas in northwestern Minnesota, it’s also famous for its annual harvest of wild rice, and it’s the only county in the state that’s entirely within tribal lands. There are few economic hubs in the region, though, save […]

They built it and people came. But more importantly to Dan Mitchell, when they reopened Chicago’s Navy Pier in March, people came back. Pre-COVID-19,  Navy Pier drew more than 9 million visitors annually—people coming to shops, restaurants and attractions Mitchell helped develop in a career that’s brought him back to the pier repeatedly over the […]

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 […]

A nonprofit health organization didn’t let lack of space stop it from administering COVID-19 vaccines. On the contrary, Terry Gant acquired, prepared and maintained trailers outside of Detroit Community Health Connection. Despite being outdoor clinics, the trailers are medical facilities with all the complexities. Gant, the  , and his staff keep them operating while ensuring […]

If business opportunities were drying up during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, Jason Kraus never got the memo. He was too busy coordinating the delivery of more than 200 projects for the national retailer, Kohl’s. Despite the challenges posed by COVID-19, the company just completed its sixth and largest state-of-the-art fulfillment center in […]

These visits can make for a long morning. Getting off the elevator, it’s hard to find your specialist’s office, and things don’t get more familiar as you walk down the hallway. Inside the office, there are forms to fill out, and other patients are withdrawn as they try to read the paper, fiddle with their […]

When a city’s storm water system gets backed up, it’s only a matter of time before the problem makes itself known. For City Club Apartments, a backup of rainwater in Royal Oak, Michigan, led to the flooding of 60 units in one of its buildings last summer. As the company’s regional facilities director, Kyle Hough […]

As a teenager growing up in San Antonio, Texas, Darrell Thompson believed at the time he had no skills, no future and was a person lacking ambition. That changed when he joined the Navy. Now, 39 years after coming ashore, Thompson’s successfully navigating a sea of high-tech projects as the director of facilities at Center […]

Like most students, Andrew Hartnett couldn’t wait to graduate high school. He imagined that whatever awaited him in the “real world” would be more interesting than going to Brentwood High School every day. Little did he know, he’d find his way back there 15 years later, this time by choice. “Clamoring to come back” when […]