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Dick Snow

Desert getaway proves interesting

The opportunity to visit old friends  and prolong the summer days was just too much to forgo so we gave ourselves a  little R and R by attending the Annual Fall Meeting of the Associated General  Contractors of America in Arizona.

J.W. Marriott Desert Ridge Resort and  Spa, a very spacious two-year old complex in Scottsdale with the contiguous 36-hole  Wildfire Country Club and a world-class Desert Ridge Marketplace, was the venue,  just right for a sometime columnist for a construction daily newspaper.

Timing  for the meet couldn’t have been better, what with the Oct. 1 U.S. Department  of Commerce release that the nation’s construction dollars hit an all-time  seasonally adjusted high in August of $1.02 trillion.

In chatting with  Ken Simonson, AGC’s chief economist, he offered, “This was an extremely  strong and encouraging report.”

Nose to the grindstone?

Save  for a successful inspection of Wildfire’s Faldo Course and its 136 bunkers  and a round of 87, we stayed close to construction during the visit.

We  observed the fantastic growth of Scottsdale. During our first visit to the area  20 years ago, the city ended on the north at Lincoln Drive, where the Frank Lloyd  Wright Arizona Biltmore is. Today, development has been carried another 15 miles  outward to the foothills of Desert Mountain in Caves Creek and Carefree. There’s  still some desert area to be covered over.

The Phoenix area has a fairly  good expressway system, featuring two loops and several parkways.

I couldn’t  help but wish this area had even one major expressway loop, despite our proclivity  for NIMBY-ism. Next month, Phoenix area taxpayers can vote on two initiatives  — one to spend big bucks on more and better roads and the other to approve a  comparatively more modest light-rail plan.

Wanting local reaction, we called  Bob Ahal, retired financial officer and project manager for Hunzinger Construction,  who lives near Sun City. He graciously offered the opinion he favored neither  and changed the subject to what’s happening back here. So much for thoughtful  analysis.

Up jumps green building

It is interesting to note that  there was substantial space on the AGC’s meeting agenda for in-depth discussion  of the green building concept now the rage. Ironical, too.

So we made a  pilgrimage to the shrine of green building, Frank Lloyd Wright’s Taliesin  West. We found it to be in great shape, despite rumors to the contrary that money  was short for upkeep. Those folks now in charge of the museum and school have  some fine-tuned fund-raising mechanisms in place, particularly for pilgrims.

Phoenix  stadium has a problem

No, it’s not the roof that slides on rails to  the center, in contrast with Miller Park’s fan-type enclosure.

When  completed, naming rights for the Downtown Phoenix venue were purchased by Bank  One. The problem is what to name the stadium now because Chase has merged with,  or taken over, the bank formerly known as One.

There are certainly some  outstanding possibilities for a new moniker, but we’ll leave that up to you  parishioners.

Opus West in headlines

When Gerry Rauenhorst, Marquette  engineering grad, began his first construction company in Minneapolis more than  50 years ago, it bore his name. He initially expanded in the Milwaukee market  with an additional operation bearing his name.

Somewhere down the line,  he was convinced by a consultant that building a structure was not unlike composing  music. Why not reference it as an “opus”?

We are certainly familiar  with Opus North, but there exists an Opus West as well as Opus South with projects  in and around Tampa Bay.

Opus West operates primarily in the Phoenix area  and, in the Oct. 1 issue of the Scottsdale Republic, it was on the front page  that the company, in partnership with a local Scottsdale real estate firm, had  purchased 2.5 acres of an 11-acre site southwest of Camelback and Scottsdale roads  for the purpose of constructing twin 13-story towers with luxury condominiums  to be called Scottsdale Waterfront.

We must quickly explain the waterfront  reference. The project is on the Arizona Canal, probably the only water in the  entire Phoenix area.

We confidently predict, given his predilection for  golf, that Les Blum, vice president and general manager for Opus North, will be  compelled to make an inspection trip or two or three to check out the Arizona  project.

Final, sad notes

We received the news on our arrival in  Scottsdale of the untimely passing of Tim Tremel, executive vice president of  Kolb+Co. and an acknowledged devotee of construction accounting in this  area.

We learned upon our return of the plight of the daughter of Dennis  Bersch Jr. and Judge Clare Fiorenza, Maggie, whose leukemia has returned.

Then,  there was the news of the death of Taylor Benson, a good friend of the construction  industry and former assistant to William Ryan Drew, former commissioner of the  Milwaukee City Development Department.

We will miss both Tim and Taylor  and wish a quick recovery for Maggie.

Stay tuned.