Despite mini-tornado, plan changes, Miron delivers state-of-the-art structure

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What does a university do with one of the biggest parking lots on campus?

Turn it into a state-of-the-art research and teaching lab, of course.

The University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point Chemistry Biology Building — a $54 million, 176,500-square-foot project — is the first free-standing academic building to be put up on the Stevens Point campus since 1971.

It has five classrooms, two 96-seat lecture halls, 19 research labs, 39 teaching labs and offices for staff members and faculty. The labs have high-tech equipment, including more than 100 fume hoods.

“The level of research that can be performed there is really high,” said Jack Zwicker, project manager for Miron Construction, the general contractor on the project. “Had they gone with a small system or a standard set of equipment, it would be a science building like every science building.”

One of the project’s most remarkable features is a greenhouse. This structure was designed and built out separately from everything else.

Not only is the project extraordinary. So were the circumstances in which it was built.

In June 2017, a microburst, basically a mini-tornado, hit the Stevens Point area. The storm caused $3.5 million in damage. Materials were strewn across the jobsite and hallways were flooded with an inch of water. Insulation, drywall and mechanical work that had been done earlier that month had to be repaired or replaced.

Recovery wouldn’t have been possible without crews taking the time to make a good survey of everything that needed to be done.

“Once you divide it up between the subcontractors and put that into a schedule, it’s decently manageable,” Zwicker said.

Adding to the difficulties, the building plans changed dozens of times during construction. Some of the modifications were minor. Others involved important details. Yet it all came together in the end.

“It was just a product of having a good team of subcontractors that were able to manage the changes and ask the right questions,” Zwicker said.