May June 2022

VOLUME 11 ISSUE 3

$5.99 May june 2022 Serving Contracting Firms and the Arizona Community. . . Then & Now

HOW THE PAPAGO FREEWAY’S DECK PARK TUNNEL COMPLETED I-10 THE PHOENIX ZOO’S CRAZY SAFARI INTO A WORLD-CLASS FACILITY GORILLA THEATER: HUGH HEFNER BRINGS LOVE TO THE PHOENIX ZOO PAPAGO PARK NATIONAL GUARD ARSENAL: THE DESERT FORTRESS ROCK PARK: PAPAGO PARK’S ROCKY GEOLOGIC WONDERLAND

Arizona’s Timeless Magazine

DESERT BOTANICAL GARDEN PROVES FERTILE FOR ARCHITECTURE

PHOENIX'S PAPAGO FREEWAY & PARK

PHOENIX’S SKY HIGHWAY: THE I-10 PAPAGO INNER LOOP PLAN RYAN BUILDS AT-COST ANIMAL SHELTER AT PAPAGO PARK

BRASFIELD & GORRIE TOPS OUT OMNI TEMPE HOTEL AT ASU

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EARTH-FRIENDLY SOLTERRA MATERIALS SALES EXCEED $40 MILLION

SUNSTATE EQUIPMENT CELEBRATES 45 YEARS

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May June 2022

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Contributors - Mark Edelman & Bill Kelton From The Editor: Papago Park’s Rocky Construction Wonderland - Douglas Towne Construction Around Arizona: Projects • People • Practices Back When - Phoenix’s Favorite Portal Douglas Towne The Elevated Concept for the Interstate 10 Papago Inner Loop Freeway: 1968-1973 - Mark Edelman Phoenix’s Missing Transportation Link: The Papago Freeway - Bill Kelton The Phoenix Zoo’s Safari from Backyard Menagerie to World-Class Facility - Douglas Towne Gorilla Theater: Hugh Hefner “Monkeys Around” with the Phoenix Zoo - Douglas Towne The Desert Fortress “Always Ready & Always There” – Papago Park National Guard Arsenal - Don W. Ryden, AIA Old School Equipment: Elevating Loaders Part 2 - Ulrich DoMor Elevating Grader - Billy Horner Building on the Past - 1963: Papago Park Golf Course Clubhouse Architect’s Perspective - Architecture Discovered Within the Desert Botanical Garden - Doug Sydnor, FAIA Digging Through the Archives: Pete Horner Billy Horner

92

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Johannessen & Girand Consulting Engineers map the basic construction plan for the proposed Papago elevated freeway system, 1968.

Article on page 48

Ten

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Contents

May June 2022

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CONTRIBUTORS

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Twelve

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ark Edelman’s childhood in Southern California immersed him in the growth and development of the urban area and its freeway system.

His family, like many, had migrated to the region starting during the Great Depression.

Their memories of the place from that period and the postwar era that followed gave Mark an interest in history and the motivations behind urban growth and change.

After earning his Bachelor’s degree and briefly teaching elementary school, Mark and his wife, Janet, relocated to the Valley to attend graduate school at Arizona State University. Here, he observed that the development of urban areas was similar to Southern California. Also analogous were the historical accounts of a streetcar city in agrarian surroundings being supplanted by an expansive, freeway-linked metropolis.

A Master’s degree in Urban and Regional Planning allowed him to participate in land planning, entitlements, and permitting in the design consulting and homebuilding sectors, principally managing Arizona’s State Trust lands.

Mark is currently an Executive Consultant for Urban Development at the Arizona State Land Department. He has managed, entitled, and participated in developing large-scale master-planned communities, employment centers, and vital infrastructure throughout the state. Mark is a member of the American Institute of Certified Planners (AICP) and the Urban Land Institute.

BILL KELTON ARTICLE ON PAGE 48

B

ill is a fourth-generation Arizona construction worker and contractor, who started working in the 1970s with his grandfather’s company, Edward S. Kelton Contracting.

His career has blessed him with jobs at Fisher Contracting Company, M.M. Sundt Construction, Sundt Corp, R.E. Monks Construction, Kirkland Construction, and his current position as vice president at Buesing Corp.

Bill’s first love has always been big dirt projects, such as his first management position completing the site grading for the Westridge Mall at 75th Avenue and Thomas Road in Phoenix. But his career has also involved bridge structures, utilities, asphalt paving, concrete paving, and mining projects.

Bill’s job sites include uranium mines in South Texas, gold mines in Northern Nevada, levees on the Rio Grande, and landfills and commercial developments in Southern California.

Projects that Bill has helped construct are the mile-long bridges on Loop 202 in Tempe, Deck Park Tunnel on Interstate 10, 15 miles of State Route 87 south of Payson, the Arizona approach to Hoover Dam Bypass, Burro Creek Bridge on U.S. Highway 93, Telluride’s airport runway, and grading the airport at St. George, Utah.

A builder by nature, Bill always has a DIY project going on at home. When he does get away, Bill loads up the travel trailer and hits the road with his wife and dog.

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EDITOR’S COLUMN: PAPAGO PARK’S ROCKY CONSTRUCTION WONDERLAND DOUGLAS TOWNE

F

or this issue, we focus on one of the Valley’s favorite destinations: Papago Park. It attracts visitors interested in wildlife, plants, golf, hiking, and recreation. To ensure an abundance of construction-oriented stories, we tossed a wide net

and included some Papago placenames such as the freeway that runs through Phoenix just north of downtown. We also spotlight a unique and oft-forgotten building project adjacent to Papago Park called Rock Park.

Rock Park was an amusement park and museum/gift shop located on 12 acres at 5050 East Van Buren Street. Information about the attraction comes from memories by longtime residents and the 1957 Arizona Days and Ways article, “Castles in the Desert.”

The story describes John and Ellyn Stewart, who “built a fairyland of castles, moats, and picturesque bridges” connected by a miniature steam train. The Stewarts, longtime rockhounds, moved to Phoenix from Oregon in 1956 because they loved the desert. They used their extensive rock and mineral collection to build a series of miniature castles, each perched atop a small hill. “Setting decorative tile is interesting work,” John commented about his former occupation. “But building rock castles is a lot more exciting because they interest so many people.”

“Blue Moat Castle” was the largest fortress, while “Cinder Mountain” contained replicas of the Lost Dutchman Mine and Weaver’s Needle. “American Flag Castle”

Images Courtesy of Arizona Contractor & Community

Above: Rock Park with its castles and miniature railroad, 1965.

Left: Derelict castle at Rock Park, 1978.

Below: Abandoned Rock Park attractions, 1978.

Fourteen

May June 2022

Images Courtesy of Author

Above: Twin Rock Castles connected by a bridge spanning a pond, 1957.

Right: Clear View Castle at Rock Park, 1957.

featured a flag made entirely of rocks, situated by a mockup of Camelback Mountain.

“I work at them by day and cut and polish cabochons [shaped and polished stones] in the evening for relaxation,” John said.

The quarter-scale train that took visitors on a loop around the park ran on fuel oil. “I remember that place! I loved it there,” Marilyn L. Williams Bents exclaims.

“Mom would take me after dark to ride the train around. The units had lights.”

“Oh yeah! I had completely forgotten about this place,” echoes Charms Brock, another longtime Phoenician. “We went there a couple of times. My dad was a train enthusiast.”

Rock Park also featured a museum and gift shop, the latter selling angel-wing agates and lava casts, which were petrified wood preserved in volcanic lava. The museum’s highlight was a Swiss castle built of fluorescent minerals illuminated in a darkroom by ultra-violet lamps.

“My dad and John were friends and rockhounds,” Steve Sayre, a local commercial real estate broker, says. “John also sold rocks for specimens and lapidary.”

Above: Cinder Mountain, including the Lost Dutchman Mine, 1957.

Left: The Vault nightclub at the former Rock Park, 1978.

Image Courtesy of Arizona Contractor & Community

The 1957 article noted that Rock Park was well on its way to becoming the Disneyland of Phoenix. But, alas, that was not to be; its last listing in the Yellow Pages was in 1973. By then, kids gravitated to amusement places like Baja Raceway, Big Surf, and Legend City. The park and its castles were abandoned and the museum housed various nightclubs over the years.

Today, the redeveloped land is home to a bar, BBQ joint, apartments, and a Circle K. Old postcards and photos are all that remain to remind people of the wonderland that was a rockhound’s dream. “It was fun while it lasted,” reflects Linda Graham Kilbourne, a Phoenix native.

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Images Courtesy of Ryan Companies

Projects . PEOPLE . PRACTICES

CONSTRUCTION AROUND ARIZONA Projects

CONSTRUCTION AROUND ARIZONA

PAPAGO PARK SITE OF NEW ANIMAL SHELTER BUILT AT-COST BY RYAN COMPANIES

I

n Ryan Companies’ 80+ year history, the company has been committed to creating places for people to thrive. But for the first time, Ryan is creating a place for animals to thrive.

With stewardship being one of Ryan’s core values, the commercial real estate services provider selected the Arizona Humane Society as its 2021 non-profit project and credited back all project profits. As a result, Ryan’s Phoenix team is building the Arizona Humane Society Rob & Melani Walton Papago Park Campus at cost, saving the organization more than $1 million.

“AHS’ Papago Park Campus marks a critical turning point in animal welfare in our community and the country,” says the Arizona Humane Society’s President and CEO, Dr. Steven Hansen. “Our collaboration arizcc.com

with industry leaders like Ryan Companies and Animal Arts is a testament to the incredible impact this $49 million project will have in treating thousands additional sick, injured, and abused homeless pets and our commitment to providing Arizona’s pets with the most thoughtful and innovative level of care possible.”

Designed by Animal Arts, the two-story, 72,000-square-foot campus comprised of the Nina Mason Pulliam P.E.T. Center and the Watts Family Medical Center will serve as the region’s hub for comprehensive services, including acute medical and trauma care, spay/neuter services, rescue and cruelty investigations, pet adoptions and education programs. This new facility will also have an expanded triage area in the Lazin Animal Foundation Trauma Hospital, which will enable AHS to treat thousands more vulnerable homeless pets than the current Sunnyslope Campus location. The innovative design includes bright, natural-light spaces throughout the campus and animal

Top: Backhoe digs footings for new building.

Above: Branco Machinery blade finishes grade at site.

housing that meets or exceeds best practices for every type of pet, from dogs and cats to hamsters and iguanas.

“This project is funded by many Arizona Humane Society donors. And because of AHS’ goals of the project to help save the most animals in the Phoenix area, we want to make sure we’re good stewards of their donor’s contributions,” Theresa Schultz, director of construction, Ryan Companies, says.

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CONSTRUCTION AROUND ARIZONA Projects

Image Courtesy of Drone Brothers

EMPLOYEE PROFILE: RYAN S. PARK, SR. PROJECT MANAGER Experience: Three years with Ryan Companies.

Favorite job task: I was a Lego kid growing up, so a career in construction was the natural evolution of my childhood passion. I enjoy working with my team on-site to turn a set of plans into reality.

Toughest job task: In recent years, supply chain issues have created many procurement challenges. We now spend more time being hyper-focused on lead times and material availability.

Most memorable day of work: Watching the first day of school for a K-8 school I helped build in Colorado. It was the first sizable job that I oversaw.

It’s gratifying to see the long-lasting, positive impacts on the community that our industry makes.

Favorite off-job task: Spending quality time with my wife and two children. arizcc.com

Above: Overhead view of early construction work.

Right: Arizona Humane Society Rob & Melani Walton Papago Park Campus rendering.

This experience will prove valuable in the construction of the Papago Park Campus.

Numerous healthcare features need to be considered differently in the design and construction of a facility that is specifically for animals. Paws, claws, and urine touch nearly all surfaces, so the materials used must be durable. They must also withstand chemicals used for cleaning. Aside from durability, slip resistance is another crucial factor for medically fragile and older animals. Animal Arts specified tile and glazed block with a high-performance epoxy coating for the walls and sealed concrete and medical-grade vinyl for the floors.

To balance energy efficiency and high levels of outdoor air required for animal health, 20/20 Engineering carefully designed the HVAC system. Interior spaces will be pressurized appropriately to minimize disease transmission risk and keep indoor air fresh.

And just as acoustics matter in medical facilities, they’re also important in facilities for animals since they hear in different and much more extensive frequency ranges than humans do. Dogs barking can provoke other dogs, and it can be jarring and stressful for cats and other small animals.

“From the beginning of the project, the acoustics were at the forefront. We worked to separate dogs and cats by level and provided insulated walls around critical spaces to keep the facility as quiet and calm as possible to reduce both animal and

Image Courtesy of Animal Arts

Although this is Ryan’s first project for animals, the company’s experience in building healthcare facilities will play a significant role. Ryan has completed several medical office buildings, a radiology/oncology center, and a cancer center in Arizona.

Nationally, Ryan’s experience includes healthcare facilities, from hospital renovations and expansions to ambulatory surgery centers, specialty centers, and clinics.

employee stress,” Sarah Boman, principal of Animal Arts, says.

Ryan will install sound walls and acoustic panels in the dog housing areas to help minimize barking sounds. Multiple layers of space and doors between animal housing areas will also reduce the potential noises that could stress other dogs and animals.

After breaking ground in November 2021, Ryan is progressing on the site, which is expected to be completed in mid-2023.

Ryan removed layers of debris, and the site is now being excavated for the campus foundation and utility infrastructure. Since Ryan was involved with the overall project early on, the transition from design to construction was seamless. But most importantly, it helped give the commercial real estate services provider a unique understanding of how important these facilities are to the animals, their caretakers, and the community.

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CONSTRUCTION AROUND ARIZONA Projects Image Courtesy of Author

PENTA SAFETY EVENT ENSURES EVERYONE WINS AT SUN DEVIL STADIUM

T

here were no losers when more than 1,400 participants walked off the football field at Sun Devil Stadium recently at PENTA’s Safety Kick-Off event. “The event extends far beyond us to the entire construction community,” Marisa Palomo, executive director of PENTA Building Group, says. “This is intentional because we believe there is no competition when it comes to safety. That’s why we have safety and construction vendors, subcontractors,

EMPLOYEE PROFILE: NICK DEMEMBER, SENIOR SAFETY MANAGER Experience: Five years with PENTA. Favorite job task: After 28 years of construction safety management, I finally found a Construction Manager/General Contractor who truly supports “safety” as their highest value. The president continuously communicates this message through all levels of management.

Toughest job task: Communicating arizcc.com

design consultants, owners, and other contractors in attendance. Safety involves everyone who steps foot on a job site.”

Palomo explains that each year, PENTA hosts Safety Kick-Off events in Arizona, Nevada, and California, gathering hundreds of professionals in the industry to rally around the latest in construction job-site safety. This year, PENTA hosted four events across three states, with the final taking place in Tempe at ASU’s Sun Devil Stadium.

“This annual event kicks off each year with the same resounding message: the safety of people is our first and most important priority,” Palomo says. “It is critiwith all trade partners to ensure every employee has the required training to succeed. The number one goal is that everyone leaves work the same way they arrived and returns home safely to their families.

Most memorable day of work: Receiving an award from a client for their safest project ever built with 2 million person-hours.

Favorite off-job task: Spending time with family, enjoying the outdoors with our CanAm X3 Max in the desert mountain trails, and vacationing with my toes in the sand.

PENTA Safety Kick-Off event at Sun Devil Stadium.

cal to ensure we emphasize that point and to recognize the people and companies that help support that effort.” She adds that the construction industry is a high-pressure business, particularly with the current challenges of labor shortages and material procurement. Still, PENTA’s event makes sure the priority of safety never changes.

“Safety is one of the barriers to engaging more and more talent to join the construction industry,” according to Palomo.

“The advancements we see in safety directly impact those interested in joining the industry as construction professionals because they ensure for potential employees that it is a rewarding profession to pursue.”

PENTA began hosting annual Safety Kick-Off events more than 15 years ago to start the year by sending a unified message to focus on safety. It reminds everyone that the most critical part of every project is the ability to send everyone home from the job site in the same condition they arrived each day.

The four PENTA safety events attracted more than 1,300 attendees and over 80 vendors this year. More than 200 industry partners and subcontractors attended the Arizona Contractor & Community

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May June 2022

Images Courtesy of Author

EMPLOYEE PROFILE: MARISA PALOMO, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR Experience: 15 years with PENTA. Favorite job task: Hiring the right people to join our team.

I love to watch them learn and grow throughout their careers at PENTA.

Tempe event, where local subcontractor W.D. Manor won the Safety Contractor of the Year award, and Amfab Steel was named Quality Contractor of the Year.

“Planning for these events is a huge challenge,” Palomo says. “Trying to find the right time, location, and set-up to gather such a large group of people across all the trade and industry partners is no small feat,

CONSTRUCTION AROUND ARIZONA Projects

Left: Sun Devil Stadium where PENTA event was held.

Above: Marisa Paloma addresses PENTA Safety Kick-Off event.

especially during the pandemic. This year, we responded creatively, hosting all of the Safety Kick-Off events at sports parks having outdoor spaces with plenty of room to gather people, share our message, and recognize our amazing trade partners.”

There are exciting new improvements in safety, according to Palomo.

“The advancement and use of technology, such as creating virtual models, capturing project data through drones and 360 cameras, and the constant improvement and use of wearable safety gear are having a huge impact on safety.” For example, she says that creating virtual models of the construction process before stepping foot on-site provides critical information to review and learn from without the risk.

“Of course, this information isn’t valuable unless it is combined with our people’s construction knowledge and experience,” Palomo adds.

Toughest job task: Finding people to hire in all regions is a challenge right now, and we cannot compromise on our expectations. We have to know that the team members have the correct values because that is what impacts their approach to safety.

Most memorable day of work: Celebrating my 15th anniversary with PENTA with an amazing group of employees who have been together through the ups and downs. The time seems to fly by, and the company and industry have changed so much. It was great to take a moment to reflect and remember all of it.

Favorite off-job task: Taking care of my boys, whether running them to soccer games, staying up late working on school projects, or playing a competitive game of UNO. arizcc.com

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Images Courtesy of Solterra

at Weaver knows success doesn’t come easy in the construction industry. So the president of Solterra Materials had created strategic partnerships to give his company an edge. After only four years in business, Weaver’s strategy is working as his asphalt mixing company has already exceeded $40 million in annual sales.

“We surpassed our five-year goal in year two, have grown to three asphalt plants in the greater Phoenix area and with only 26 employees have done more than we ever imagined at this stage of the game,” Weaver says. Solterra is a sister company to Sunland Asphalt.

Weaver has created a pavement partnership with Arizona State University that has helped bring in talented staff that might not have otherwise considered a career with Solterra. One such employee is Parnian Ghasemi, an Iranian-born woman who is not the typical construction worker.

“My passion for designing and building structures brought me to Iowa State University, where I continued my education and graduated with the doctoral degree in civil engineering/materials,” she says.

“After moving to the Valley, I got to know Mr. Weaver through Dr. Kaloush, a mutual friend at Arizona State University.”

Ghasemi learned from Weaver about a transportation management opportunity

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Above: Solterra’s quality assurance lab.

Top right: Solterra President Pat Weaver.

Below: Solterra’s reclaimed/recycled asphalt pavement system at its Buckeye plant.

Right: Solterra’s Buckeye plant’s baghouse mineral filler and silos.

CONSTRUCTION AROUND ARIZONA Projects

EARTH-FRIENDLY ASPHALT MIXING COMPANY SOLTERRA MATERIALS SALES EXCEED $40 MILLION AFTER FOUR YEARS

at Solterra Materials. “I find it very exciting to be part of his team,” she says. “Solterra has a strong connection to academia and is always involved in cutting-edge research in the asphalt industry. Coming from academia with no previous industry experience, I used this opportunity to get to know our clients as well as the local construction Solterra’s unique approach to workculture. Meanwhile, I worked on building our Quality Assurance asphalt lab that force development has also allowed it to assures our mixes always have the highest grow with ease while other businesses struggle to find help. “We currently have quality.” two job openings and 40 qualified applicants,” Weaver says. “It’s been a blessing to be in this position, especially amidst the pandemic, and we will only grow more with the opening of our new lab.”

As a company that prides itself on earth-friendly, sustainable practices, Solterra has found new ways of creating ecofriendly asphalt while also lowering greenhouse gases. For example, it’s initiating a completely recycled plastic asphalt road that doesn’t use water bottles but instead incorporates shrink-wrap plastic, which currently has limited recycling opportunities.

This new technology is just one example of the company’s cutting-edge creations.

Weaver’s strategic plan includes industry involvement, and he was recently appointed as the Western and Pacific Region Vice-Chair for the Board of Directors of the National Asphalt Paving Association. NAPA member companies, including Solterra, committed recently to achieving Net Zero Carbon Emissions by 2050. “Their forward-thinking earth-friendly initiatives have also spurred our design and research laboratory, which will be opening soon,” he says.

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CONSTRUCTION AROUND ARIZONA Projects

MGC EXPANDS QUEEN CREEK WASTEWATER PLANT

T

he tank was almost full, so to speak, at the Pecan Water Reclamation Plant (WRP) in San Tan Valley. Expanding the operation became a $21 million priority.

MGC Contractors, a local Valley construction firm, worked on an accelerated timeline to add additional capacity to Pecan WRP since incoming flows frequently exceeded 90 percent of what the plant could handle. This situation risked overflows and limited further wastewater treatment from new development.

“The most challenging aspect of the project was running a full bypass of the facility 24 hours a day for five months,” Todd Hansen, MGC senior manager, says.

“This occurred during the demolition of existing structures and the construction of new structures. These upgrades have made the Pecan Facility a 6 million gallon in one day (MGD) process plant.”

Hansen explains that this design-build project featured the construction of a new influent pump station, screening facility, grit removal facility, odor control system, and a new biological treatment basin.

“The most unusual aspect of the project was constructing an influent pump station 45-feet underground,” he says.

With these process upgrades, MGC constructed a blower building to house four 150 HP blowers. The four blowers provide air to the new and existing biologMGC’s work at the Pecan Water Reclamation Plant in Queen Creek.

ical basins. Electrical upgrades needed to power and control the upgrades included multiple Service Entrance Sections (SESs), Variable Frequency Drives (VFDs), and generators.

“MGC worked closely with the owner and Salt River Project to coordinate multiple full plant shutdowns to perform electrical and mechanical tie-ins,” Hansen says.

The Pecan project started in February 2021 and is expected to finish in November 2022. Subcontractors used on the project include GHD Inc. and Keller Electric.

“The public was very concerned about the new plant’s capability to remove odor and ensure water quality,” Hansen add.

EMPLOYEE PROFILE: NICK PLOTE, PROJECT SUPERINTENDENT Experience: Eight years with MGC Contractors.

Favorite job task: I love my position’s everyday challenges and freedom. Solving problems is always something that I have enjoyed, particularly being able to do it collectively with a diverse group of people working for a great company that supports you.

Toughest job task: Coordinating subcontractors to keep the project schedule tracking correctly. Understanding that your focus and goals on the project don’t always necessarily align with theirs.

Therefore, it’s essential to have constant communication with them to allow them time to react and fully understand the plan.

Images Courtesy of MGC Contractors

Most memorable day of work: The ten days that led up to the seeding of the new biological treatment basin known as Phase IV at Pecan Water Reclamation Plant. We had to pull additional crews from other sites to assist with equipment and piping installation to get the basin running within our time constraints. To watch what they were able to accomplish in that period was something that I’ll never forget.

Favorite off-job task: My wife and I enjoy camping in the woods, attending our kids’ sporting events and practices, hanging out on the beach in California, and our annual trip to Disneyland. arizcc.com

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CONSTRUCTION AROUND ARIZONA Projects

OMNI TEMPE HOTEL AT ASU CELEBRATES TOPPING OUT

T

he new Omni Tempe Hotel at ASU not only seeks to provide top-notch hospitality to its guests, but it also wants to be a good neighbor during construction.

“We have worked hand-in-hand with the public for night-time concrete pours

through the duration of the structure,” Ethan Gebhart, Brasfield & Gorrie senior superintendent, says. “Overall, this process has gone extremely well, and the public has been very receptive to our project needs.

The nearest neighbors, at the Mirabella, have enjoyed watching the process over the last several months.”

The hotel located at 7 East University Drive is a $125 million investment and part

of a public-private partnership between Omni Hotels & Resorts, ASU, and the City of Tempe. Construction began in July 2021 and is expected to finish in April 2023. A topping-out ceremony was held in March 2022.

The hotel will feature 330 guest rooms, including 11 suites, four dining outlets, a pool deck, retail, and nearly 36,000 square feet of flexible indoor and outdoor meeting space, which includes the largest, continuous ballroom in Tempe, and expansive views of the Valley.

The project team consists of Brasfield & Gorrie (general contractor), C+TC Design Studio, Inc. (architect), and Monogram at BBGM (interior design). “This will be Brasfield & Gorrie’s sixth, ground-up hotel built for Omni Hotels & Resorts,” Gebhart says.

Images Courtesy of Brasfield & Gorrie

Construction of the Omni Tempe Hotel at ASU.

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Arizona Contractor & Community

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CONSTRUCTION AROUND ARIZONA Projects

Images Courtesy of Brasfield & Gorrie

Top Left: Rendering of the Omni Tempe Hotel at ASU. Top right: Topping-out event at Omni Tempe Hotel at ASU, March 2022.

Above: Alex Brauning, Brasfield & Gorrie project manager, at the topping-out event, March 2022.

“Omni does an incredible job planning and designing hotels to fit the culture and location in which they are being built. It is a privilege to be a part of these builds all across the country.”

Gebhart adds that these projects are always fast-paced with a high focus on quality as well as budget. Maintaining the timeline and budget, while managing market volatility due to Covid and supply chain disruption, has been an added challenge to their typical project workload.

The most unusual aspect of the project involves a rooftop bar and an amenity deck on level 3 including a pool, bar, and lawn areas, according to Gebhart. “Elevating these features creates a unique challenge in design and construction, and results in exciting spaces for guests and the public to enjoy at the property,” he says.

Omni Tempe Hotel at ASU represents the first time Omni Hotels & Resorts is partnering with a university and their first newbuild hotel in Arizona. The hotel’s design elements highlight Tempe’s local and cultural landscape, integrating ASU’s modern, industrial feel with Arizona’s rich desert hues, according to Dan Piotrowski, senior vice president of operations for Omni Hotels & Resorts.

“Contrasts of Arizona’s light and shadow create texture and patterns that will mingle with the hotel’s accents of concrete, leather, metal, and natural materiarizcc.com

als,” Piotrowski says. “Other nods to the ASU campus can be found throughout the hotel, with abstract artwork of library books, artwork from local artists and alumni, and library-esque tables in the lobby bar area.”

The overall level of positivity surrounding this project has been overwhelming and welcomed, Piotrowski adds. “It provides reassurance that we are building something that will bring so much value to the Tempe community.”

EMPLOYEE PROFILE: ETHAN GEBHART, SENIOR SUPERINTENDENT Experience: Seven years with Brasfield & Gorrie.

Favorite job task: The day-to-day interaction and coordination that it takes to build projects like this one. I love what I do, and every day brings new challenges.

Construction is not an easy career. It takes the right people, subcontractors, and team to coordinate, and manage, a successful project from the day you break ground until the day you receive the Most memorable day of work: The Certificate of Occupancy. grand opening of Omni Louisville Hotel Toughest job task: The shortage of man- in Kentucky. This was the first Omni Hotel project that I led and successfully power and materials in today’s market. completed. The moment they cut the We are constantly recruiting to find the ribbon to open the doors was a feeling right employees who are driven and that I can’t explain. You feel a sense of looking for a good career with a great accomplishment like no other. Knowing company. Also, the shortages and lead times that we are experiencing today can that you and your team have worked, for over two years, to get to that moment, be problematic. Our team has to make sure we are working with manufacturers and are now able to enjoy what you built is amazing. and subcontractors to order and procure material months ahead of what the Favorite off-job task: My favorite task “normal” was, just to get it onsite at the outside of work is exploring Arizona with time the project requires. We can work my wife and our three kids. We enjoy through problems, details, and any issues camping, hiking, sports, and being on the that come up day-to-day, but without the water. My family has loved it here, and workers and material being in the field, we are thankful that we had the opportuwe are unable to build the project. nity to call Arizona home.

Arizona Contractor & Community

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CONSTRUCTION AROUND ARIZONA Projects

TUCSON PRESERVES HISTORIC ECLECTIC-STYLE HOUSE

northern natural desert scrub landscape, and distinctive elevations is a romantic rambling residence that embodies Tucson’s sense of place.

Joesler was a Swiss-born architect who studied architecture at the Technikum Bergdoft outside Bern, graduating in 1916. He arrived in Tucson in 1927 via stops in Heidelberg, Italy, Morocco, Spain, France, Cuba, Mexico, and Los Angeles.

Joesler was recommended to John Murphey, a Tucson architect/contractor whose business exceeded his capacity to design and construct all of his company’s building projects. The architect would implement Murphey’s idea of building a community featuring gracious homes evocative of the Mediterranean, Spain, and Mexican cul-

Image Courtesy of UA CAPLA

Above: Joesler - Loerpabel House, 1936.

Right: Joesler - Loerpabel House under construction, 1936.

Below: Joesler - Loerpabel House, 2022.

tures. Joesler designed more than 300 projects that would become unanimous with Tucson style until he died in 1956.

Dr. Michael Fassett, Board President of the Tucson Historic Preservation Foundation, noted, “The house features early explorations into the emerging European international style while retaining the strong Spanish Revival roots of the American West. We hope owners of other important historic buildings in Tucson similarly designate their properties.”

Images Courtesy of Jude Ignacio and Geraldine Vargas

large part of the visual charm of this architecture lies in its counterplay of contrasts: the passage from light to dark as one enters the breezeway; the deep cool of the arcade set against the bright sunlight of the garden,” wrote a reporter for The Arizona Daily Star in 1959. She was commenting on what today is known as the Joesler - Loerpabel House, which was recently declared a City Historic Landmark by the Tucson Mayor and Council.

The house, located in the Peter Howell neighborhood at 306 North Longfellow Avenue, was designed by famed architect Josias Joesler in 1936. He lived in the home for three years with his wife. In 1939, Nora and W.H. Loerpabel rented the house and later purchased it for $11,000 in 1942. The couple would live there until 1987.

“The Joesler - Loerpabel House is an important example of Josias Joesler’s architectural work and is a physical manifestation of his design thinking and expedition,” says Demion Clinco, executive director of the Tucson Historic Preservation Foundation, who prepared the historic landmark and rezoning applications. “This designation protects this iconic cultural resource for future generations and celebrates our unique 1930s design heritage.”

The house, designed by Joesler in a Regional Eclectic style, is constructed of adobe masonry with stucco covering and placed on the lot to create a sense of seclusion and rambling grandeur while maintaining views of the Santa Catalina Mountains. The effect of the garden patios,

Image Courtesy ofFortna Collection

“A

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PHOENIX-BASED SUNSTATE EQUIPMENT CELEBRATES 45 YEARS OF POWERING CONSTRUCTION PROJECTS

B

ack in 1977, an innovator from a small mom-and-pop rental yard was about to shake up the rental industry in Arizona. Sunstate Equipment founder Mike Watts had just struck out on his own with a vision to build a rental equipment company unlike any other – one that put people before profits.

Watts believed in one simple principle: treat your people well, and they’ll treat your customers well. And that’s exactly what he and a key group of steadfast Sunstate employees set about doing, some of whom are still with Sunstate today, 45 years later. Together, they fostered a culture of excellence and integrity, earning the trust and business of top contractors throughout Arizona and well beyond.

When Watts retired in 2016, full-interest ownership transitioned to Sumitomo Corp., the world’s oldest and largest investment firm, while leadership stayed close to home with Chris Watts, son of Mike Watts, taking the helm as Chief Executive Officer and President.

Today, the company’s core values remain essential to how they conduct business and maintain relationships with employees, vendors, and customers. People always come first, which has been a critical part of Sunstate’s longstanding reputation for dependability within the industry.

Expansion Through the Years Sunstate continues to call Phoenix home with ten branches in Arizona and more than 300 employees working behind the scenes at their “Service Center” head-

quarters located across the street from their Phoenix Metro Area hub. But that’s a fraction of the 2,000-plus employees that keep operations running smoothly nationwide, as they’ve carefully cultivated growth in markets expanding beyond the Valley of the Sun. Over the decades, Sunstate has introduced its iconic saguaro sunrise logo to 14 additional states from the West Coast to the East. Here’s a recap of their expansion: 1977 – Sunstate is founded when Mike Watts purchased a local rental yard.

1989 – Sunstate strategically weathers Arizona’s construction recession by opening a location in neighboring Nevada.

Above: Mike Watts at Beldon Rentals, 2130 East Indian School Road in 1977.

Bottom left: ­A JD 570-A Sunstate Equipment motor-grader.

1995 – Sunstate widens its footprint to include locations in Utah and Colorado.

1996 – California welcomes Sunstate into San Diego and the LA metro area. Today, Sunstate has a wide network of locations throughout the state.

1997 – The expansion continues across the south into Texas, where they now serve major projects and industries from El Paso to Austin and Dallas to Houston, with a growing presence along the Gulf Coast.

1999 – Drop a pin in Oklahoma as Sunstate opens the first of three locations there.

2007 – After a period of growth in existing markets, Sunstate again expands to add a location in Albuquerque.

2010 – On the heels of the Great Recession, Sunstate ramps up new growth in Tennessee.

2017 – A flurry of growth in the Southeast starts with the opening of a new location in Georgia.

2018 – Sunstate enters the Pacific Northwest with a branch in Portland.

Images Courtesy of Sunstate

2019 – Florida, North Carolina, and Washington strengthen Sunstate’s presence in the Southeast and Northwest.

2021 – Sunstate continues with cautious growth despite pandemic challenges, adding South Carolina to its map. arizcc.com

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May June 2022

CONSTRUCTION AROUND ARIZONA People

Training Done Right Part of Sunstate’s success comes from the continued investment in helping its employees grow and advance their careers.

They accomplish this through ongoing training classes for dispatch, sales, and leadership teams. They’ve also been at the forefront of helping the next generation of technicians get the tools and training they need to be successful. For example, Sunstate’s Apprentice Technician Program gives aspiring heavy equipment techs a chance to learn both in the classroom and with on-the-job experience alongside in-shop mentors. Upon completion of this program, graduates not only receive a position as a full-time technician, but they also receive a toolbox and full set of tools to set them up for success in their new role.

In 2021, Sunstate proudly opened its state-of-the-art Timothy J. Meenk Training Center in Phoenix. This facility is named in honor and memory of a long-time Sunstate team member who founded the Apprentice Program and was pivotal in developing Sunstate’s rigorous service standards. The Meenk Training Center is well recognized for its high-tech training classes and technician training room, where team members come from across the country to participate in week-long intensive hands-on training.

Innovation in training, technology, and customer service – powered by highly skilled and engaged teams – is what keeps Sunstate Equipment poised for continued growth here at home in Arizona and across the country. They continue to set the bar for the best equipment rental experience in the industry. To learn more, visit www. sunstateequip.com.

Safe from the Ground Up Amidst steady and continual growth to bring top-notch construction equipment rentals to projects across the country, Sunstate has also stepped into the trenches with shoring and underground safety equipment rentals and OSHA-compliant training certifications. Using their time-tested approach to service, Sunstate’s relatively new Trench Safety Division – launched in 2019 – has seen accelerated growth throughout the Gulf Coast and in the Pacific Northwest. In the latter region, they acquired Cascade Shoring, a well-respected trench rental supplier in Washington and Oregon, in 2021.

With the addition of this specialized service, Sunstate further established itself as a rental partner ready to develop and evolve to meet the growing needs of its

customers. This improvement includes quality equipment backed by the industry’s top professionals, but it also means empowering construction crews to work safely above and below ground. Here, they harness over four decades of equipment expertise to train customer operators and their own employees on the ins and outs of how to safely operate heavy machinery, aerial work platforms, material handlers, and shoring equipment.

For the Sunstate team, safety is at the heart of every task with a “no job is so important that we should not take the time to perform the work safely” mindset.

From loading and unloading on customer job sites to in-yard operations and ongoing professional driver training for safer public roadways, every team member is committed to the zero-accident safety expectation.

Images Courtesy of Sunstate

Above: Sunstate Equipment “Combi” roller.

Below: Sunstate Equipment at Hoover Dam. Bottom right: Sunstate Equipment Service Center, 2018.

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Arizona Contractor & Community

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May June 2022

CONSTRUCTION AROUND ARIZONA People

“TOYING” AROUND WITH A CONSTRUCTION CAREER PRESTON PAYNE

A

• IMCATS (International Model Construction & Truck Show) hosted by Buffalo Road Imports in the nearby town of Clarence, • DHS Diecast Open House hosted at the DHS facility in Berea, Ohio, and • Ed’s Diecast Shed in North Haven, Connecticut.

All three shows offer a wide range of diecast models for sale. However, I still look forward to more becoming available such as Hitachi excavators and a new Caterpillar soil compactor. Overall, though, the diecast market is vast and has plenty of garbage collection, concrete, paving, and earthmoving equipment models.

Images Courtesy of Author

t the age of 9, I opened a Christmas present that would change my life. It was my first model construction equipment created

by DHS Diecast Collectibles, Inc., located in Berea, Ohio. I’ve been hooked on collecting these toy models of backhoes and bulldozers ever since. That’s not surprising since I’ve always been mechanical and loved cars and construction equipment.

During the last four years, I’ve expanded my collection by locating diecast models at yard sales, but the most coveted

types are usually found on eBay. Facebook Marketplace can be a good source, too, as sometimes people will sell their entire collection.

My favorite way to display diecast model construction equipment is in dioramas, which are fun but challenging to build.

Unfortunately, finding a place to store dioramas can be a problem. I plan to create one featuring an inner-city building demolition, which includes a pipe-laying scene that incorporates a set of train tracks.

Model shows are an excellent place to display dioramas and purchase diecast models to add to your collection. I live in Buffalo, New York, and there are three top exhibitions in the region:

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CONSTRUCTION AROUND ARIZONA Practices

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THREE WAYS CONTRACTORS CAN BUILD HEALTHIER BUILDINGS MICHAEL RUBINO

T

Allergy-like symptoms are most common, but sometimes I hear about an auto-immune condition like psoriasis that came directly after moving into a specific house. Or I’ll learn about rashes and hives that they never had before a hurricane caused water damage. Sometimes they tell me about their brain fog, fatigue, or other cognitive symptoms.

I’m not there to be a doctor or diagnose anyone, but I am genuinely interested in what they’re experiencing because it relates to helping them. And in my experience, symptoms disappear once the mold sources are removed. So the good news is that the construction industry can help improve the health and wellness of our country.

There are three ways contractors can take action to construct healthier buildings:

here’s a nationwide problem with the way we construct and maintain buildings that leads to unhealthy air quality.

Poor construction practices lead to mold growth in new construction homes and other structures. When mold is present, the spores create indoor air pollution. The average person takes 20,000 breaths per day, and each one is an opportunity to put pollutants into their lungs and body and increase health risks.

The mold source doesn’t cause a person’s symptoms; it’s what that mold source created that enters the body and makes that person feel ill. As a mold remediator, I ask what my clients are going through 1. Properly Install Vapor Barriers: because I’m genuinely interested. I hear A vapor barrier is the building’s initial about all kinds of symptoms, and for the line of defense against moisture intrusion. most part, I’ll typically run into someone A poorly installed vapor barrier will allow else later who has similar symptoms. moisture or water to intrude. The slightest rip or tear can negate the purpose of the barrier and allow moisture intrusion, which can create an opportunity for mold to grow in between the concrete slab and the layers of material that you plan to install on top of the slab. Even the slightest tear could potentially lead to costly remediation in the future.

2. Lumber Storage:

Image Courtesy of AlphaEnvironmental

When you accept delivery of lumber, is it stored on the ground, exposed to moisture? If it sits there for weeks before the crew is ready to erect the frame, odds are it will be exposed to the elements.

On the surface, this might not sound too bad, but from a scientific standpoint, mold is widespread in the soil. When it rains, having the lumber resting in the mud arizcc.com

can cause excess moisture to remain in the wood for much longer than 48 hours. This environment creates the perfect opportunity for mold to grow on the lumber since it can quickly spread in that time.

A simple solution to prevent this would be to deliver the lumber on cribbing that keeps it elevated off of the soil. From there, it can be protected from the elements using tarps until the framers are ready to begin.

3. Dehumidify Spaces Before Lumber Installation: There should be no moisture present as lumber is installed. This condition can be especially dangerous if you utilize spray foam as your preferred form of insulation.

When you apply spray foam on lumber with high moisture content, the spray foam will keep that moisture present by trapping the moisture between the wood and insulation. This situation causes another opportunity for mold to grow.

Implementing a dehumidification process to dry out the space properly before installing any insulation or drywall will go a long way in ensuring that you don’t have any opportunity for mold to grow throughout the beginning stages of construction.

The awareness of the harmful effects mold has on the body is, no pun intended, growing every year. Mold should be a priority concern for contractors. We need to all do our best to prevent this issue from occurring in new construction to keep our nation healthier.

Michael Rubino, The Mold Medic, is an international authority on mold remediation and the author of the recent book, The Mold Medic: An Expert’s Guide on Mold Removal.

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LUKE M. SNELL, P.E

I

n my quest to learn the origins of concrete, I choose sun-dried brick with mud as its cement or binder as a starting point.

But sun-dried bricks were not very strong or durable; thus, our ancestors began a search to improve the brick. Advances appear to have been inspired by the development of pottery, which eventually led to the discovery of new types of cement.

Archeologists tell us that humans figured out how to make fire about 125,000 years ago. This event was a significant milestone in our development. With fire, we had the means to cook food, keep warm in cool weather, have security from wildlife, and create a place for social interaction.

We are still drawn to campfires where we sit staring into the flames, share food, sing songs, tell stories, and pass traditions from our past to younger generations. Campfires are not extremely hot, with temperatures around 1,000 degrees Fahrenheit (F). Someone got the idea that they could harden clay by using the campfire’s heat and began experimenting with this new technology.

As a result, around 29,000 years ago, people in Central Europe made a clay figurine and put it in a campfire. Archeologists have determined that the Venus of Dolce

Above: Fired brick.

Top left: The Venus of Dolce Věstonice.

dle East. Those who attempted to build this tower must have understood they needed fired bricks, as mud bricks were not strong enough for the planned building. The tower was never completed, but it became a popular topic for religious painters.

The Biblical account also introduces the use of tar as a mortar, sourced from several tar pits mentioned in the area (Genesis chapter 14, verse 10). Tar would have been relatively abundant and easy to collect and was superior to mud as a mortar. However, its use was limited to areas convenient to tar pits. It would also have been rather unsightly, and so thankfully, this technique never caught on.

In the following two articles in this six-part series, we will discuss theories of how new and improved types of cement were discovered and how this resulted from the campfire experiments to improve pottery.

Images Courtesy of Author

Below: The Tower of Babel by Pieter Bruegel the Elder.

Bottom right: The Tower of Babel as envisioned by a late German Medieval painter around 1370 A.D.

Věstonice was fired at about 800 degrees F, well within the temperature of a campfire. This figurine is the oldest artifact discovered in which clay had been fired.

Pottery artifacts using this same technique were found in China dating back 20,000 years. This fired clay pottery provided better containers for the storage of food and liquids and represented a major step in finding new applications for this knowledge. The technology of making fired clay pottery spread, with discoveries of fired clay pottery in Japan and Russia 16,000 years ago and in the Middle East 11,000 years ago.

These discoveries establish a timeline for using heat to improve the durability of an object made of clay.

Applying this technology to make a better brick first appeared in China around 6,400 years ago. These bricks were fired at about 600 degrees F and were used as a flooring material for houses.

The Bible (Genesis, Chapter 11) mentions using fired brick in constructing the Tower of Babel, a structure purportedly tall enough to reach heaven. This origin myth explains why the world’s peoples speak different languages, though some modern scholars have associated the Tower of Babel with known structures.

Biblical scholars estimate that this event occurred about 2,200 B.C. in the Mid-

CONSTRUCTION AROUND ARIZONA Practices

HOW CONCRETE STARTED PART 2: FIRED BRICK

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DEL WILLIAMS

Below: Kett H37 concrete testing meter.

Below right: Kett H37 wood floor testing meter.

Image Courtesy of Rikstra

ealing with any disaster where water intrusion plays a role is challenging for construction contractors. Whether the source is faulty plumbing, water leaks, heavy rainstorms, hurricanes, or fires (due to suppression efforts), moisture meters are necessary to assess the extent of the water damage quickly and efficiently. This step is vital to distinguish between salvageable and unsalvageable materials to, cost-effectively, expedite needed construction.

Whether in roofing, drywall, framing, flooring, or carpet, excess water left behind in building materials after a disaster can result in mold growth and material rot long after the initial incident. Providing sufficient documentation to prove existing water damage can also be stipulated for insurance claims or possible FEMA registration.

Fortunately, a new category of portable, handheld, instant moisture measurement devices is now available for construction contractors to use on a wide range of materials with no special training. These “point-and-measure” units can be used wherever moisture is a problem at the job site. These new tools, which can be purchased or leased, are now helping speed restoration and improve building quality.

“Since not all water damage is visible to the naked eye, using a moisture meter can help contractors determine exactly just how much of a structure has been exposed to water,” says John Bogart, an expert in moisture and composition analysis. “Contractors can then save what is dry and safe and rebuild only what is necessary.”

Let’s examine common ways of water intrusion in structures.

Faulty Plumbing - The primary cause of most routine water damage is defective plumbing in the form of ruptured or leaking pipes. Toilets and drains can get backed up and blocked, leading to excess pressure in the pipe, triggering a leak.

Image Courtesy of Greensplumbing

D

Water Leakage - Heavy rain can soak a building’s interior during the construction of a new building or during remodeling whenever the structure is open to the natural environment. Washing machines, water heaters, dishwashers, and refrigerators can leak water into a building’s interior when hoses or connections weaken or crack. Heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) units can also accumulate moisture from the ambient environment and leak when not properly maintained or serviced.

Hurricane - These storms can loosen shingles enough to allow water to creep in and rot a structure from the top down. As contractors make necessary repairs after a major storm, they will want to quickly discover any moisture seeping in before it causes too much damage. If the building has incurred significant structural damage, the best way to discover what is salvageable is to check what is dry and intact. A moisture meter will provide many of these answers.

For example, a portable moisture meter that contractors have found to be effective in instantly checking a roof for water damage is Kett’s HI520-02, which can measure through shingles and deep into the sublayers to evaluate roof sheathing for moisture. The versatile unit also measures drywall, concrete, and mortar.

Drywall may seem fine at first glance, but the contractor will want to use a moisture meter to ensure that the structure’s walls are free from moisture damage. Contractors can rely on a universal moisture meter or even a Near-Infrared moisture

Above left: Leaking copper pipe.

Above: Household water damage.

CONSTRUCTION AROUND ARIZONA Practices

MOISTURE METERS ESSENTIAL TO CONTRACTOR TOOLKIT

meter to provide reliably accurate moisture readings throughout a structure.

Fire - Extinguishing a fire can require using large volumes of water, which can prove to be just as destructive to a structure as the fire itself. So, on first inspection, it can be helpful for a restoration contractor to use a universal moisture meter or a Near-Infrared (NIR) meter to determine the extent of water damage in plain view and behind the scenes. In addition, wood that has been exposed to water and flooding can be susceptible to dry rot. So, using a wood moisture tester to check that wood has properly dried can prevent losing structural integrity due to dry rot.

According to Bogart, NIR light is a highly accurate, non-contact secondary measurement method that can deliver immediate, laboratory-quality moisture readings.

“NIR moisture meters follow the principle that water absorbs certain wavelengths of light. The meter reflects light off the sample, measures how much light has been absorbed, and the result is automatically converted into a moisture content reading.

Contractors can use the NIR meters on anything where measuring surface moisture is important,” Bogart says.

While initial assessment may be the primary focus of moisture measurement for disaster recovery, it can also be invaluable during the rebuild process. “A moisture meter is good to use not only for assessment but also throughout the entire rebuilding process as well since it helps contractors monitor moisture levels along the way to document building quality and compliance,” Bogart concludes.

Images Courtesy of Kett US

Del Williams is based in Torrance, California, and writes about health, business, technology, and educational issues.

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May June 2022

Back When

PHOENIX’S FAVORITE PORTAL DOUGLAS TOWNE

A

Image Courtesy of Author

few more residents have been added since this “Welcome to Phoenix: Population 700,000” city limits sign was taken outside Papago Park in 1974.

But no matter how many people live in the area, there’s always been a special window through which to view the sights. Or at least for the last 20 million years or so.

Image Courtesy of Arizona Contractor & Community

Hole-in-the-Rock is a naturally formed opening in the red hills of Papago Park.

Geologists have determined the materials were cemented together from Precambrian granite formations long since eroded.

Water likely created the hole, slowly carving out material from small indentations in the rock.

These days, the unique formation is popular with visitors taking selfies to post on social media. But in the past, Hole-in-

the-Rock had a cosmic role in society.

Archeologists believe that the region’s early inhabitants, the Hohokam, used the opening to mark the seasons by carving the sun’s position in the rock. And what could be more important to an ancient people living without air conditioning in the Valley of the Sun than the arrival of the autumn equinox?

Forty Eight

May June 2022

THE ELEVATED CONCEPT FOR THE INTERSTATE 10 PAPAGO INNER LOOP FREEWAY: 1968-1973 MARK EDELMAN, AICP

n 1960, Wilbur Smith and Associates of San Francisco delivered a plan to Phoenix, Maricopa County, and the Arizona Highway Department for what became the basis of today’s regional freeway system. In 1965, the “Moreland Corridor,” about four blocks south of McDowell Road, was selected as the route by which Interstate 10 would enter Phoenix from the west.

The initial plans had I-10 joining I-17 and turning south, with the two interstates sharing the Maricopa Freeway route around the Durango Curve and east toward Sky Harbor Airport. In 1968, I-10’s route was revised to continue east of I-17 in the Moreland Corridor as the Papago Freeway Inner Loop, then turn south between 20th and 21st streets to rejoin the Maricopa Freeway.

While the Moreland Corridor west of I-17 was still largely undeveloped, the Inner Loop alignment east of I-17 went directly through historical neighborhoods near downtown that had since been bypassed by post-war growth, auto dependence, and homebuyers’ preferences.

Left: Johannessen & Girand Consulting Engineers map the basic construction plan for the proposed elevated freeway system, 1968.

Below: A sketch of proposed elevated Papago Freeway above parkland landscape, 1968.

Image Courtesy of Phoenix Public Library

Image Courtesy of Arizona Contractor & Community

I

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Arizona Contractor & Community

Image Courtesy of Arizona Contractor & Community

Fifty

The only public meeting held to gauge opinions and support for the elevated freeway took place on January 23, 1969. The Arizona Republic reported that, of the 600 in attendance, a group of 10 led by retired Arizona Supreme Court Justice Renz Jen-

Image Courtesy of Phoe nix Publ

In 1968 at a civic leaders’ luncheon, John Girand of Johannessen & Girand Consulting Engineers presented an elevated freeway as the preferred alternative for the Inner Loop. They felt that by elevating the freeway on tall pylons rather than earthen embankments, streets, utilities, and view corridors could be maintained. Thus, space under the freeway could be utilized, and the freeway itself would not create a physical division between downtown and the rapidly growing city to the north.

ic Library

Above: Johannessen & Girand Consulting Engineers employee working on the elevated Papago model, 1971.

Right: Design of Central Park that would have been created underneath the Papago elevated freeway.

nings voiced their opposition. William Price, the Highway Department’s State Engineer, later defended the limited public outreach by noting that Johannessen & Girand had gone further than required by May June 2022

Image Courtesy of Phoenix Public Library

holding a series of luncheons with civic leaders before the public hearing and, “… were assured of wholehearted community support.” Nevertheless, regardless of the perceptions of the state and local offi-

cials, a core of community opposition had formed, led by academics, neighborhood groups, and professionals.

Following the publication of their 1968 elevated freeway recommendation,

Above: Camera operator films Papago model for Soaring Sculpture public relations film, 1970.

Below: Model of the proposed roundabout spiral at Third and Fifth streets, 1968.

Image Courtesy of Arizona Contractor & Community

Johannessen & Girand and their Freeway Concept Team of design and real estate professionals were retained by the Highway Department to refine the preferred option. Their 1970 supplemental study pushed freeway opposition to a new and more intense level.

The report’s cover was a brightly colored architectural rendering showing people using the park and civic spaces to be created under the raised freeway. In Soaring Sculpture, a public relations film commissioned by the Highway Department, the narrator called the elevated freeway a “sky highway” and described a new “Central Park” that would lie beneath it: “A sweep of beautiful greenery, lush tropical vegetation, and all manner of attractive municipal goodies: swimming pools, an orchestra shell, fountains, playgrounds for kids, winding paths for strollers, artificial lakes, bicycle trails….”

Approaching downtown Phoenix, the arizcc.com

Arizona Contractor & Community

Image Courtesy of Phoenix Public Library

proposed freeway would climb to 45 feet above the existing grade before ascending to an apex 100 feet above Central Avenue and Central Park.

Beyond the tall arc of the elevated freeway, one aspect of the report that received considerable attention was the eye-catching “helicoils,” spiraling and interlocking circular access ramps between the freeway and the city streets (Third and Fifth avenues and streets) below.

Johannessen & Girand’s graphics indicated that the helicoil footprint, including ground-level approach and bypass lanes, would impact an area of between six and nine city blocks.

Despite all the public relations by the Highway Department, the elevated freeway didn’t garner much support. A Republic survey taken in May 1971 found that 56 percent of respondents were opposed to constructing the Papago Freeway through central Phoenix.

An often-repeated story from the elevated freeway controversy involves Republic and Phoenix Gazette publisher Eugene Pulliam and his wife, Nina Mason Pulliam.

Allegedly, Nina Pulliam was so opposed Fifty Two

to the elevated freeway concept that she convinced her husband to fight it using his newspapers to rally the community. While the Republic never endorsed a “No” vote in the 1973 referendum, their position was evidenced in heartstring-tugging stories of abandoned neighborhoods and displaced residents, investigative reporting on freeway impacts, and critical editorials.

Parallel with the Republic’s advocacy, citizen groups organized against the freeway plans. A neighborhood effort led by the Encanto Citizens Association objected to destroying historic neighborhoods to their south. Others included Citizens for Mass Transit Against Freeways (CMTAF), led by Phoenix College chemistry professor Gerard Judd; Papago Loop Alternatives Now (PLAN), led by attorneys Ronald Warnicke and James Walsh; Gary Peter Klahr, a local attorney who headed the efforts to fight the freeway in the courts; and G.G. George, a historic neighborhood advocate.

Concurrent with the local freeway fight, funding from the federal level became more complicated with the National Environmental Policy Act, or NEPA, in 1970.

Under NEPA, project proponents were

Above: Color rendering by John Girand of elevated freeway looking westward, showing Central Park, 1970.

required to complete an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) that evaluated project alternatives and considered a federal project’s impacts on the affected community and environment.

In June 1972, the Highway Department released the draft EIS for the Inner Loop Freeway that included the familiar elevated freeway with helicoil interchanges and a 100-foot-high arc above Central Avenue.

The EIS found that the proposed freeway would have “no serious or prolonged effect on land use,” although it also noted that about 2,100 existing households would be displaced. Almost 1,300 of those had already occurred, most of which were single-family homes in the Moreland Corridor.

Events came to a head following the release of the EIS. Newspaper articles casting doubt on the Papago plans and freeways in general increased, as did front-page articles and editorials opposing the freeway. Reporting from the Highway Department and City Hall portrayed short May June 2022

tempers, frayed nerves, and a sense that the debate needed to end. Mayor John Driggs and the City Council stuck to their position that the freeway had broad public support and cast the opponents as impractical dreamers and malcontents.

In a series of events that wouldn’t be acceptable today, the Mayor and Council met “informally” on April 18, 1973, and agreed to put the freeway question to a public vote. Although the vote was technically for the entire regional freeway plan, Mayor Driggs acknowledged that it was essentially a referendum on the elevated Papago Freeway. Since the Mayor and Council didn’t want the referendum to be on the same ballot as their own seats later that year, they decided to append the freeway question to a city bond election set for May 8, 1973, less than three weeks away.

The politicking reached a crescendo on the weekend before the vote. MOVE, a pro-freeway group, ran full-page ads in the Republic casting the vote as a choice between mobility and gridlock. U.S. Senator Barry Goldwater declared his opposition to the freeway’s location and his intent to vote “No.” The Republic didn’t specifically endorse a “no” vote on their editorial page. Still, it did feature an often-reprinted full-page story with photos of the helicoil models, a somewhat inaccurate photo illustration of the elevated freeway crossing Central Avenue, and an above-the-fold headline asking, “Do you want Phoenix to look this way?”

Voting results came back with 58 percent of the voters against the freeway plans.

The Republic’s editorial page declared the demise of the Papago Inner Loop Freeway, told the highway planners to go “back to their drawing boards,” and suggested that the vacant Moreland Corridor be turned into a greenbelt park.

While this was the end of the elevated Papago Freeway plans through central Phoenix, it would not halt the region’s freeway debate. Instead, more controversy and more public votes would follow through the 1970s. Eventually, officials aligned I-10 in the Moreland Corridor in the now-familiar below-grade-with-tunnel configuration.

In 1985, Maricopa County voters authorized a half-cent sales tax to accelerate funding of portions of the original Wilbur Smith freeway plan. When I-10 finally opened to traffic in August 1990, it closed the “Final Mile” gap in the transcontinental interstate.

The metro area’s overall transportation system had local funding reauthorized in 2005 and has primarily been completed today by ADOT under the guidance of the Maricopa Association of Governments.

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PHOENIX’S MISSING TRANSPORTATION LINK:

THE PAPAGO FREEWAY BILL KELTON

S

pring 1973 was a busy time, nationally and locally. The nation was reeling from a failed war in Vietnam, the Watergate scandal, and the Arab Oil Embargo, and residents in Phoenix voted overwhelmingly to halt the previously approved crosstown Papago Freeway. The elevated segment

of Interstate 10 just north of downtown Phoenix would have featured elevated traffic interchanges providing surface street access.

It wasn’t until 1988 that the I-10 Completion Project was launched to complete the Papago Freeway through the Deck Park

Tunnel. The last section of I-10 to be built, it represented decades of political wrangling.

The project gave Arizona the distinction of having both the first and last completed portions of I-10.

The work in Phoenix resulted from the Federal Highway Act of 1956 that authorized the replacement of cross-country highways with a new interstate system designed to move people and military forces quickly across the country. The original act provided for U.S. Highway 60 to be replaced by I-10, while U.S. Highway 80 would be replaced by Interstate 8. The first Top: Historic homes at 13th Avenue and Moreland Street in Phoenix’s F.Q. Story neighborhood slated for demolition for the Papago Freeway, 1964.

Above: City of Phoenix advertisement for bids on demolition of buildings for proposed Papago Freeway, 1968.

Left: Excavator loading belly-dump truck during freeway work between 16th and 24th streets, 1986.

FIFTY FOUR

May June 2022

Image Courtesy of Arizona Contractor & Community

Images Courtesy of Author

Top: Setting girders at I-10 and Harrison Street on the day of the Challenger Disaster, 1986.

Above: Initial route of Papago Freeway in the West Valley, 1965.

Right: M.M. Sundt/Kasler Corp. Joint Venture board for the proposed work, 1987.

1-10 project was the replacement of U.S. 60 bridges over the Colorado River near Blythe in the late 1950s.

U.S. 60 connected Phoenix to Los Angeles via a not-so-direct route through Wickenburg. A more direct route between Phoenix and Blythe would be better logistically for motorists, which resulted in the Brenda Cutoff plan in the early 1960s.

The proposal was named after Brenda, a small town in western Arizona where I-10 would go direct to Phoenix instead of turning north toward Wickenburg. However, the arizcc.com

Brenda Cutoff was controversial because of its impacts on Tonopah and Buckeye, as well as highway traffic bypassing Salome and Wickenburg. Ultimately, as a compromise, Arizona agreed to build State Route 74, the Carefree Highway, to provide a more direct route for Interstate 17 traffic to go west through Wickenburg.

The initial path of the Brenda plan followed the Gila and Salt rivers from Buckeye to I-17, connecting at the Durango Curve, just south of Buckeye Road. Planners, however, realized that the route would bypass many West Valley communities, so a more northerly Papago Freeway alignment was approved by State and Federal authorities in 1965.

The Papago route included plans to build an elevated freeway on the inner loop

just north of downtown Phoenix. Designers envisioned a steel and concrete skyway that would reach 100 feet at Central Avenue with big spiral ramps transitioning to ground level and parks located beneath.

However, by spring 1973, concern about “Los Angelizing” Phoenix helped residents kill the Papago Freeway Inner Loop plan.

Meanwhile, I-10 was built west of Brenda and reached Tonopah in 1973, where traffic was routed to Salome Road and then Buckeye Road through sleepy downtown Buckeye. Over the next decade, the freeway expanded east, making interim stops at Oglesby Road (State Route 85), Jackrabbit Trail, Dysart Road, 99th Avenue, 59th Avenue, 35th Avenue, until connecting to I-17 near McDowell Road in the early 1980s.

Arizona Contractor & Community

Images Courtesy of Arizona Contractor & Community

Despite economic turmoil in the 1970s, the Valley grew, even without the Papago Freeway. Plans just to widen surface streets to relieve congestion proved fruitless.

Finally, in 1985, Maricopa County residents were fed up with traffic and passed a new sales tax to improve transportation infrastructure. Mainly intended to fund State freeways, the new tax allowed the State to accelerate Papago Freeway Inner Loop construction in anticipation of federal funds.

The Arizona Department of Transportation, which had recently superseded the Arizona Highway Department, was tasked with vetting alternatives to the Papago skyway to complete the last segment of I-10 between Florida and California. ADOT gained public support with its design for a park above a freeway tunnel between Seventh Street and Seventh Avenue. The Deck Park Tunnel required installing large subterranean drainage tunnels to carry stormwater to the Salt River. As a result, freeway interchanges were initially built individually to minimize impact to neighborhoods before freeway construction and allow for drainage tunnel construction.

Arizona construction companies with highway expertise participated in the Papago Freeway project. M.M. Sundt Construction Co. had a long history of building freeways, having been involved in the Superstition Freeway from I-10 to Power Road, many Papago Freeway Inner Loop interchanges, and the Airport connector over 24th Street. Kiewit Construction built the first part of the Mini Stack where State Route 51 and Loop 202 would connect to I-10.

Arizona’s first four-level traffic interchange, “The Stack,” was another link, connecting I-10 and I-17. The first phase, built by the Tanner Companies, was the largest construction contract ever let by ADOT. Then, in 1986, as M.M. Sundt was winding up their multiple Inner Loop interchange projects, they teamed in a joint venture with Kasler Corporation from California. They were the successful bidder on the even bigger Third to Maricopa Project, which would build the Papago Freeway from Third Street to connect with I-17 at 20th Street.

Sundt and Kasler had previous joint ventures on projects like the pipeline that carries cooling water from Phoenix’s 91st Avenue Wastewater Plant to the Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station. They went on to complete the Third to Maricopa Project (Sundt/Kasler), Phase 2 of the Stack (Kasler/Sundt), the I-10 Viaduct between the Stack and 15th Ave (Kasler/Sundt), and Top left: Construction activity during freeway construction, 1986.

Left: Facing east towards Sky Harbor during bridge construction, 1986. fifty six

May June 2022

Images Courtesy of Arizona Contractor & Community

Image Courtesy of Author

Above: Sundt’s Caterpillar D9 and 651 scraper removing street asphalt during freeway construction, 1987.

Left: Sundt bulldozer moving material out from under the 12th Street bridge facing Moreland Street, 1986.

Below left: Diagram of Deck Park Tunnel storm drain system, 1986.

the I-10 Completion Project (Sundt/Kasler).

In addition, Tanner Companies built the tunnel superstructure, and Sundt/Kasler finished the roadway paving, lighting, and ventilation systems.

The I-10 Completion Project (19881990), coincidentally, was the last major freeway project to be built by M.M. Sundt Construction. Future transportation projects would be delivered by Sundt Corp and later Sundt Construction.

The project was highlighted by the Deck Park Tunnel, which is not an actual

tunnel, but a series of bridges placed side by side with unique design elements to accommodate ventilation, lighting, and other safety systems. I-10 Completion construction included the Papago Freeway to 15th Avenue to Seventh Street and updating freeway signage from 91st Avenue to 40th Street and I-17 north to Indian School Road.

The project also included installing fiber optic cable from ADOT’s Durango Curve traffic operations facility on I-17 to the Deck Park Control Room that sits in a bunker-like structure beneath Central Avenue. During the early days of the Deck Park Tunnel, ADOT had full-time staff inside, controlling all the tunnel systems.

Motorists through the tunnel are likely unaware of the sophisticated systems behind the beautifully tiled walls and in the ceilings. Ventilation, lighting, and monitor-

ing systems adjust things like airflow and lighting to accommodate safety for travelers. The tiled walls are precast concrete panels that provide space for airflow from the park site above.

Those panels provided a unique challenge for the Sundt/Kasler team because they were erected inside the tunnel with only inches of clearance. The construction team ingeniously “match cast” the panels on the lean concrete paving base, like tilt-up building construction. They even developed a special tool to hoist and erect the panels with a Caterpillar 980 wheel loader, which a local publication aptly dubbed the “Gizmo under Phoenix.”

The idea, design, and construction of Deck Park Tunnel provided the missing link to I-10. The tunnel highlighted the engineering creativity needed to complete a project of this scale while still considering the needs of the local communities.

Right: I-10 close to completion facing east at Seventh Avenue, 1990.

Below: Ribbon-cutting ceremony opening Papago Freeway from Third to 19th Avenue (l-r) Ed Wueste (Federal Highway Administration), Pete Corpstein (State Senator), Paul Johnson (Phoenix Mayor), Charlie Miller (ADOT Director), Andrew Federhar (State Transportation Board), and Jim Apperson (Governor’s Office), 1990.

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THE PHOENIX ZOO’S SAFARI FROM BACKYARD MENAGERIE TO WORLD-CLASS FACILITY DOUGLAS TOWNE

A

visit to the Maytag family residence in Scottsdale in the early 1960s often proved an unforgettable experience for guests. “I brought my girlfriend over one night when my parents were traveling, and I didn’t tell her about what lived off the master bedroom,” says stepson Pete Horner. “When she went into the bedroom, a Bengal tiger jumped at her from behind bars. She ran out and asked why I didn’t tell her about the big cats. I said I wanted it to be a surprise.”

Keeping major carnivores around the house was standard procedure for the Maysixty

tag’s until they could create a zoo for Phoenix. So what’s behind this appliance-fame family’s endeavor to launch one of Phoenix’s most beloved attractions located at Papago Park? It’s a story of determination, networking, and, of course, an oversized love of animals, big and small.

Robert “Bob” Maytag, the grandson of F.L. Maytag Sr, founder of the Maytag Company of Newton, Iowa, was a philanthropist who was passionate about wildlife. “My father sponsored safaris for the University of Miami in Africa for several years before he got together with my mom, Nancy,”

Horner says. “They got married and moved to Scottsdale, and a year later, formed a group with the goal of creating a zoo for Phoenix. So they had a few cocktail parties to get some influential people interested and started the Arizona Zoological Society.”

The Maytag’s cocktail parties featured hors d’oeuvres made from wild animals to promote the zoological group. Horner would occasionally assist the chef. “We deep-fried alligator tail, and it tasted like chicken,” he recalls. My dad would ask the guests how they liked the chicken, and they would respond that it was the best they ever had. Bob replied, ‘Just so you know, that was alligator meat.’ We also served rattlesnake, bison, and elk, but the alligator was the one that really surprised people.”

The Maytag home was on a five-acre parcel in Scottsdale near Paradise Valley.

Other zoos heard about their plans and donated animals. “But we didn’t have any May June 2022

Top left: Heffalump, an infant Asian elephant with the Arizona Zoological Society members David Murdock and Robert Maytag (l-r) at Guaranty Bank along Central Avenue, 1961.

Above: Herb Fielder, Robert, and Nancy Maytag (l-r) holding a cheetah and a donation check from the Valley National Bank Men’s Club, 1962.

Right: The Bunny Bridge entrance to the Children’s Zoo, 1965.

place to put them,” Horner says. “So, Bob had some aviaries made for birds, had a patio enclosed to create a condo for Bengal tigers, put some more corrals in for a gorilla, Chapman’s zebras, a baby elephant, and Sicilian miniature donkeys. So, we were off and running!”

Horner explains that he, Bob, and their friend, Speedy Barker, would take a variety of animals, including Heffalump, an infant Asian elephant, and Beau Brummell, a woolly monkey, to shopping centers and put on a dog and pony show. “We promoted arizcc.com

Arizona Contractor & Community

memberships to the zoo on the premise we’d have one soon.” They sold more than 1,000 memberships in 1961. That year, the Arizona Zoological Society also merged with a previously established local organization, the Children’s Zoo Committee.

Maytag donated $100,000 for the zoo, which would be privately owned and operated, and was relentless in promoting his vision. His neighbors, tired of the Maytag menagerie’s unpredictable brays, shrieks, and roars, were some of the most generous benefactors of the zoo. Arizona Zoological Society board members were tasked with fundraising and housing animals.

The Maytag’s found an ideal location for the zoo at the Arizona Game and Fish headquarters in Papago Park, which featured varied terrain, including rock outcrops, lakes, and trees. The department needed a larger facility and was planning on moving. The state sold the 100-acre site to the City of Phoenix, which subsequently leased it to the Arizona Zoological Society for a dollar in 1961.

Images Courtesy of Arizona Contractor & Community

Left: Heffalump interacting with students from the Center for Blind Children, 1963.

Below: Women’s Auxiliary of the Arizona Zoological Society at Beefeaters restaurant on Camelback Road in Phoenix, 1968.

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May June 2022

Image Courtesy of Eller Outdoor

Above: Billboard for Phoenix Zoo, 1972.

Left: Zoo trainers weigh Ruby at the Phoenix Zoo, early 1990s.

Image Courtesy of Arizona Dick George

Construction of the zoo officially began with the donkey-elephant team of Lorenzo and Heffalump hitched to a plow to break ground in January 1962. The stunt attracted 2,000 excited spectators. “After we received the property, we initially started a children’s zoo,” Horner says. “Tim Rodgers, a Scottsdale contractor, was on the board and was put in charge of building enclosures for the animals. He constructed a big red barn that’s still there. We also built the bridge that’s still the main entrance and ticket booth. The zoo’s administration building is the former Arizona Game and Fish office, and we made a rock house into a kitchen for the animals.”

Tragedy struck the Maytag family and almost halted the zoo’s progress. “In 1962, Bob was in San Diego with a doctor friend on his boat and became sick with pneumonia,” Horner says. “He only had one lung, as on an African trip he had contracted malaria, and medical staff had to remove the other lung. Bob went downhill fast and died on the boat at the age of 38.”

Nancy Horner Maytag, subsequently, became president of the Arizona Zoological Society and spearheaded the zoo’s creation. Eugene Pulliam, the publisher of The Arizona Republic and Phoenix Gazette, pledged $130,000 to construct the Arizona exhibit to keep up the zoo’s momentum.

“They had a great board of directors that understood and carried on Bob’s vision,” Horner recalls. arizcc.com

Arizona Contractor & Community

Above: Robert Maytag speaking at Phoenix Zoo groundbreaking, 1962.

Left: Phoenix Mayor Sam Mardian helps kids at Phoenix Zoo groundbreaking, 1962.

Below: Pete Horner, Nancy Maytag’s eldest son, operates a backhoe at Phoenix Zoo, 1962.

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To gain more public support from the community, the zoo changed its name to the Phoenix Maytag Zoo and, in June 1963, the Phoenix Zoo. “Eventually, after a few years, Nancy faded out of the picture and wanted the people of Phoenix to adopt the project, which they did and have done a good job with,” Horner says.

The Phoenix Zoo has evolved to become a well-respected zoological park.

Horner went on to have a long, successful career in construction and served as

president of the American Concrete Pumping Association. But, of his many projects, he still recalls his most memorable day at the zoo, which took place at the veterinary center and involved an embarrassed young coed. “I was there with a girl I was dating, who asked to see Mongo, the gorilla,” Horner says. “I got Mongo out of the cage, and they started playing together. Then Mongo jumped up in her lap and pulled off her shirt, leaving her sitting there in a bra.”

Images Courtesy of Phoenix Zoo

Horner, who graduated from Scottsdale High School in 1962, also put in long hours for the zoo’s cause by continuing to exhibit animals around the Valley for a few years. “On Sundays for dinner, Speedy Barker and I would meet mom at the Pink Pony restaurant in Scottsdale,” he says.

“We would tell her how good we did, with elephant poop still on us. She’d respond, ‘Don’t you think you should clean up a bit?’ to which I said, ‘No, we’re just spreading the wealth.’”

Horner started a backhoe service called Pete Horner Excavating and Grading for excavation during his senior year and worked at the zoo trenching water lines. “I accidentally broke the main water line, and mom asked if I had to do that? That wasn’t the plan, I responded.” Horner also worked security with Bill Downing at the zoo while attending Arizona State University. “I worked the night shift so I could study and keep an eye on the animals,” he says.

The Maytag Zoo opened on November 21, 1962, although only two exhibits were complete. Financial difficulties due to higher-than-expected construction costs that resulted from a thick rock layer just beneath the topsoil almost derailed the attraction, despite Navy Seabees and military reserves having lent a hand in constructing roads and paths for the zoo.

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GORILLA THEATER: HUGH HEFNER “MONKEYS AROUND” WITH THE PHOENIX ZOO DOUGLAS TOWNE

O

ne of the most celebrated crash pads during the Swinging ‘60s was Playboy publisher Hugh Hefner’s elliptical bed, outfitted with silk sheets and a Tasmanian opossum fur cover located in his personal DC-9 “Bunny Jet.” Hefner enjoyed Sixty six

posing in his airborne bedroom surrounded by a bevy of nubile Bunnies lounging on the oversized mattress. However, of all the visitors to that legendary bed, and indeed there were many, none caused as much of a stir as the one sprawled out in a drugged

stupor when the jetliner touched down at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport on July 22, 1970.

As the plane’s passengers exited, the crowd’s focus on the tarmac shifted from the mini-skirted Bunny Jet flight attendants to a 300-pound male being carried on a stretcher to an awaiting ambulance. This beast was no ordinary Lothario, but Baltimore Jack, a gorilla that Hefner had transported to the Valley for a tryst at the Phoenix Zoo. How the late bon vivant who helped launch the sexual revolution came to be involved in primate breeding unfolds like a vintage Playboy centerfold.

The Maytag Zoo, which opened in Papago Park in 1962, quickly became one of Phoenix’s most popular attractions. Robert May June 2022

Image Courtesy of Baltimore Sun

Image Courtesy of AP Image Courtesy of Phoenix Zoo

Maytag, of appliance fame, launched the attraction, which was renamed the Phoenix Zoo the following year to identify it with the city more closely.

One of the zoo’s most famous animals was Hazel, a female gorilla brought from the West African nation of Cameroon in 1962. “Until the day she died, Hazel was the main attraction [of the zoo] luring visitors with her engaging personality,” journalist Julia Patrick, frontdoorsmedia.com in 2013.

“She never just wallowed around her enclosure. She ruled it!”

Hazel had a companion named Mongo, but they never mated. So when he died in 1969, the Phoenix Zoo began looking for a new mate for Hazel in hopes of filling her habitat with cute baby gorillas. They chose Jack, a lonely gorilla at the Baltimore City arizcc.com

Zoo, taken from Africa in 1954. The ape’s owners agreed to sell “Baltimore Jack” for $5,000, along with the rights to the couple’s first infant.

The blind date was set. The Arizona Air National Guard initially offered to provide free transportation of the 6-foot-3-inch gorilla from Baltimore to Phoenix but later rescinded because, while transporting gorillas was apparently OK, military regulations prohibited flying the accompanying civilian veterinarians. Commercial airlines wanted $5,000 to transport the primate, which the zoo couldn’t afford.

Fortunately, Baltimore Jack had an advocate in actress Amanda Blake, who played the red-headed saloon proprietress “Miss Kitty Russell” on TV’s Gunsmoke series for 19 years. Blake had a home in

Top: Hefner and Playboy bunny stewardesses on on the DC-9 Bunny Jet. Above left: Autographed photo of Baltimore Jack produced by the Phoenix Zoo. Above: Baltimore Jack being loaded onto DC-9 Bunny Jet in Baltimore.

Phoenix, was an animal welfare advocate, and was a member of the Zebra Ladies of the Phoenix Zoological Society. She lobbied CBS, which aired Gunsmoke, for transportation help. The best the network could offer was a Learjet for $3,500, also out of the zoo’s budget.

Blake then asked Hefner whether he would provide, pro bono, his personal black McDonnell Douglas DC-9 jetliner with the iconic white rabbit symbol painted on its tail to transport the gorilla. “I don’t know the exact connection between them, but Arizona Contractor & Community

Image Courtesy of AP

Hollywood was much smaller then,” Beckey Burgoyne, author of the book Perfectly Amanda: Gunsmoke’s “Miss Kitty” To Dodge and Beyond, says. ”I doubt he could turn down Miss Kitty. And who wouldn’t want that great heroic reputation of saving the day for Hazel and Jack?”

Just two days later, Hefner’s jet, aka “Hare Force One,” took off from Baltimore bound for Phoenix. Aboard was a heavily sedated Baltimore Jack, veterinarians from the Johns Hopkins University School of Animal Medicine, the assistant director of the Baltimore City Zoo, Bunny Jet flight attendants, and reporters. “When my wife found out I was hauling a gorilla, it was the first time she wasn’t jealous,” pilot Warren Hampton told The Arizona Republic.

Hefner’s oversized bed facilitated rotating the anesthetized gorilla to aid his circulation. The flight, however, was not without its challenges. “I can also report that Baltimore Jack was something less than toilet-trained, a fact easily discernible during my quick check of his quarters,” Bob Sanders, a Playboy publicist who accompanied the flight, wrote.

Sanders recalled the nervous onboard veterinarian, who brought along a 45-caliber handgun for safety. “He later told me over an understandably large number of drinks that Baltimore Jack ‘moved five or six times,’ during the flight.” Baltimore Jack, however, never awakened enough to feel hungry. “An in-flight luncheon - a bunch of bananas sent aboard the aircraft by an admirer at Baltimore - was left untouched,” according to the Republic.

The Bunny Jet was greeted by 150 people at Sky Harbor, more than had met President Richard Nixon on a previous stopover.

The crowd included Blake’s Zebra Ladies group, who accompanied an Associated Gorilla Ambulance taking Baltimore Jack to the zoo.

At the Phoenix Zoo, Baltimore Jack was subject to further indignities. “One of the Bunnies agreed to enter Jack’s cage at the zoo, and the brave woman posed with one foot atop his chest,” Sanders wrote. “As they used to say, we got a lot of ink.”

Hazel and Jack grabbed headlines across the country, with a Baltimore Sun reporter commenting that the gorillas were the talk of Phoenix. “I remember the story was a big deal at the time, especially with the Hefner angle,” Jim Bolek, a Phoenix graphic designer, says. “It made us kids giggle, and I recall getting an ‘autographed’

Sixty eight

Images Courtesy of ARIZOO

na Republic Image Courtesy of Arizo

Top left: Playboy bunnies greet Bunny Jet at Sky Harbor.

Left: Gorilla ambulance.

Far left: Playboy bunnies with Baltimore Jack.

Below: Bunny Jet arrives at Sky Harbor Airport.

May June 2022

Image Courtesy of Phoenix Zoo

Images Courtesy of ARIZOO Image Courtesy of Cabby Conti

Top: Hazel and Fabayo.

Above: Amanda Blake (2nd from left) and Phoenix Zoo Auxiliary Ladies.

Above right: Amanda Blake on the cover of TV Time.

photo of Baltimore Jack.”

Others were more animated with their affection for the gorillas. “I remember Baltimore Jack,” says a former Sunnyslope resident, who, wisely, wished to remain anonymous. “I would imitate him in my underwear for my wife. Woo ha!”

Gorillas are picky in choosing mates, especially in captivity, and Hazel and Baltimore Jack were no exception. Observers meticulously detailed what items they played with, their diet, and any hints of an attraction. In the end, it was all for naught. arizcc.com

“Arizona is considered to be one vast desert, and Baltimore Jack, the gorilla, is considered by some to be one vast disappointment,” a Sun reporter wrote.

Baltimore Jack died of pneumonia in 1972. Hazel was transported to the San Diego Wild Animal Park in a van on Halloween night the following year. She mated with a gorilla there named Trib and became pregnant.

In 1974, Hazel was being transported to Phoenix from San Diego in a U-Haul van when a highway patrolman pulled the vehicle over for speeding outside Gila Bend.

When the driver said he was in a hurry to get a gorilla to Phoenix, the wide-eyed officer responded, “So you mean you have Hazel in there?” according to the ARIZOO

newsletter, the quarterly publication of the Arizona Zoology Society.

She gave birth to a male named Fabayo in 1975. After Hazel died in 1991, the zoo commissioned a statue of her in testimony to her popularity. Fabayo died at age 28 at the Memphis Zoo without fathering any offspring.

Some still wonder why Baltimore Jack never went ape over Hazel. Blame for the couple’s lack of interest includes the man who brought them together.

“My theory is that things might have worked out differently if Jack hadn’t been distracted by the mere sight of Mr. Hefner’s flight attendants on his way to make love to Hazel,” G. Jefferson Price III wrote in the Sun. Arizona Contractor & Community

THE DESERT FORTRESS “ALWAYS READY & ALWAYS THERE” PAPAGO PARK NATIONAL GUARD ARSENAL DON W. RYDEN, AIA MAGICAL MIRAGES & REAL PLACES For this kid in 1958 Phoenix, a family drive to Tempe through miles of desert was a global time-travel adventure. As we cruised through the rolling desert hills, fantasy mirages played hide-and-seek with me. I really saw a glowing Egyptian pyramid, Greek hillside theater, Mediaeval wedding-cake castle, Moorish domed palace, palm-shaded oasis, lonely hilltop outpost, and Foreign Legion fortress.

My family wove fanciful yarns about how these wonders of the world each magically appeared in our town’s big backyard sandbox—Papago Park.

It seems the ancient Hohokam guardian spirit of the buttes inspired imaginative grownups to build their dreams in the desert. They ensured success by using romantic architecture to enchant others. Thus, I saw each make-believe mirage transform into a real place—a governor’s tomb, Easter sunrise church, iconic hotel, TB sanatorium, fish hatchery, city-limits roadhouse, and National Guard arsenal. If designed properly, Magical Mirages & Real Places can be one and the same.

Now, as a historical architect, I dig into the stories and the structures of these enchanting buildings. In 2008, the Department of Emergency and Military Affairs asked me and my historian friend, Kirsten Johnson, to prepare a historic building preservation plan for the Papago Park

because its members swear allegiance to Arsenal. Through heritage conservation, two constitutions—the United States of the Arizona National Guard is “protecting America and the home state. Other dualiwhat matters.” ties abound within the U.S. National Guard.

DUAL ALLEGIANCE & DUAL MISSION Even its motto has two parts, “Always Ready, Always There.” Those words are Nation & State more than a motto; they are the solemn The National Guard is older than the promise of the citizen—soldiers.

Republic it defends and serves. The Guard began in 1636 when the Massachusetts Defend & Serve Bay Colony established its militia that The National Guard has two missions— served through and beyond the American to defend and to serve. Defense includes Revolution. The National Guard is a unique overseas combat & civil disturbances, element of the country’s armed forces and police & cyber warfare support.

Images Courtesy of Author

Above: In 1940, the Arsenal stood alone on the desert at the northeast corner of 52nd Street and McDowell Road, located behind the 1909 ammunition bunker for the 1,000yard rifle range.

Below: A 1940 National Guard convoy at the Arsenal gate stands ready to move out.

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Left: In April 1945, the National Guard had V. Lehmann, a German engineering professor and prisoner-of-war at the Papago Camp, make a measured drawing of the Arsenal. I quickly traced over his fine floor plan drawing that shows the original uses of the Arsenal. The Papago Park Arsenal building form is a hollowrectangle fort rather than a boxlike warehouse. Its architectural character is more functional handmade vernacular than respectable high-style Revivalism.

FANTASY FORTRESS & SUBSTANTIAL STRONGHOLD Strong & Resilient

In homeland emergencies, the Guard serves in wildfires & floods, hurricanes & blizzards, search & rescue, relief & aid, and quarantines & care.

Today’s 158th Infantry Regiment of the Arizona National Guard traces its origin to the 1st Regiment of Arizona Volunteers organized in 1865 to quell Apache conflicts.

At the outbreak of the Spanish-American War in 1898, many members of the territorial militia joined Teddy Roosevelt’s Rough Riders. Responding to border town raids by the Mexican Revolutionary Pancho Villa in 1916, the 1st Arizona Infantry was mobi-

lized to guard the U.S.-Mexico border. Designated as the 158th Infantry Regiment in 1917, the Arizona forces served in France during World War I. In December 1941, the 158th Infantry Regiment embarked for Panama to defend the Canal Zone and train in jungle warfare. The combat force, having earned the nickname “Bushmasters” after the deadly jungle snake, deployed to fight the Japanese in New Guinea and the Philippines.

In 1947, the 158th Infantry Regiment returned stateside to demobilize. In 2005, the Department of the Army authorized one battalion of the Arizona Guard to carry the designation 1st Battalion/158th Infantry. Since then, its Guard units have been deployed to Korea, Germany, Iraq, and Afghanistan.

The Arizona National Guard strengthened its troop training facilities by responding to changing situations and opportunities. In 1930, when Congress abolished the underfunded 1914 Papago Saguaro National Monument, land was given to the National Guard to enlarge the Papago Park Military Reservation. But instead of building the desert Arsenal, the State Legislature funded the construction of Fort Tuthill training camp near Flagstaff. Not until 1936 would the Arsenal be built by the New Deal-era Works Progress Administration (WPA). Then, at last, the Guard had complementary seasonal training facilities among the cactus and the pines.

The resilient design of the 85-year-old Arsenal has accommodated many changes.

In 1937, it stored weapons and supplies. In 1943, it was modified for desert combat training, vehicle maintenance, and administration of prisoner-of-war camps. In 1946, it returned to warehouse and office duties.

In 1979, the Arsenal was renovated with classrooms and a dormitory for the State Military Academy. And, in 1981, the desert fortress also became home to the Arizona Military Museum.

Above: The 1920 Flagstaff Arsenal in Second Renaissance Revival-style is built of cast-in-place concrete.

Right: In 1935, the WPA built the Prescott Arsenal in Richardson Romanesque style of ashlar granite on concrete.

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Mud & Sun

military forts built as unwalled complexes The Arsenal is architecturally signif- of adobe buildings surrounding an open icant for its construction method as the parade ground. nation’s only known surviving National Substance & Style Guard arsenal constructed of sunbaked The Arsenal originally consisted of adobe bricks. It is also the largest surviving, warehouses, workshops, and offices single adobe building in Arizona built by arranged around a courtyard used as a Anglo-Americans. Only the 1779 San Xavier loading area and drill floor. The arsenal del Bac Mission near Tucson is a larger design with a single arched gateway and a adobe building. The Arsenal is important few crenelated battlements is more symfor its unique design in the form of a hol- bolic than practical as a defensive military low, rectangular fort rather than a solid building. The imposing, symmetrical fortboxlike warehouse. The courtyard plan is like design gives the impression of permarelated more closely to early Mormon civil- nence, security, and impenetrability. Howian forts than to virtually all Indian Wars ever, the first-floor windows and a gate of

Above: In helping my archaeologist friends John Hohmann and Peg Davis excavate forgotten stone foundations of the 1855 Las Vegas Mormon Fort, we proved that the adobe stronghold had two-not the supposed four-projecting bastions at opposite corners.

against armed attack. Without projecting corner bastions, fire lines could not sweep attackers scaling the walls.

Although the Arsenal is no more authentic as a fort than the ziggurat-form Tovrea Castle is a castle, both buildings are excellent examples of Exotic Revival or Fantasy styles of romantic building types. The Arsenal architect adapted alluring imagery of a fictional fort to suit the functional wrought iron pickets would not be effective needs of a secure warehouse.

Left: What lessons for grandkids might a Huey helicopter and field artillery piece draw from Vietnam veterans?

Right: Today’s National Guard citizensoldiers are like the “Concord Minuteman” who at the call lowers the plow, raises the musket, and strides toward the fray.

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May June 2022

Remember & Respect

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The mission of the Arizona Military Museum at the Arsenal is to enhance appreciation of the military history of Arizona and how the Arizona National Guard has contributed to the nation and state.

The museum provides perspectives on how the military continues to be an essential part of Arizona’s identity. A tour through the Arsenal conveys that patriotic spirit of defense and service. The exhibits of uniforms, weapons, equipment, and vehicles provide cues for telling the stories of ordinary people performing extraordinary acts in times of trouble.

“This is one way to honor veterans,” said retired Army Colonel Joseph Abodeely, founder and president of the museum.

Having served in the 1st Cavalry Division (Airborne) in Vietnam, he passionately believes the collection is important because no matter the public opinion of America’s wars, those who fought in them deserve to be recognized. Colonel Joe exclaimed the dual directive, “Damn the war but not the warrior.”

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OLD SCHOOL EQUIPMENT: ELEVATING LOADERS PART 2 - ULRICH DOMOR ELEVATING GRADER BILLY HORNER

T

here’s an air of mystery about the interconnectedness of manufacturing firms named “Ulrich” in the Land of Lincoln. In 1889, a company by that name was located in Rock Falls, Illinois, and they manufactured wood-working machinery.

Specifically, a table saw with a maple top and a steel pipe frame that may have been made of plumbing fittings, according to VintageMachinery.org.

Whether this firm was connected to the Ulrich Company based in Roanoke, Illinois, is unknown. The latter manufacturer was granted several patents and produced heavy equipment attachments from the 1940s into the 1970s. Their peak appears to have occurred in 1960 when the firm announced their new Model 64 DoMor elevating grader. This upgraded machine was a larger loader for use on Caterpillar No. 14 motor graders, equipped with a broader conveyor, expanded disc wheel, and faster belt speed, which increased the capacity to move loose material into trucks.

The first two manufactured DoMor Model 64 elevating graders were shipped to a contractor who was constructing a railroad bed in 1960. “The new model’s continuous loading doubled the production capacity normally expected from the older K12 model,” the contractor told Woodford County Journal, a newspaper in Eureka, Illinois.

This upgraded loader was intended to replace the Model K12 DoMor elevating grader, which was currently being used throughout North America by clients using Caterpillar No. 12 and No. 112 motor graders.

The Valley dealer for DoMor elevating graders was the Arizona Machinery Company, located at Grand Avenue and Thomas Road. Among the local users of the Model K12 DoMor machines was the Tiffany Construction Co., which utilized the equipment while working on the Yuma Highway in 1958. Tiffany employees stated that the Model K12 DoMor machine handled up to 50,000 pounds per load, taking only 70 seconds to fill. The M.M. Sundt Company would later use DoMor loaders during their earthmoving operations at 40th Street and Interstate 10 in the early 1970s.

Above: Rivinius DoMor R207-1 elevating grader attached to a Caterpillar 12F motor grader, 1970s.

Right: Ulrich DoMor R207-1 loader on Caterpillar motor grader for brochure, 1970s.

Seventy six

May June 2022

Images Courtesy of Lance Deemer Image Courtesy of Arizona Contractor & Community Image Courtesy of Arizona Contractor & Community

Above: Ulrich Company brochure showing Caterpillar motor grader with DoMor loader attachments, 1950s.

Top left: Rivinius DoMor R207-1 loader drawing, 1970s.

Left: A Tiffany Construction Co. DoMor Model K12 elevating grader, 1958.

Below: An M.M. Sundt DoMor loader attached to a Caterpillar D9 bulldozer working on Interstate 10, 1970s.

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Seventy eight

May June 2022

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Building on the Past 1963: PAPAGO PARK GOLF COURSE CLUBHOUSE

T

he Valley has many dazzling golf courses, but for many years the undeniable rock star of the links was a demanding yet affordable public course.

Set in a Papago Buttes landscape so scenic it was once designated a national monument, Papago Park Golf Course became a magnet for the city’s top golfers, an incubator of junior talent, and hosted a national championship.

The course even went Hollywood. “In the 1980 movie, Used Cars starring Kurt Russell, the scene in which a car jumps into a lake was filmed in front of the 11th green,”

Frank Corkhill, a former Papago assistant golf professional, says. “And a Top Flite golf ball commercial in the 1980s that starred an astronaut featured the very ‘extra-terrestrial’ appearing Papago Buttes,” he adds.

An essential aspect of the facility was its mid-century circular clubhouse that was laid out like spokes in a wheel to the sun.

The building was prominently sited on a knoll facing southwest with vistas of nearby holes and the driving range. Architect David Sholder designed the 1,900-square-foot clubhouse, built by J.S. Tharp and Co. for $153,500 in 1963.

The clubhouse, built of concrete block, was accessed from a 250-space parking lot by a gradually sloping circular ramp. Premolded curved plywood panels and wood glulam beams formed the building’s curvilinear, vaulted roof. The adjacent circular pro shop featured a domed roof.

After more than four decades, the iconic clubhouse and pro shop were razed under clandestine conditions. The City of Phoenix had turned over the operation of the course to the Arizona Golf Association in 2009 and was unaware of their plans. In 2014, Arizona State University began managing the facility as the home course for its golf teams. The Lou Grubb Clubhouse opened in 2018, to replace the demolished mid-century clubhouse.

Images Courtesy of Arizona Contractor & Community

Image Courtesy of The Arizona Repub

lic

Above: Construction of Papago Park Golf Course Clubhouse, 1963.

Right: Clubhouse sketch, 1962.

Below: Original layout of Papago Park Golf Course, 1962.

Right: Curved plywood panels created the clubhouse’s curvilinear, vaulted roof, 1963.

Middle: The glulam beam roof skeleton, 1963.

Bottom right: Construction of the curvilinear, vaulted roof, a popular style in south Scottsdale, 1963.

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Eighty two

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F

Image Courtesy of Adam Rodriquez

or more than 80 years, the Desert Botanical Garden (DBG) has showcased what makes the Sonoran Desert and other arid areas unique. It hosts more than 50,000 plants from around the world, one-third of which are native to the area. In the process, it has become one of the most popular tourist destinations in Arizona, with 450,000 annual visitors to the 55-acre garden within Phoenix’s Papago Park. A visit to DBG is essential to understand the environmental context of the Valley.

In 1937, Swedish botanist Gustaf Starck posted a sign outside his home that read, “Save The Desert,” which led to the formation of the Arizona Cactus and Native Flora Society. Two years later, the group established DBG to demonstrate how to conserve our beautiful, fragile desert environment. The facility was founded as a non-profit outdoor museum dedicated to research, education, conservation, and display of desert plants. The first plantings were done by George Lindsay, DBG’s first executive director.

The garden’s first structure was the Pueblo-Revival-styled Webster Auditorium, built of adobe in 1939. The building was named after Gertrude Webster for offer-

Architect’s Perspective: Architecture Discovered Within the Desert Botanical Garden Doug Sydnor, FAIA Doug_sydnor@outlook.com ing encouragement, contacts, and funding support. The auditorium was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1990.

Activity at DBG stalled during World War II, but the Arizona State Teachers College, which later became Arizona State University, provided administrative management with volunteers to maintain the site. At the end of the war, the garden’s plant collection consisted of about 1,000 specimens. By 1957, it had expanded to 18,000 plants under W. Taylor Marshall’s leadership. In 1961 a visitor center and gift shop were built, followed in 1970 by a library for rare books and prints. By 1977, DBG emphasized educational programs and provided guided tours.

In 1983, DBG was one of only 24 botanical gardens accredited by the American Association of Museums. Three years later it became a Charter Member for the Center for Plant Conservation, devoted to preserving the nation’s rare flora. The Plants and People of the Sonoran Desert Trail opened in 1988, and four years later, DBG was awarded a National Science Foundation grant to expand its trails further.

In 1998, a major master-planned initiative guided a $17.3 million expansion that included a new main entry, admissions area, gift shop, Dorrance Hall, a 500-seat reception hall and gallery, and the Nina

Mason Pulliam Research and Horticulture Center.

Scottsdale Architect John Douglas, FAIA, designed these new structures and stated that he “sought to define the most appropriate way to build in a manner sensitive to the desert environment. Design work for the new buildings and structures grew out of investigations into important issues, such as maintaining the importance of the ‘garden environment’ and not allowing new buildings to overpower this subtle experience. Recognition of the transition a visitor makes from arriving in a car to the pace of a garden setting shaped the buildings’ placement, configuration, and palette of materials. The buildings are kept low, below the height of the existing native trees, and act as backdrops to the surrounding landscape. Naturally weathering copper, integral color stucco walls and native stone were selected for sensitivity to the desert and low-maintenance characteristics.”

Phoenix landscape architect Christine Ten Eyck, FASLA, organized 15 acres at DBG by choreographing “the garden experience while engaging on-site and contextual circulation, drainage and vegetation patterns.” She designed the new exterior spaces, including the “entry monumentation, drop-off areas, a formal-entry-plaza

Images Courtesy of Bill Timmerman

Top left: Outdoor dining at the Ullman Terrace

by John Douglas, FAIA. Left: Entry Pavilion by John Douglas, FAIA. Below: Gertrude’s restaurant by John Douglas, FAIA.

Eighty Four

May June 2022

Image Courtesy of Adam Author

Above: Hazel Hare Center for Plant Science by coLAB & 180 Degrees.

Left: Hazel Hare Center for Plant Science interior by coLAB & 180 Degrees.

Top right: Sydnor family at Desert Botanical Garden, 1984.

Bottom left: Fine Family Contemplative Garden at DBG, 2022.

Bottom right: Visitor Center, 1970.

tus and Succulent Galleries. Steve Martino, FASLA, the local “Father of Desert Landscaping,” designed the space. He has led the way in developing new landscaping approaches using native plants since the late 1970s. Galleries were defined by a pavilion composed of a processional series of rich-colored walls supporting a vault of rusted steel framing and shade screening, which mitigated the intense sun for the cacti and succulents. Visitors could easily flow through, under, and around this wellscaled structure.

The Hazel Hare Center for Plant Sci­ ence, which was designed and built by

Douglas B. Sydnor, FAIA, is Principal at Douglas Sydnor Architect and Associates, Inc. and the author of three Arizona architecture books.

Image Courtesy of Douglas C. Towne

Image Courtesy of Arizona Contractor & Community

welcome visitors to explore the diverse desert gardens, gather and learn in shaded amphitheaters, and rest in the calm of the gift shop courtyard. The design seeks to uphold the Garden’s vision to be ‘the premier center in the world for the display, study, and understanding of desert plants and their environments…[transforming] the visitor experience into one of discovery and meaning.’” However, only six years later, DBG remodeled this area.

In 2008, a $17.8 million campaign transformed the Sybil B. Harrington Cac-

coLAB Studio and 180 Degrees Design + Build, opened in 2017. This 8,500 square feet center was part of an 85,000 squarefoot horticulture campus and provided facilities for “furthering the art and science of nurturing the garden’s renowned plant collection.” Sustainability features include LEED and Living Building Challenge principles, thoughtful structures, passive solar design, repurposing of materials and plantings, and water harvesting.

The plant collection, currently representing about 379 species, many rare or threatened, is the main show at DBG. However, the associated architecture supports and enhances this botanical display. The buildings are visually quiet and unobtrusive and teach us about letting nature take center stage.

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DIGGING THROUGH THE ARCHIVES:

PETE HORNER W BILLY HORNER

hen you grow up with Bengal tigers and a baby elephant in your backyard as Pete Horner did, you know that life doesn’t have to be boring.

Horner, the stepson of Robert “Bob” Maytag of appliance fame, spent his teen years in Scottsdale with a host of exotic animals living on the Maytag’s five-acre property.

The family temporarily hosted the wildlife until the Maytags could spearhead the creation of the Phoenix Zoo in Papago Park in 1962 (see related article on page 58).

For many, that idyllic existence would have been the apex of their life. But Horner went on to have a long, successful career in construction, including many years with O’Brien Concrete Pumping. He eventually served as president of the American Concrete Pumping Association.

O’Brien Concrete Pumping was a loyal advertiser in the magazine for several years when they were active in Arizona construceighty six

tion. But I knew the name “Pete Horner” long before, as members of my Horner family (no relation) worked for Pete Horner Excavating and Grading in the 1960s.

I often mentioned to Pete that we wanted to write an article on the creation of the Phoenix Zoo, featuring his personal tie to the attraction. But we also wanted to spotlight his contracting career.

“I’ve always been in construction,” Pete Horner says. He started a backhoe service called Pete Horner Excavating during his senior year at Scottsdale High School in 1962 and worked at the zoo trenching water lines. Horner Excavating folded after the economy dipped, and in 1967, he was hired as an administrative assistant to the president of Arizona Sand & Rock before being moved into sales.

“Then, I went to work for Wittman Contracting, a utility contractor in Phoenix,” he says. “They wanted to expand their com-

Above: Pete Horner on his recently purchased Caterpillar 966 loader with multipurpose bucket, 1964.

pany, and I talked to them about concrete pumping and started a division.” While at Wittman, he was the Sales & Construction Manager on the Lincoln Hills Development, Maricopa County Court House, City of Tempe office building, The Broadway Store at Los Arcos Mall, and bridges on Interstate 10 and U.S. 60, which Sundt built.

He later left Wittman Contracting with some other employees and worked for Swingle Robinson, another utility contractor, for about a year.

Horner then focused on other occupations, including owning a cattle ranch in Young, Arizona, below the Mogollon Rim and buying a feed store in Tolleson. “That was a way to get back into the concrete pumping business, as we sold feed, tack, vet supplies, ducks, and diesel,” he says. “I put in a little batch plant at the store for ‘u-haul’ concrete. Customers would pick it up in a cart and take it home. I kept this up for a few years, then I sold the ranch supply and kept the concrete pumps.”

In 1977, Horner sold the concrete pumping business and went to work for O’Brien Concrete Pumping in Denver. “The company was expanding, and Richard May June 2022

Images Courtesy of Arizona Contractor & Community

Above: Pete Horner by his company truck and Caterpillar 966 loader, 1964.

Top right: Pete Horner General Contracting concrete curb stamp, 1965.

Right: Pete Horner advertising O’Brien Concrete Pumping, 1988.

Below: Wittman truck with Challenge boom pumping concrete in Phoenix, 1969.

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O’Brien [the company president] wanted us to go start a new branch in Georgia,” he says. “After four years, I was transferred to Denver in 1981. In 1982 I was made a stockholder in the company, and we started a branch in Phoenix, where I was promoted to vice-president.” At the time, O’Brien Concrete Pumping had branches in Houston, Dallas, Orange County, Casper, and pump stations throughout Colorado at ski resorts.

Horner was with O’Brien for 36 years.

“During that period, I served as president of the American Concrete Pumping Association, then I retired at age 72, in 2015,” he says. “We sold the company about three years ago to Brundage-Bone Concrete Pumping. Richard O’Brien died about a year ago.”

Pete Horner recalled our long-time ‘family’ connection as we ended our conversation. “When I ran Pete Horner Excavating, your great uncle Bob Horner worked for me as a superintendent,” he says. “So, we operated together from 1965-1966 and did pretty good and then got into a bad economy. I kept making payments, but we never recovered and filed for bankruptcy.

That’s when I went to work for Arizona Sand & Rock.”

I had one final question for Pete, as I recently came across a newspaper clipping of a young kid named Sandy Horner working construction helping build the Phoenix Zoo. I asked Pete, “Who is this guy, another relative?” Pete responded that that was another name he was known by at the time. eighty eight

Images Courtesy of Arizona Contractor & Community

Above: Wittman Contracting working at Lincoln Hills north of Lincoln Drive and 32nd Street, 1972.

Right: B.L. Gustafson, right, on a project with Wittman Contracting pumping concrete for a bridge, 1970.

Bottom right: O’Brien Concrete Pumping working at Rawhide for Hunter Contracting, 2013.

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BID RESULTS MAR/APR 2022 35th Avenue Harrison St Railroad Crossing Benchmark Construction $429,211 3/1/22

Payson SR 260 Forest Service Rd Paveco Inc $3,880,943 3/4/22

Water Line Improvements Installation Standard Construction Co. $484,884 3/28/22

Water Storge Tank 8B Paso Robles Tank, Inc. $1,549,350 3/2/22

Twin Peaks Rd Rattlesnake Pass Widening Hunter Contracting Co. $2,500,000 3/15/22

Pavement Replacement Country Club Estates DPE Construction $879,000 3/24/22

Annual Street Maintenance Patching KE&G Construction KEG $710,256 3/2/22

Downtown Fueling Station Car Wash TSG Construction $3,487,000 3/17/22

AZ FS 24 Buffalo Crossing Bridge Siete $3,486,235 3/29/22

Pavement Rehabilitation Project Phase 2 Fann Contracting $1,393,755 3/3/22

Chip Seal Summer FY 21 22 Earth Resources Corporation $1,805,991 3/17/22

Oro Valley Community Renovations Kapp Con $2,533,035 3/30/22

Prescott Library Sidewalk Improvements Asphalt Paving & Supply $598,664 3/3/22

Cordes Junc Flagstaff McConnell Fann Contracting $34,954,000 3/18/22

Drainage Improvement Hampshire Ave Holly Mulcaire & Son Contracting $556,717 3/31/22

Ina Road Construction Debris Landfill Closure Rummel Construction $7,403,811 3/3/22

Tuba Window Rock New Mexico Line Sunland Asphalt $5,995,500 3/18/22

Chinle Municipal Airport Sunland Asphalt $8,118,661 3/31/22

Repair Gallon Steel Water Storage Tank Kay Constructors $958,831 3/3/22

Bitter Springs Utah Line Staker Parson Co Hales Parsons $3,624,256 3/18/22

Bagdad Airport Runway Fann Contracting $667,777 4/1/22

Whetstone Junction SR 80 Sunland Asphalt $5,426,215 3/4/22

City Wide Paving McCormick Construction $2,422,916 3/22/22

Sun City West Canal Crossing Buesing Corp. $5,752,211 4/5/22

Prescott Ashfork SR 89A Asphalt Paving & Supply $818,458 3/4/22

Penn Avenue Eastwood Drive Improvements Fann Contracting $10,947,777 3/24/22

Glendale Municipal Airport Taxiway Combs Construction Co. $1,357,829 4/5/22

ninety two

MAY-JUN 1957 Arrow Const., Yuma $892,054 75-Bed Hospital Hill-Burton Act Joco Const., Tucson $111,392 Sunnyside High School Sunnyside District Joco Const., Tucson $55,345 Liberty School Sunnyside District E.J. Wasielewski Const., Phoenix $90,000 S.S. Simon and Jude Parish Maryland & 27th Ave. TGK Const., Phoenix $458,640 Civil Aeronautics Adm. Building Sky Harbor Corbin Dykes Electric Co., Phoenix $43,798 Civil Aeronautics Adm. Building Sky Harbor Dennis Const., Yuma $134,000 New Fire Station Yuma City Council C.H. Leavell, El Paso Ft. Huachuca New Electronics Building Corps of Engineers Walter Burr, Mesa $80,762 Two Fire Stations Mesa City Council

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Ninety four

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