VJS low bidder with $79.3M offer on overhaul of UW-Milwaukee chemistry building

VJS Construction Services is the low bidder on the main contract for a $130 million project to build a new chemistry building at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.

VJS beat out offers from two other companies with a $79.3 million low bid for the lead construction contract on the project. C.D. Smith Construciton, of Fond du Lac, offered $79.8 million for the project while JP Cullen bid $80.4 million in a letting that closed in late October.

The project would overhaul UW-Milwaukee’s eight-story chemistry building — the first major project at the structure since it was built in 1972. The job would outfit the building with features of modern research buildings that the facility now lacks, including fire surpression systems and proper storage areas for chemicals.

The 130,000-square-foot building would occupy a site between the former physics building and the Lubar Entrepreneurship Center.

Bids on the project come after the state building commission advanced the the overhaul late last year. The state Department of Administration also awarded contracts for fire suppression, plumbing, heating and cooling and electrical systems late last month. The subcontractors on the project are:

– J.F. Ahern, of Fond du Lac, with a $16.1 million bid for HVAC work

– Pieper Electric, of New Berlin, with a nearly $10.2 million bid for electrical work

– Blair Fire Protection, of Butler, with a $935,094 bid for fire suppression

– Butters Fetting, of Milwaukee, with a $3.998 million bid for plumbing Follow @natebeck9