Hunzinger delivers Komatsu waterfront headquarters on time despite COVID

When Komatsu Mining Corp. decided to build its waterfront headquarters in Milwaukee’s Harbor District, the company turned to Hunzinger Construction to oversee the project.

The eventual result sits on a 57-acre brownfield site redevelopment and includes a new, three-story, 180,000-square-foot office and experience center with a 650-vehicle parking structure.

The project was designed and built to green building standards with the goal of reducing energy consumption by 75% and reducing water consumption by 80%. The project achieved a LEED V4 Gold Certification from the U.S. Green Building Council.

Hunzinger served as the general contractor on the project, and Eppstein Uhen Architects headed up the design team. GRAEF was the lead engineering firm.

The project was started during the pandemic, leading to many difficulties.

“Hunzinger enacted strict COVID-19 health and safety protocols that were conscientiously adhered to allowing us to work throughout the pandemic without a day lost or widespread shut down of the project,” said Joan Zepecki, director of corporate affairs and Equity & Inclusion coordinator.

“We did enhanced site cleaning multiple times a day, wore masks to comply with the city of Milwaukee’s mandate, monitored workers for symptoms and social distanced whenever possible. The procedures that we all had to work under brought a new element to the field work, a new level of supervision and monitoring that we have never experienced before. We continue to work under our COVID-19 protocols and to this day have never had a shutdown of a project, even for one day, as a result of COVID-19.”

The new campus allows Komatsu to combine operations from two of its three Milwaukee-area buildings: one off West National Avenue in West Milwaukee and the Honey Creek Corporate Center in Wauwatosa. Representatives from the Milwaukee Department of City Development said it was the largest brownfield redevelopment project in the U.S. while it was under construction, Zepecki added.