Jul/Aug 2022

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VOLUME 11 ISSUE 4

$5.99 July August 2022 Serving Contracting Firms and the Arizona Community. . . Then & Now

LORNE PRATT: ARIZONA’S HOLLYWOOD-CONNECTED DEVELOPER DONALD “D.C.” SPEER: TOP-NOTCH CONTRACTOR AND GRANDPA A RICH LEGACY OF PROJECTS AND EMPLOYEES: D.C. SPEER CONSTRUCTION ARIZONA’S MASTER-PLANNED COMMUNITIES OF THE 1970S DOUGLAS: ARIZONA’S FIRST PLANNED INDUSTRIAL COMMUNITY

Arizona’s Timeless Magazine

SCOTTSDALE’S DC RANCH CELEBRATES 25TH ANNIVERSARY

ARIZONA’S MASTER-PLANNED COMMUNITIES

HOW AN OLD BRIDGE AND AN ARTIFICIAL GEYSER CREATED TWO ARIZONA COMMUNITIES: THE GENIUS OF LORNE PRATT FNF’S JED BILLINGS’ CONSTRUCTION MEMORIES

WESPAC COMPLETES AKIMEL GATEWAY INDUSTRIAL PARK

TECH-SAVVY CONTRACTING: THE BEST CONSTRUCTION APPS

WILLMENG/RIGGS WORK AT PEORIA “CHIP” FACILITY

MCCARTHY TOPS-OUT UOFA RESEARCH BUILDING

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July August 2022

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OFFICE AREA 2,500 sqft

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6.00'

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WAREHOUSE 5,000 sqft

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2.00'

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61.00'

PARKING

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543.39 FT N90° 00' 00"W PROPERTY LINE

N

2508 S FLAGSTAFF RANCH RD FLAGSTAFF, AZ 86001 Parcel No. (APN): 116-04-003T Land Use: COMMERCIAL Building Area: 3835 sqft Lot Area: 802,375.00 sqft (18.42 ACRES) Owner: WASTE MANAGEMENT OF ARIZONA INC

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Contributors - Elissa Arms & Maechen Stewart From The Editor: Douglas: Arizona’s “Planned” Industrial City - Douglas Towne Construction Around Arizona: Projects • People • Practices Back When - “Model” Stars at Maryvale Home Show Douglas Towne How an Old Bridge and an Artificial Geyser Created Two Arizona Communities: The Genius of Lorne Pratt Douglas Towne Lorne Pratt: Arizona’s Hollywood-Connected Developer Douglas Towne Donald “D.C.” Speer: Top-Notch Contractor and Grandpa Maechen Stewart D.C. Speer Construction: A Legacy of Successful Projects and Employees - Douglas Towne Arizona’s Second Wave of Master-Planned Communities: One Contractor’s Recollections - Bill Kelton Old School Equipment: Elevating Loaders Part 3 – P&H Elevating Loader - Billy Horner Building on the Past - 1960: KUPD and Interstate 17 Architect’s Perspective - DC Ranch Celebrates 25th Anniversary - Doug Sydnor, FAIA Digging Through the Archives: L.R. Contreras Contracting Co. - Billy Horner

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Contents

July August 2022

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ELISSA ARMS ARTICLE ON PAGE 39

MAECHEN STEWART ARTICLE ON PAGE 60

E

M

lissa Arms is a content writer at Raken, a cloud-based project management software solution built to connect the field to the office. She writes about issues that affect the construction industry, including safety and risk management. Her goal is to empower contractors with information by creating articles, eBooks, and how-to guides that help construction companies improve documentation, avoid disputes, and increase profitability.

Raken, founded in 2014, has easy-to-use mobile and web features that provide a window into the job site. They help boost productivity and visibility with realtime data collection and documentation, which streamline daily reporting, time cards, production tracking, payroll, and safety management. With better project data, companies can make more informed business decisions.

While Elissa has been with Raken since February 2022, she has worked for more than a decade as a professional writer working mainly in technology and healthcare. Since joining the Raken team, she has immersed herself in all things construction, learning directly from the company’s in-house industry experts.

She especially enjoys translating complex technical concepts into easy-to-understand articles.

Her favorite pieces include recent blogs tackling diversity and sustainability in construction.

Elissa is proud to work in an industry that is consistently growing and improving. She hopes that her writing can help construction companies find ways to work more safely, efficiently, and effectively.

aechen Sanera Stewart is one of Don Speer’s eight granddaughters. She and her sisters, Liesl and Gretl, were raised

by Don’s son, Bill Speer, when he married her mom, Vassie, in 1980.

Growing up in the East Valley, she often vacationed in Sedona with her grandparents. While attending Northern Arizona University in the early 1990s, she recorded an extensive interview with Don. After college, she taught 5th and 6th grades in Mesa Public Schools. She married her husband, Jeff, in 2006, and in 2010, they relocated to Spokane, Washington.

Their first child, Millie, was born in 2011, followed by Griffin in 2013.

Maechen has remained at home while her husband frequently travels for his safety and environmental compliance work. They subsequently moved for two years to Findlay, Ohio, and in 2014, settled in Clemmons, North Carolina, when Jeff became vice president of safety with Ashley Furniture.

Her kids are now 8 and 10.

Griffin is proficient in Spanish after completing his third year in a Spanish Immersion program at the local elementary school. Millie will be a sixth-grader at the middle school in the fall. She loves all things nature, animals, toddlers, and babies.

Maechen enjoys growing heirloom tomatoes, herbs, lettuces, hydrangeas, and peonies in a non-desert environment. She loves historical fiction novels and working out with a group of friends at a local boot camp facility. She loves talking about her beloved Gramps and was happy to share her memories of him in this unique opportunity.

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Image Courtesy of Wikipedia

EDITOR’S COLUMN: DOUGLAS:

ARIZONA’S “PLANNED” INDUSTRIAL CITY

DOUGLAS TOWNE

Image Courtesy of Author

SIXTEEN

lar street grid in 1901. The site had many advantages, including plentiful flat terrain for industrial and residential development, along with adequate water supplies.

The city would be the site for two new smelters, replacing outdated operations in Bisbee. The El Paso & Southwestern Railroad linked Douglas to nearby copper mines in Bisbee and two mines in Sonora, Mexico: Cananea and Nacozari. The railroad would also transport the smelted copper to El Paso, where another facility would further refine the metal. Within a decade, Douglas would produce an astounding 7 percent of the world’s copper.

My first visit to the city was in 1985, a few years before the last remaining smelter ceased operations. Even then, Douglas appeared moribund, realizing the

likelihood of losing its major employer. Our expedition sympathized both with the city’s impending loss of its heritage and public health concerns about the smelter’s emissions, which included arsenic, lead, and sulfur dioxide. In the end, it was easier for the corporation to shut down the aging industrial facility than to adhere to regulations.

But there were clues throughout the city as to its once-wealthy status as a model industrial town. Most prominent were the Top left: Pancho Villa at Battle of Agua Prieta, 1915.

Above: Douglas welcome sign, 1996.

Bottom left: Kim Eicker, Joe Davis, Patty Durant, Douglas Towne, and Bob Hendry at the Geronimo Surrender Monument, 1991.

Below: Douglas Reduction Works smelter, 1940.

Image Courtesy of Library of Congress

D

ouglas is a city with an uncertain future but a fascinating past. Located along the Mexican border across from Agua Prieta, it’s a community that Pancho Villa threatened to attack during the Mexican Revolution in 1916, where Los Angeles evangelist Aimee Semple McPherson convalesced after being allegedly kidnapped in 1926, and where author Thornton Wilder retreated to write The Eighth Day, which won the National Book Award in 1968.

Perhaps the most surprising element about Douglas is that it was a planned community, created on raw land by two Bisbee mining companies, the Copper Queen Consolidated, owned by Phelps Dodge, and the Calumet and Arizona. The community, named after Copper Queen President Dr. James Douglas, was plotted on a rectangu-

July August 2022

Images Courtesy of Author

Right: Side entrance to the Gadsden Hotel in Douglas, 1995.

Top: Phelps Dodge Mercantile Co. sign in Douglas, 1985.

Mid above: El Paso & Southwest Railroad Station in Douglas, 1995.

Above: Cathy Weiler at Skeleton Canyon basecamp, 1985.

impressive historic buildings along G Avenue, especially the Spanish Colonial Revival-style Gadsden Hotel, completed in 1929.

Further north was the Beaux-Arts influenced El Paso and Southwestern Railroad Passenger Depot, finished in 1913.

Our trip to Douglas was but a mere stopover while en route to exploring Skeleton Canyon, located 30 miles northeast in the Peloncillo Mountains. Geronimo had surrendered there in 1886, and the canyon was a long-used backdoor to move to and arizcc.com

from Mexico undetected. Its placename was derived from the many animal and human bones left in its midst.

We outfitted our excursion at the Phelps Dodge Mercantile Co. in Douglas, sensing correctly that this was a store not long for the world. Our subsequent drive into Skeleton Canyon was likely the only occurrence of a Mitsubishi Cordia gracing that location. Cognizant of the area’s violent reputation, for self-defense we wielded steak knives and a can of dog repellant that a postman had inadvertently dropped on his route. Both proved unnecessary, which was fortunate since the mace canister imploded while hiking.

Another scintillating facet of Skeleton Canyon was a fabulous treasure purportedly buried there in 1881. Unfortunately,

subsequent research, including that conducted in a 1990 episode of Unsolved Mysteries, makes these claims dubious.

Still, our meager knowledge at the time indicated there was hope for a bonanza.

In the end, the camping journey promised history, danger, romance, and even riches.

We managed to nail three out of four.

As expected, Phelps Dodge shifted ore processing from Douglas to a facility in Playas, New Mexico, in 1987. The smelter closure, in turn, nudged the border town into a tailspin from which it has not ever wholly recovered. As a result, Douglas was recently ranked the poorest city in Arizona, with a 30 percent poverty rate. But it still retains impressive infrastructure just waiting to be adaptively reused by savvy artists or developers.

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Projects . PEOPLE . PRACTICES

CONSTRUCTION AROUND ARIZONA Projects

CONSTRUCTION AROUND ARIZONA

MCCARTHY FINISHES $192 MILLION ASU SCIENCE AND TECH BUILDING AT A SITE WITH A RICH HISTORY

M

cCarthy Building Companies has completed construction on the latest addition to Arizona State University’s Tempe campus, the Interdisciplinary Science and Technology Building 7 (ISTB7), a five-story, 281,000-square-foot, high-performance research facility. The new building is home to the Rob and Melani Walton Center for Planetary Health, which promotes an interdisciplinary approach to knowledge generation to improve the earth’s health and sustainability of food, water, and energy.

Designed and constructed as a collaborative research facility, scientists of varying disciplines work together in ISTB7 to address global challenges.

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Above: Construction of the ISTB7’s exterior skin.

Right: Rachel Ceciliani Kirk leads an ISTB7 construction tour.

“As a gateway to the Tempe campus and being among the highest performing sustainable labs in Arizona, ISTB7 represents a legacy project for our team and partnership with ASU,” says Carlos Diaz, project director with McCarthy Building Companies’ Southwest Region Education Group. “By prioritizing collaboration, the ISTB7 team developed and implemented the best solutions on issues ranging from sustainability and historical preservation to budget and scheduling to complete and make this incredibly complex project a reality.”

Located at a busy Tempe intersection on the southwest corner of University Drive and Rural Road, the building site has a remarkable archaeological history.

To respect and celebrate the site’s legacy, less than 50 percent of the building floor plate touches the ground where more than 1,000 years ago, Native Americans proArizona Contractor & Community

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CONSTRUCTION AROUND ARIZONA Projects

Images Courtesy of McCarthy

Top left: ISTB7 Center for Planetary Health ribbon-cutting ceremony.

Above: Completed ISTB7 building.

Top right: BubbleDeck rooftop installation on ISTB7.

cessed foods like mesquite pods and agave.

Preconstruction also discovered remnants of a stagecoach route, the nation’s first paved coast-to-coast highway, an abandoned rail spur, and the Kirkland-McKinney ditch that powered the Hayden Flour Mill.

Architects incorporated the ditch into the building’s design, and many historical elements were preserved and on display in the new structure.

The desert-inspired building has exterior panels based on biomimicry of a saguaro, which shields itself from the heat with the deep pleats of its skin. Angular exterior wall panels shade ISTB7’s south,

EMPLOYEE SPOTLIGHT: RACHAEL CECILIANI KIRK PROJECT MANAGER Experience: 8 years with McCarthy Building Companies Favorite job task: Developing and growing our team. I was on this project for two years, and it was amazing to see how every one of our team, including myself, grew professionally and personally while also having a lot of fun!

Toughest job task: Navigating the pressures of the supply chain issues in our industry. One changed decision or incorrect part could take weeks or months to receive. Thankfully our team was innovative and found solutions to challenging situations. Still, it took a focused effort to turn over the building

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east, and west-facing windows. In contrast, north-facing windows are barely covered – a strategy that also reduces the building’s energy usage while maximizing natural light. The exterior shell of glass-fiber-reinforced (GFR) concrete panels absorb and store less heat, while the bright interior courtyard features sparkling glass and cool aqua-colored panels inspired by the Grand Canyon’s Havasu Falls.

“ISTB7 is the perfect example of how a site can influence the built form,” says Rachel Green Rasmussen, AIA, with Tempe-based Architekton, one of the building’s designers, along with New York-based Grimshaw Architects. “The unique shape, location, and long history of use of the site shaped the building and influenced the architectural response. Early computer modeling allowed the team to create a on time while constructing during the height of COVID-19.

Most memorable day at work: When the Building Inspector walked ISTB7 for our Temporary Certificate of Occupancy.

So many team members spent countless late nights getting the building ready, and it looked incredible. Then, the entire crew banded together to address any final questions. It was such an accomplishment and a good feeling getting to celebrate together as a team.

Favorite off-job task: I started volunteering with the ACE Mentor Program in Phoenix this year, which has been fun. ACE works with high school students and shows them the variety of careers available in the Architecture, Construction, and Engineering fields. It was fun to see the students’ excitement and network with other members of the industry in Arizona.

porous atrium to guide cool breezes, block the hottest of winds, and create a ground plane that supports the pedestrian and light rail traffic across the site.”

The project team also prioritized reducing the building’s carbon footprint throughout design and construction by using a range of innovative approaches, from material selection and interior layout design to optimized energy performance and water efficiency solutions. Strategies include using fly-ash concrete admixtures and positioning the project as the first building in Arizona to use BubbleDeck, a void form structural deck system that significantly reduced the carbon footprint and embodied energy inherent in concrete structures.

Significant consideration was also given to the location of wet labs, the selection of building envelope, and a radiant cooling system. Methods utilized to save and produce energy and create a comfortable microclimate include directing natural air currents, evapotranspiration, and photovoltaics. The complex also captures mechanical system condensate water and uses non-potable water from the Salt River Project ditch to supply drip irrigation to the landscape instead of treated municipal water.

Trade partners on the project include Sherwood Design Engineers, Dibble Engineering, Buro Happold, TDIndustries, Wilson Electric, Ten Eyck Landscape Architects, Thornton Tomasetti, MKB, The Sextan Group/NV5, Colin Gordon Associates; ISEC, Inc., GrEn A/E Consultants, Walters & Wolf, Jensen Hughes, and RLB. ISTB7 is the latest among dozens of Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) projects on the ASU campuses and is by far one of the most ambitious, pursuing LEED Platinum status.

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s the name implies, the community of Flowing Wells was named after artesian groundwater that, under pressure, bubbled to the surface at a farm located three miles northwest of Downtown Tucson in 1895. Over the years, the community has evolved from farming alfalfa and watermelons to residential and urban uses. A major employer in the community is Flowing Wells Unified School District #8, which is expanding with the recent groundbreaking by Adolfson & Peterson Construction on the Flowing Wells Community Learning Center.

The 11,109-square-foot building, designed by BWS Architects, is located at

1440 East Prince Road. The facility will serve as a community center and pre-school for the 13-square-mile community, which is partially within the city of Tucson as well as in unincorporated Pima County. The building will house a community learning space, professional development offices, open office workstations, pre-school classrooms, an enclosed play yard, and an outdoor gathering patio within an 8,373-squarefoot professional development center and 2,817-square-foot classroom building.

The learning center is AP’s most recent project award in Tucson and is slated for completion in Fall 2022. “This community center will be a great resource and opportunity for the surrounding north Tucson community, and we are excited to get started on this project that will help enhance early education in the area,” says Rob Cortazzo, regional president of AP Southwest. “AP is

CONSTRUCTION AROUND ARIZONA Projects

ADOLFSON & PETERSON CONSTRUCTION STARTS TUCSON COMMUNITY LEARNING CENTER

proud to build spaces where people can learn, work, play, and heal. We are currently remodeling the Sierra Tucson Treatment Center for Acadia Healthcare and will continue pursuing opportunities like these to help this region grow.”

“The Flowing Wells Governing Board and the entire district are focused on providing outstanding opportunities for our community,” says Dr. Kevin Stoltzfus, superintendent of Flowing Wells School District.

“We are excited to partner with Adolfson & Peterson Construction and BWS Architects to make the dream of this Community Learning Center a reality.”

A groundbreaking ceremony was held on April 26 at the construction site. Project partners wielding a shovel at the event included Dr. Kevin Stoltzfus (the learning center’s superintendent), Robin Shambach (principal for BWS Architects), Steve McKnight (associate architect for BWS Architects), Michael Smith (project executive for AP), and Robert Cortazzo (AP regional president).

Images Courtesy of A&P Construction

Above: Flowing Wells Community Learning Center rendering.

Left: Project partners toss some soil to start construction.

Below: Hard hats ready for the groundbreaking ceremony.

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July August 2022

CONSTRUCTION AROUND ARIZONA Projects

AKIMEL GATEWAY INDUSTRIAL PARK NEAR WILD HORSE PASS COMPLETED

BY WESPAC

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project manager, says. “We had to utilize and lean heavily on our relationships with suppliers and the subcontractors to get things completed on time.”

Developed by Trammell Crow Company, the project is the first development Above: Installing a tilt panel at Building E. Bottom left: Tilt panel form stripping at Building B. Below: Akimel Gateway.

Bottom right: Roof installation at Building E.

Images Courtesy of Wespac Construction

hese days, the biggest problems facing construction projects aren’t putting the pieces together but just getting the building supplies.

This was true for with Wespac Construction, which recently completed work

on Akimel Gateway, an 835,000-squarefoot industrial park near Wild Horse Pass at the southwest corner of South Mountain Loop 202 Freeway and 40th Street in Chandler. The area already includes Wild Horse Pass Motorsports Park, Whirlwind Golf Club, Rawhide Western Town & Event Center, and the future stadium site of the professional soccer team, Phoenix Rising.

“Material procurement and manpower were a constant challenge on the project,” Matt McPherron, Wespac Construction

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CONSTRUCTION AROUND ARIZONA Projects GRIC, ADOT, and City of Phoenix jurisdictions,” McPherron says. “This made permitting any traffic control along 40th street very interesting.”

The buildings feature a combination of ramp-up and dock-high loading with clear heights ranging from 24 to 36 feet.

Designed by Butler Design Group, the project teams worked together to provide creative solutions for a beautiful end product.

“The open lines of honest and direct communication from all parties, including Trammell Crow, GRIC, Butler Design Group,

Above: Painting the truck court and concrete work at Building B. Below left: Gunsight Construction paves the project’s north entrance.

Below: Landscaping and fresh paving for Akimel Gateway.

and Spencer’s, ultimately made this project a success,” McPherron adds. “The collaborative, team-based environment never faltered, even during the challenging events happening while this project was under construction. It was an honor to work with this team.”

Images Courtesy of Wespac Construction

in the Gila River Indian Community (GRIC) to be completed after the South Mountain freeway loop. The 59-acre, custom-built Class A commerce park has five buildings, the largest of which is the new headquarters and distribution center for Spencer’s TV & Appliance.

Construction of the campus included more than a mile of offsite wet utility work and a new traffic signal along 40th street just south of Loop 202. “Due to this vicinity to the freeway, our traffic control for construction of the signal spanned across

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CONSTRUCTION AROUND ARIZONA Projects

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here’s a new industrial infill project in the Valley involving chips. We’re not talking computer chips but rather the more palatable – heck, let’s call them addictive - chips such as Lay’s, Doritos, Cheetos, and Fritos. Peoria Logistics Park, a 150-acre site at the northeast corner of Northern and 75th avenues, will include a 157,000-square-foot distribution facility for Frito-Lay, a Texas-based company.

VanTrust Real Estate and Willmeng Construction came together to create

EMPLOYEE SPOTLIGHT: JUAN ANTONIO FELIX DELGADO, LEADMAN Experience: Four years with Riggs Companies

the project, the largest class A industrial park in Peoria. “We are so grateful to be working on a build-to-suit industrial project of this caliber that further showcases the Valley’s healthy appetite from largescale companies,” James Murphy, CEO of Willmeng, says. Butler Design Group is the project’s architect, and Riggs Companies is one of Willmeng’s sub-contractors.

“Riggs Companies is excited to be a part of this journey with all parties involved and cannot thank everyone enough who has put their trust in us to accomplish and exceed their expectations,” Jade Osterhoudt, Riggs project engineer, says.

“We look forward to completing another great project with Willmeng.” Construction started in mid-April, and Riggs will be involved for approximately 12 weeks.

Osterhoudt explains that the most unusual aspect of the project is its location, a site that was being farmed until recently. “We are seeing a lot of projects

Top left, right: Groundbreaking at Peoria Logistics Park, 2022.

Above: Construction at Peoria Logistics Park, 2022.

Below: Peoria Logistics Park rendering, 2022.

outside the Valley’s urban core, skipping space that we can enliven and improve,” she says. It is very admirable to see the VanTrust team choose a location for a project that will keep the Valley of the Sun closer together and at the same time honor the Rovey Family Farm.” The Rovey family has been farming locally since 1912.

The Frito Lay warehouse will open in early 2023, with up to 150 employees. There is an option for a future 40,000-squarefoot expansion. Osterhoudt estimates it will take more than 8,000 cubic yards of concrete to finish Peoria Logistics Park and says, “Frito-Lay will bring jobs, opportunity, and value to the great city of Peoria.” And a vital nearby source for snack foods.

Favorite job task: Driving by a completed project and knowing I contributed to building it.

Toughest job task: Making sure we obtain the correct information to complete the current project and that our teammates understand the duties they’re required to perform.

Most memorable day at work: Lifting the last tilted panel and placing it down to close up a building, there’s no better feeling than seeing the building stood up and completed.

Favorite off-job task: I enjoy being with my family out at a lake or teaching my kids how to work on vehicles. arizcc.com

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MCCARTHY CELEBRATES TOPPING-OUT MILESTONE AT THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA’S NEW APPLIED RESEARCH BUILDING

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new $85-million research laboratory specializing in testing components in a simulated outer space environment, currently located at an off-campus site, is moving to a state-of-the-art building on the

EMPLOYEE SPOTLIGHT: JONATHAN JOHNSON, PROJECT MANAGER Experience: 10 years with McCarthy Building Companies Favorite job task: I love coaching and training our staff who are new to the industry and/or new to McCarthy.

Toughest job task: Keeping perspective while managing a project and team. It is easy to play favorites with tasks and scopes but to be an effective manager, you must be able to drive the important tasks evenly. arizcc.com

University of Arizona campus. And Wildcat scientists couldn’t be happier about their new digs called the New Applied Research Building (ARB) under construction just north of Speedway Boulevard at the southeast corner of Helen Street and the Highland Corridor in Tucson.

“In addition to housing world-class, cutting-edge facilities, technologies, and equipment, ARB embodies a collaborative approach that is key to advancing the University’s research enterprise for Most memorable day at work: As a Project Engineer on a new surface water treatment plant, I was responsible for overseeing the startup of the plant’s three primary treatment and filtration processes. One of these was an extensive and complex carbon filtration building consisting of numerous basins, pumps, and dozens of valves. The day we put that facility into operation – me running around with a radio, operating pumps, and valves, and directing the support team – was one of the most rewarding and memorable days in my career thus far.

Favorite off-job task: I enjoy camping, hiking, and the outdoors.

Top: Construction of the University of Arizona Applied Research Building.

Above: Installing the thermal vacuum chamber in the Applied Research Building.

the 21st century,” says R. Brooks Jeffery, the university associate vice president for research infrastructure. “This building will bring together people from multiple disciplines, departments, and external community partners as a collective to approach research as a collaborative process where the facility enables the whole, rather than the siloed parts, to address great societal challenges, regardless of how complex, but also glorious, that whole may be.”

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He adds that the design-build delivery provided the visibility and flexibility necessary to accommodate and install the massive, irreplaceable thermal TV chamber and support the University’s research and educational objectives.

CONSTRUCTION AROUND ARIZONA Projects

Images Courtesy of McCarthy

Above: Rendering of the Applied Research Building entry.

Top right: Topping-Out ceremony at the Applied Research Building.

Right: Rendering of Applied Research Building.

Bottom right: Applied Research Building groundbreaking ceremony.

McCarthy and SmithGroup have completed previous projects for the University of Arizona, including the College of Medicine in Phoenix, and in Tucson, the Arizona State Museum collections storage, and the South Stadium Parking Structure.

build team. The construction of the building, which recently celebrated its topping out, is designed to meet LEED Silver certification, based on the U.S. Green Building Council’s renowned rating system for sustainably designed buildings.

The four-story, 89,000 square-foot building, will feature the largest thermal vacuum chamber of any university in the world. ARB will be the future home for research, furthering space exploration, advanced manufacturing, and the development of imaging technology. Construction is expected to complete in January 2023.

“The ARB will serve as a state-of-theart core research facility that supports next-generation space research. The team designed the building’s unique curtain wall assemblies to combine glass, metal panels with protruding fin walls, and masonry veneer to tie in the colors and design elements of the surrounding facilities,” says Stephanie Mitrovic, SmithGroup’s Science & Technology Studio Leader in Phoenix and principal in charge of the project. “In addition, the building will have a prominent campus presence at the intersection of the Highland underpass and a pedestrian promenade.”

“As a design-build project, our team fully integrated with our design partners, the owner and its end-users to ensure ARB is not only highly functional, but we’ve also been able to overcome many of the supply chain issues that other projects are facing,” says Mike Lee, McCarthy’s ARB project director. “The result is that ARB is on schedule and on budget even as modifications were made throughout construction. arizcc.com

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ed Billings had an auspicious start to his long career in construction. While studying Construction Management at Arizona State University, he held summer internships at Sperry Rand Flight Systems as a construction coordinator in Phoenix and Foster Wheeler in Fawley, England, on a refinery project as a model builder. Then, in 1968 as a junior, Billings interned with contractor D.C. Speer after being hired by Gary Crisp, a seasoned veteran who proved to be a great mentor.

By his senior year, Billings was working full-time at Speer. One of his ASU courses was Heavy Construction Estimating, taught

by Jack Mason, VP/chief estimator for Fisher Contracting based in Phoenix. A month into the course, Speer and Fisher competed bidding on a significant expansion project for Ford Motor Company test facilities in Yucca, Arizona. Speer edged out Fisher’s bid to win the contract. “What are you doing in my class, and what more can you learn from me?” Mason asked Billings in front of his classmates afterward.

He recalls receiving an “A” in the class

Image Courtesy of Arizona Contractor & Community

Right: Jed Billings, 2022.

Below: Jed and Marie Billings representing FNF Construction at the AGC Annual Election Meeting, 1991.

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CONSTRUCTION AROUND ARIZONA People

J

but admits Speer would have been better off financially if Fisher had been the low bidder.

Billings went on to work 13 years with D.C. Speer. “I enjoyed the freedom and responsibility Don Speer gave to me to build and develop a great team,” he recalls (see feature articles on D.C. Speer in this issue).

M.M. Sundt bought D.C. Speer’s crushing and paving equipment and brought along Speer employees such as Billings.

“We all knew the Sundt heavy construction management team since we were their primary paving sub-contractor on numerous projects for 5-6 years before the purchase,” he says.

But bigger plans were in Billing’s future. “A couple of years after the Speer transaction, around 1984, Senior Project Manager Bruce Forth, Senior Project Manager Terry Neff, and General Superintendent Gene Forth left Sundt to start FNF Construction,” says Billings. “I joined FNF on April Fool’s Day in 1986 and shortly thereafter came other Sundt key management including Matt Gully, Lyle Bowman, Lloyd Peck, and Jim Enlow.”

Billings says that FNF put together an outstanding management team but was undercapitalized to bond any substantially sized work. “However, based on our industry contacts, FNF was fortunate to build a large portion of the Biosphere in Oracle, Arizona for one of the Bass Broth-

Image Courtesy of Jed Billings

SPEER, SUNDT, AND FNF: JED BILLINGS’ CONSTRUCTION MEMORIES

ers out of Dallas, Texas,” he says. “While this project was ongoing, I negotiated a joint-venture arrangement with Lee Miles, North America VP with Morrison Knudsen, to bid highway work in Arizona with their start-up non-union arm, National Projects, Inc. (NPI).”

The NPI/FNF joint venture completed three Arizona Department of Transportation projects totaling $45 million on I-40 near Flagstaff in 1987. “The projects were built as planned; however, we still needed a bonding program to allow FNF to continue with large projects as a sole prime contractor,” Billings says. “With the help of Fails Management (FMI), FNF gained an investor, C.J. Langenfelder, based in Baltimore, which supported our bonding needs.”

FNF expanded operations into California, Nevada, and New Mexico with the equity investment primarily as a paving contractor. “Shortly after Langenfelder invested in FNF, Bruce Forth died in a tragic auto accident, and Gene Forth retired soon after,” Billings says. “Terry Neff remained as Chairman of the Board until his passing in 1992.” Billings became FNF president in 1987 and added additional Sundt employees Will Garrison, Rick Shelley, David Davis, and Mike Sick. Billings also hired his former mentor, Gary Crisp, as FNF’s chief estimator in 1988. “We also employed numerous ASU construction management graduates that helped build our company to achieving more than $200 million in annual revenue in 15 years, many of which are FNF’s management team today.”

In 1999, Langenfelder and FNF employees sold the company to Richard Crawford, an auto subcontractor and home builder from Detroit, Michigan. FNF continued to grow, mainly with Arizona, New Arizona Contractor & Community

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CONSTRUCTION AROUND ARIZONA People

state 40 project from Joseph City to Holbrook, Arizona. “FNF has been a leader in supporting the local and national industry associations, which in turn have supported the company’s growth and development.” reflects Billings.

A few years after FNF sold to Crawford, J.H. Whitney, a longtime private equity firm based in Connecticut, made an all-cash offer to buy FNF. “We accepted the offer and began developing a succession plan for my and FNF President Matt Gully’s retirement,” says Billings, who was FNF’s CEO at the time.

“In 2018, Rob Bottcher took over as president and has maintained FNF’s legacy of providing managers the necessary tools, resources, and freedom to build,” Billings says. “The company continues to grow with a young management team of loyal and passionate construction professionals whose careers began at FNF over 20 years ago,” Billings adds that FNF’s operating principles, partnering discipline, and outstanding safety record grew the company from primarily a paving contractor to a premier full-service general contractor, providing alternative delivery services and innovative bridge construction in Arizona, New Mexico, and West Texas. “Thanks to all the FNF employees and investors who allowed this to happen,” he says.

Mexico, and Nevada projects. Shortly after Crawford bought FNF, the company was the low bidder on their largest and most complex project: rebuilding 50 miles of New Mexico Highway 44, now U.S. Highway 550, from Cuba west towards Farmington,

Image Courtesy of FNF/Geoff Reed Photography

Above: AGC Committee meeting (l-r): Bill Brake, Navajo Western Asphalt; Steve Lewis, Sundt; Jed Billings, FNF; and Larry Ashton, The Ashton Company, 1994.

Below: FNF’s award-winning paving crew, 2005.

for Koch Industries and the New Mexico Department of Transportation. “This $100 million, high elevation, multi-phased project involving 1 million tons of high-quality asphalt product was completed in two seasons,” Billings says. “This remains the largest single asphalt paving project in the Southwest.”

Another FNF highlight in 2005 was winning the prestigious NAPA Sheldon G. Hayes Award for the highest quality paving project in the nation, a ten-mile Inter-

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Arizona Contractor & Community

Thirty Eight

July August 2022

ELISSA ARMS

Many contractors turn to technology to save money and increase productivity.

Implementing modern hardware, software, and applications designed specifically for the construction industry can improve various processes in many different ways.

However, there are so many options available it can be challenging to choose which solutions are right for your business. So how do you start your search? Below you’ll find a list of some of the best current construction apps to help get you started.

EarthCam - Webcam technology allows offsite supervisors or partners to monitor construction projects in real-time. If you manage multiple job sites, webcam capabilities are a game-changer, allowing you to view what’s happening in several different locations from the office. EarthCam, a global leader in webcam services, offers Control Center 8, a mobile-friendly software program that helps organize webcam footage.

Using video capture equipment, which EarthCam can also provide, contractors collect footage and store it through Control Center 8. The software then uses AI-powered object recognition to automatically categorize footage by object or event type, turning it into a searchable library. Users can instantly locate specific footage, track equipment, or monitor PPE use.

Image Courtesy of Author

Raken - This construction management app saves time on daily reporting, helping you collect field data, track materials, and evaluate progress in one convenient location.

This multipurpose software replaces the need for pen and paper reports, streamlining the reporting process with a library of customizable surveys and work logs.

Field contractors can complete reports via a mobile device through typing or voiceto-text recording. Because Raken makes collecting data easy, the quality of reports improves, and project visibility increases.

Decision-makers can quickly and effec-

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tively ensure a project stays on schedule or respond to necessary changes. With Raken, documentation is stored on the cloud, so it’s easy to share instant insights between the field and office or review materials in the event of a dispute. The app even offers photo and video capabilities with automatic timestamping to minimize communication errors or misinterpretations.

Egnyte - When your company is digitally storing and sharing large amounts of data, security is of the utmost importance. You need to protect your business and customers from hacks and other malicious activity.

Egnyte is an award-winning cybersecurity solution that works across all common industry file types and cloud apps. Egnyte can ensure that any files uploaded to your systems are safe and that any shared data is secure through ransomware protection, data governance, and secure collaboration capabilities. In addition, Egnyte integrates seamlessly with Raken’s construction management app to combine efficient project management with expert protection.

Extracker - Change orders are an unavoidable part of construction, but updates to your scope of work don’t have to cause a significant headache with the right tools.

Extracker is an industry-specific communication platform designed to ease the process of change orders. This app helps contractors resolve change orders in real-time by providing a collaborative environment where all stakeholders, even third-party partners, can review change orders and respond accordingly. Users can also automate change order workflows, add digital time and material tags, and add comments or markup to documentation. And since everyone with access will view all the steps to a change order, Extracker improves transparency for your entire organization.

CONSTRUCTION AROUND ARIZONA Practices

POWER IN THE PALM OF YOUR HAND: THE BEST CONSTRUCTION APPS

nology quickly finds critical revisions in contracts, insurance policies, plans/specifications, and other documents. This ability can be vital when hunting down documentation related to rework or change orders.

Curri - Subscription-free Curri is an excellent resource for last-mile deliveries. The Curri app is an on-demand construction delivery service specializing in building materials. Instead of asking a skilled field worker to pick up needed materials from the warehouse, use Curri. With a fleet of cars, trucks, flatbeds, and more, they’ll send the right vehicle for the job and make sure you get what you need on time.

Newmetrix - Technology can help save time and money, but it can also protect your greatest resource: your staff. Reduce job site risk with Newmetrix, an app that combines human and artificial intelligence to identify risk indicators and alert stakeholders to potential incidents. This software integrates with your existing systems to analyze data you’ve collected through reports and conduct predictive analysis, identifying risks early and allowing stakeholders to take action.

Document Crunch - Unless your document storage system has extraordinary search capabilities, it isn’t easy to find what you need when you’re sifting through a large volume of records for precise information.

A document review tool like Document Which Technologies Should I Invest In? Crunch can help. This AI-powered techThere’s no doubt that investing in the right technology can save most construction companies time and money in the long run. While not every new app or software will be necessary for your business, assessing your pain points and researching solutions designed to help reach your specific goals is well worth the effort. Technology can improve project management, daily reporting, safety monitoring, documentation, and other processes. So choose the right options for your business to take advantage of all that modern technology has to offer.

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July August 2022

LUKE M. SNELL, P.E

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Left: Plaster of Paris.

Below: Campfire.

Below right: Gypsumplastered pyramid wall.

Image Courtesy of Author

Image Courtesy of Douglas C. Towne

Image Courtesy of Dap

his series on the evolution of concrete previously explored the first two types of cement or mortars used (mud and tar) and the first two masonry units (sun-dried brick and fired brick). This third article investigates the likely accidental discovery of powdered gypsum used as mortar, although civilization did not realize its potential use until centuries later.

Long ago, people likely built fire rings with stones to contain fires, which could have devastating impacts if left uncontrolled. Some rocks used to make a fire ring would probably be gypsum. This common sedimentary rock was formed in thick layers from ancient oceans.

Chemically, gypsum is a soft sulfate mineral composed of calcium sulfate dihydrate, with the chemical formula CaSO4·2H2O. People may have used gypsum because they could carve it easily.

At temperatures around 300° F, well within the range of a campfire, part of

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Top left: Pyramids of the Giza Necropolis.

Above: Gypsum.

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Images Courtesy of Wikipedia

the water is driven off from the gypsum molecule. The water is released as steam, and the gypsum turns into a dry powder.

When that dry powder comes in contact with water, it becomes a mortar, which will ultimately revert to gypsum. This process is quick; the mortar sets in just a few minutes and provides a weak bond that can hold blocks, stones, or aggregates together.

Those tending the campfire would have witnessed the gypsum chemical reaction that, followed by exposure to water, created the first manufactured cement.

They could easily recreate the process to produce cement. Some of the first uses of this material were likely as a plaster wall coating, mortar for sun-dried bricks, or as household products or figurines.

Products made with this new gypsum powder were not very strong or durable. When in contact with water, it loses strength and breaks relatively easily. For these reasons, archeologists have not found evidence of people using gypsum until the Egyptians constructed the pyramids in 2600 BC. These pyramid builders did not need mortar to cement the massive blocks together. Instead, they cut stones to make the gaps less than 0.02 inches, allowing gravity to do the job. They likely used gypsum mortar between the blocks because it would “butter” the joints, allowing them to push the 2.5-ton blocks more easily into place. In a laboratory experiment using concrete bricks, the force of moving

HOW CONCRETE STARTED PART 3: GYPSUM

a stone was reduced by more than 50 percent when the sliding surface had a fresh gypsum mortar.

Egyptians also used gypsum as a plaster on the interior walls of the pyramids. It provided smooth writing or drawing surfaces that have lasted more than 4,600 years.

There were two problems with using gypsum cement. First, it is not particularly strong and loses its strength completely when wet. Another issue is that it sets in just a few minutes (my experience is that plaster starts to set in 10 to 15 minutes), which does not allow much time to work with the mortar during construction.

Setting times don’t pose a problem when using gypsum for interior work, such as the pyramid walls with virtually no moisture. It bonds well to the walls and provides the needed smooth surface for writing or painting. When used to butter the joints between blocks, workers must apply gypsum just before the blocks’ final placement, allowing only a few minutes to move them into place.

Gypsum cement probably had limited use at the time of its discovery. Using mud as a mortar was quite effective and required less preparation. Gypsum used as a plaster did not become common until the late Middle Ages. Because it could easily be shaped and carved when set, people used it to decorate many high-end buildings such as palaces and churches. Today gypsum is widely used in wallboard in most residential construction. Most of us have probably made crafts or molds with Plaster of Paris, a pure form of gypsum cement.

Although gypsum may have found limited use when discovered, it reinforces the idea that we can use heat to transform clay or stone into valuable products. In the upcoming article in this series, we’ll explore how our ancestors continued their search for better and more robust cement.

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July August 2022

A

rizona construction law provides for financial “restitution” to any person who is injured or whose property is damaged by a contractor. That statute (A.R.S. § 32-1156.01) and its potential to cause severe liability to a contractor came to light in a recent case in which the Arizona Registrar of Contractors (ROC) affirmed an administrative law judge’s order for $74,177 in homeowner restitution.

Case Background: The case arose out of the construction of a custom home, for which the homeowner paid the contractor almost $300,000 – roughly 30 percent of the home’s total price – over the first 18 months. Under the contract, the contractor agreed to apply the first 10 percent paid to the final invoice. However, the contract did not include the elements required by Arizona law (A.R.S. § 32-1158).

The contract required the contractor to get all required permits and inspections.

However, the contractor either failed to get the permits and inspections or failed to get them on time. At one point, the contractor asked a local building official whether doing certain work without a permit would be punished only by a “slap on the wrist.”

The ROC suspended the contractor’s license seven times during the project, with one suspension of more than three months. The contractor did not inform the homeowner of the suspensions and continued to work as usual on the project.

Image Courtesy of jimersonfirm.com

Top right: Mickell Summerhays.

Below: Collecting restitution.

ROC Citation: The homeowner’s ROC complaint was unusual in that it did not include workmanship allegations, which are often significant components of ROC complaints.

The Registrar cited the contractor for four violations of A.R.S. § 32-1154(A): • doing a fraudulent act; • failing to complete the contract or modifying the contract; • failing to have a contract that complied with Arizona law, and • contracting while the contractor’s license was suspended.

Administrative Ruling: An administrative law judge found that (a) the contractor violated all the sections of law noted above and (b) the contractor was obligated to apply to the final invoice the homeowner’s first 10 percent payment (or $74,144).

CONSTRUCTION AROUND ARIZONA Practices

MICKELL SUMMERHAYS

The contractor continued to demand and receive from the homeowner payments, including $57,000 for framing supplies that the contractor never ordered.

The contractor also consistently failed to complete portions of the project on time. For example, after starting the demolition, the contractor took over nine months to perform 10 to 15 percent of the work. Because of these failures, the homeowner and contractor agreed to reduce the contractor’s role; even then, the contractor failed to complete the agreed work it agreed to do.

Finally, the homeowner fired the contractor for failing to complete the contract.

The contractor issued a partial refund and promised – but failed – to complete an “accounting” for the rest and return any excess funds. After the homeowner filed a ROC complaint, the contractor returned the $57,000 framing payment.

Image Courtesy of Lang & Klain

ARIZONA CONTRACTORS CAN BE LIABLE TO PAY FINANCIAL RESTITUTION

Since the contractor failed to complete the project and issue a final invoice, the judge determined the contractor should return $74,144 to the homeowner as restitution.

In addition, the judge’s three-part order stated: • The ROC should suspend the contractor’s license until the contractor made the $74,144 restitution payment.

• If the contractor failed to pay the restitution within 30 days, the ROC would revoke the contractor’s license, and no other entity associated with the contractor could get a license until the restitution was paid.

• The contractor must provide proof, within 30 days, that it had modified its contract to comply with Arizona law.

Restitution Wrap-Up: Restitution awards are always case-specific. In this case, the contractor’s fraudulent behavior and frequent license suspensions showed that the contractor was a particularly bad actor, and its behavior undoubtedly contributed to the size of the restitution award. Nevertheless, the size of the award on its face is significant, and contractors should take note of it.

In our experience over the last several years, the ROC and administrative law judges have been relatively conservative in ordering restitution – both concerning ordering restitution at all and to the magnitude of the payment. But the significant award described in this article could pave the way for more common and more substantial restitution awards.

Mickell Summerhays, an attorney for Lang & Klain, represents clients in business and construction litigation and in cases before the Arizona Registrar of Contractors.

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hen asked about the toughest part of a job, one answer stands above the rest: dealing with people. Employees often get frustrated or annoyed with their job because of the people around them. These interpersonal problems can lead to the downfall of the hierarchal system within a company.

To better explain how to build work relationships and supervise employees at all levels, Larry Kokklenberg, of Leath Group, LLC, and a World of Asphalt education speaker, provided ten simple guidelines for effective supervision. #1. Build trust: There are very few relationships, work, personal, or anything in between, that can survive without trust. Kokklenberg says that trust is the foundation for all positive and sustained relationships and that these relationships are vitally important if a team wants to perform at a high level.

When looking at behavior that helps build trust, he said that communication, consistency, and leading by example are essential behaviors. On the contrary, poor communication, lack of integrity, and lack of reliability are behaviors that hurt trust within a company. #2. Manage by influence, not power: An important distinction between power and influence, Kokklenberg says, is that power is the authority or right to give orders and make decisions. In contrast, influence is the ability to positively affect ideas and actions. Furthermore, an auto-

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cratic, top-down employment model can Above: Larry Kokklenberg leading workshops hurt a business if not handled correctly. at World of Asphalt.

Rather than increasing your power, grow your influence by being knowledgeable, #7. Be helpful: Understand that people will come to you respectful, caring, and flexible. for help and advice; a boss is synonymous #3. Create a culture of appreciation: with a teacher in this respect. One of the As simple as it sounds, “thank you” goes a responsibilities of being a boss is to help long way. Saying thank you costs nothing make everyone else’s jobs easier. Give and gives more than you expect in return, instructions, feedback, and advice to help as 76 percent of employees indicate that develop people and their skills. being recognized by their superiors motivates them in their job. Kokklenberg says #8. Be positive: that after being more personable with your Everything you do will reflect on your staff staff, acknowledging all extra efforts, and – your attitude is highly contagious. Posithanking people for their work every day, tive supervisors will breed positive employthe company’s culture will become more ees, and cheerful employees will do great work for their company. positive in 30 days. #9. Build the team: #4. Be fair and just: No employee should be treated differ- Every company or business is one large ently, better or worse, than another. Being team. Work gets done by the entire team, impartial, unprejudiced, and simply fair will never by just one person. Build a collaboshow everyone that they are all as equally rative mindset by encouraging cooperation important and will help build trust and and helpfulness and consistently reiterating the teamwork aspect of the workplace. morale within the company.

In return, you’ll get employees who work #5. Be respectful: well together and enjoy doing so.

This is an easy one. Would you rather have a considerate, caring, and patient boss or #10. Link work to a higher purpose: one that is harsh, abrupt, and difficult? Kokklenberg encourages everyone not to When people fear or dislike their superiors, give people jobs but to give them a purthey are constantly stressed or tense about pose. Therefore, be sure always to link your their work situation, negatively affecting work to your mission statement. This mindset will encourage employees to work for their performance. the company’s good instead of working for #6. Be a role model: a paycheck.

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forty six

July August 2022

“MODEL” STARS AT MARYVALE HOME SHOW DOUGLAS TOWNE

F

ew resumes can namecheck eccentric billionaire Howard Hughes and film icon Marilyn Monroe, cite experience as a successful TV pitchwoman for Playtex bras, and as a Sedona nightclub owner/ performer. Jane Russell, a noted actress, model, singer, and sex symbol managed to tick many boxes in her lifetime.

Russell, it seems, also was interested in constructing subdivisions. She made a media splash in 1960 when she toured Maryvale, the residential community west of Phoenix built by John F. Long. Her entourage for Maryvale’s International Home Show included her brother, Tom, and his associate Jerry Peters, who were exploring building tract homes in California.

Images Courtesy of Arizona Contractor & Commu nity

Back When

Russell’s fame began after Hughes selected her, in part due to her buxom figure, to star in his 1941 film, The Outlaw. The role led to her becoming a famous pinup girl during World War II. Russell would be featured in more than a dozen movies, including the 1953 musical Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, with Marilyn Monroe.

In the late 1970s, Russell moved to Sedona with her third husband. They owned Dude’s nightclub, where Russell revived her Las Vegas nightclub act and performed regularly. The Coffee Pot Restaurant now inhabits the old club site. The couple later relocated to Santa Maria, California; Rus-

sell died there in 2011 at the age of 89.

Russell’s fans can stay in her former Sedona home courtesy of VRBO, which describes the house as “modern in a slightly dated way.”

Above: Long ties an apron on Russell while Ken Flickinger, Arizona FHA director, watches.

Below: John F. Long (left) and Jane Russell at the Maryvale International Home Show, 1960.

Image Courtesy of Dave Pratt

THE GENIUS OF

LORNE

T

here were no textbooks on land development in Arizona when Lorne Pratt was tasked with marketing two new communities in the late 1960s.

It was a challenging task, even with the state’s enviable surplus of sunshine and recent improvements in air-conditioning technology.

Arizona has long been a fertile landscape for real estate fraud. Unscrupulous developers subdivided remote properties and marketed them to unsuspecting out-ofstate buyers. But the advertised street and FORTY EIGHT

utility improvements and a viable water source were often only a desert mirage.

Lorne Pratt beat back Arizona’s dubious real estate reputation when he began marketing his first development in the state. He and his partners, C.V. Wood and Robert McCulloch Sr., wanted to develop around Lake Havasu. In 1967, the city was home to 1,000 residents and a chainsaw manufacturing factory but they needed a Top: Lorne Pratt.

Right: Tour boat at London Bridge, Lake Havasu City, 1973.

Image Courtesy of Arizona Contractor & Community

HOW AN OLD BRIDGE AND AN ARTIFICIAL GEYSER CREATED TWO ARIZONA COMMUNITIES

July August 2022

PRATT

DOUGLAS TOWNE

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Arizona Contractor & Community

Image Courtesy of Butch Wood

Image Courtesy of Sundt Construction

Image Courtesy of LH Museum of History

as Carson joked that the City of London was selling a historic bridge.

“The gang kind of laughed and kidded around saying they should put it over that barren land they owned between Arizona and California, where they tested McCulloch outboard boat motors [on Lake Havasu, good marketing plan. The story begins one formed by the Parker Dam on the Colorado late night in 1967 when the trio was watch- River in 1938],” says Phoenix radio pering the Johnny Carson Show. They listened sonality Dave Pratt, the son of Lorne Pratt.

Top left: Lake Havasu Drive and McCulloch Boulevard, the first major crossroad in the city, 1960.

Above: London Bridge’s numbered stones at Lake Havasu awaiting reconstruction, 1968.

Right: Sundt Construction planning the London Bridge project, late 1960s.

FIFTY

“After a few more drinks, they said, ‘What the hell, let’s do it!’” The result was that the development would never lack publicity.

Dave Pratt recalls that it was a big deal when his dad, Wood, and McCulloch were developing Lake Havasu. “All the kids at my school were constantly asking me about the London Bridge and what it was like,” he says. “Dad gave me fragments of the bridge that had chipped off during transportation July August 2022

to hand out to all my friends. It was fun!”

He adds that the Pratt family home had a two-story fireplace made from stones from the London Bridge. “My dad sent my entire family and our cousins over to see England and other cities in Europe,” he says. “I remember meeting the Lord Mayor of London and many other dignitaries.

To me, it all seemed kind of normal. But, again, I was just a kid. It was all that I knew.” arizcc.com

According to his son, Lorne Pratt’s group paid about $2.46 million for the bridge, and the ensuing publicity was amazing. “It was one of the best marketing strategies in history, and the transportation of the bridge alone created thousands of news stories,” he says. “It still creates headlines today!”

London Bridge remains the most popular “constructed” tourist destination

in Arizona. The 190-year-old, 1,005-footlong, five-arch structure, which first carried traffic over the River Thames in 1831, was due for replacement and put up for sale.

In 1968, Pratt’s group hired Sundt Construction to travel to London and take the bridge apart, piece-by-piece. The 10,276 granite blocks were labeled according to the span, row number, and the position of the stone in that row. The 22 million tons of Arizona Contractor & Community

Images Courtesy of Sundt Construction Image Courtesy of Arizona Contractor & Community

Above: Sundt Construction crew working on bridge construction, early 1970s.

Left: London Bridge connecting the airport on Pittsburg Point and Lake Havasu City, 1974.

Right top: Bridge construction over the Bridgewater Channel Canal, early 1970s.

Right bottom: Lake Havasu postcard.

FIFTY TWO

granite blocks were shipped to Long Beach and transported overland to Lake Havasu.

The bridge has many interesting features, including strafing scars from bullets fired during World War II visible on some of the blocks.

Bridge reconstruction, also performed

by Sundt, took three years at its new home. The bridge linked western Arizona to Pittsburg Point, underneath which the Bridgepoint Canal Channel was excavated on Lake Havasu. The reconstructed bridge July August 2022

had a steel-reinforced concrete core that was hollow, which allowed for a lighter yet stronger structure. The 130,000-ton bridge in London weighed only 33,000 tons in Arizona.

“Lake Havasu was a big inexpensive property, which in those days was pretty much in the middle of nowhere,” Dave Pratt says. “Totally undeveloped. Imagine taking nothing but dirt and turning it into a city! It took lots of vision and lots of money, and it couldn’t have been easy.”

Lake Havasu was more than a resort community, though. McCulloch moved his small engine manufacturing business for chainsaws and outboard motors from Los Angeles to Lake Havasu to provide an economic base for the development. He had initially moved from Milwaukee to Los arizcc.com

Angeles in 1946. At the time, the company was the world’s largest manufacturer of chain saws and was in third place as a producer of outboard motors.

Pratt, Wood, and McCulloch also did some business with the enigmatic Howard Hughes, purchasing airplanes from him and his Hughes Air West company. “They would fly qualifying people to Arizona for free from the Midwest and the East to buy property at their new developments in the desert,” Dave Pratt says. “They felt Arizona’s sunshine was an easy sell, and they were right.”

Lorne Pratt bought the majority of McCulloch’s real estate development holdings in Lake Havasu in 1977, under Pratt Properties Inc. He then hired another Disneyland developer, Charles Thompson, to Arizona Contractor & Community

NBC News, ABC News, Time magazine, and many celebrities. I remember my dad squeezing my hand and smiling, saying, ‘I hope this works, son. I hope this works.’”

But the geyser’s engineering was successful. “When the fountain successfully shot off, music blared, the crowd cheered, cameras clicked, and my dad picked me up and swung me in the air laughing,” Dave Pratt recalls. “He was a big man, 6-foot, 4-inches tall. I can still see him smiling and hear him laughing today every time that fountain shoots high into the air.” Pratt Properties became the leading developer in Fountain Hills following McCulloch’s

death in 1977. C.V. Wood Jr. died at age 71 in Los Angeles.

Today, Lake Havasu City has a population exceeding 50,000, and Fountain Hills has more than 23,000 residents. Tourists still flock to photograph the London Bridge and wonder how it ended up in Lake Havasu, Arizona. The young and old still marvel at the tall fountain that shoots off for 15 minutes, on the hour, 9 a.m. - 9 p.m. from a concrete water-lily sculpture in the center of an artificial lake. These nowiconic Arizona features are, in part, due to the marketing ideas of Lorne Pratt.

Image Courtesy of Arizona Contractor & Community

Top right: Construction of the Target Center in Fountain Hills, 2002.

Below: Fountain Hills billboard, 1972.

Bottom right: Fountain Hills fountain.

Image Courtesy of Bill Kelton

plan an English-themed commercial area at Lake Havasu, including a museum of English royalty and arts and crafts shops.

The project ultimately created the English Village south of the London Bridge, including the London Bridge Resort and Convention Center.

The trio’s next magic act in Arizona involved a fountain. Lorne Pratt had a big idea to combat the mindset of waterless desert developments. “I remember him telling me over ice cream at the Sugar Bowl [restaurant] on Scottsdale Road that he would build the tallest fountain in the world, right in the middle of the desert,” Dave Pratt says. “And he did.”

The Pratt family had moved to Arizona to oversee the planned community of Fountain Hills, on the heels of the success of Lake Havasu. In the late 1960s, Lorne Pratt identified and negotiated the purchase of 12,000 acres from Page Land & Cattle Co. to create Fountain Hills. “We moved to Phoenix from another one of my dad’s developments, Hesperia, California,” he says. “His offices were across from the Sugar Bowl on Scottsdale Road in that two-story red brick building with the white railing.”

Dave Pratt recalls that there were media galore at Fountain Hills for the debut of the fountain in 1970. “It was just a grassy picnic area at the time,” he says. “National TV network shows like CBS 60 Minutes,

FIFTY FOUR

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Arizona Contractor & Community

Image Courtesy of Dave Pratt

LORNE PRATT:

M

ost fathers in the 1950s taught their sons how to throw a curveball or catch fish. Lorne Pratt, who helped create successful real estate developments across the West, including Lake Havasu City and Fountain Hills, passed along other lessons. “Dad would teach me marketing by simple techniques,” Dave Pratt, a longtime Valley radio personality, says. “He would hand me a candy bar and then ask me to sell it to him. Why should he buy it? Describe the taste? How were the price, name, and packaging determined?

He trained me this way with just about everything, including how to sell my radio show and career.”

Growing up, Lorne Pratt found he had a knack for marketing and in his career, he used this skill and connections to team up with some business heavyweights. The story involves Hollywood A-list movie stars and sports figures and resulted in the creation of communities in five states stretching from California to Arkansas. Not too shabby for a kid who grew up in the Great Depression and possessed only a thirdgrade education.

ARIZONA’S HOLLYWOOD-CONNECTED DEVELOPER

Image Courtesy of SCMFT

DOUGLAS TOWNE

FIFTY SIX

Above: Lorne Pratt with his daugher, Carolyn, and sons, Dave and Tom, at the masterplanned community of Spring Creek, Nevada, 1970s.

Right: Harry Sugarman watches the construction of the Hollywood Walk of Fame, 1960.

July August 2022

Images Courtesy of Arizona Contractor & Community

Lorne Pratt was the son of Waverly and Lovetta Pratt, born in Long Beach, California, in 1922. He dropped out of school to work in his family’s grocery store in Sierra Madre, a small town located east of Pasadena. “He was an unusually large baby that had to be birthed with forceps, which compressed his hearing for his entire life,” Dave Pratt says. “He always struggled with flying but was tough as nails.”

Through his upbringing in southern California, Lorne Pratt made some essential connections and became general manager of the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce.

One of his critical early projects was creating the Hollywood Walk of Fame. “The idea was to bring more business, tourism, and attention to an area that was starting to decline,” Dave Pratt recalls. “Dad was friends with E.M. Stuart, Harry Sugarman, and the entire gang that did the project.”

Around 1957, Lorne Pratt became connected to two business heavyweights who would influence his career. Cornelius Vanderbilt (C.V.) Wood Jr. was a Texas native who was the first general manager of Disneyland and had previously attended Hardin Simmons University in Abilene, Texas, on a rope twirling scholarship.

Robert McCulloch Sr. was an entrepreneur known for his engines, chainsaws, aviation, and energy development. Wood had met McCulloch when he visited the Disneyland construction site to test one of his electric golf carts a year before the park opened in 1954.

“I remember the McCulloch family and C.V. Wood being like uncles,” Dave

Image Courtesy of Dave Pratt

Right: Lorne Pratt and his wife, Keenie.

Bottom right: Potential customers examine a McCulloch chain saw, 1957.

Below: McCulloch chain saw ad, 1975.

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Arizona Contractor & Community

Image Courtesy of Butch Wood

FIFTY EIGHT

ways to make it fun for a kid,” Dave Pratt recalls. “When Star Wars came out, they rented an entire movie theater just for my dad’s staff. We had suite tickets to sporting events, and I remember my dad walking down the Hollywood Walk of Fame and telling me personal stories about most stars.”

Dave Pratt recalls celebrities stopping by his house, including Robert Stack, Rowan and Martin, Shirley Temple, Conrad and Barron Hilton, Ernest Borgnine, Robert Fuller, the President’s son Steven Ford, the Reagan family, Jerry Lewis, Frankie Avalon, Paul Lynde, Debbie Reynolds, Robert

Images Courtesy of Dave Pratt

Image Courtesy of Terlingua Teacher

Pratt says. Wood reportedly clashed with Disney and left the theme park in 1956 to form Marco Engineering, a consulting firm that supervised the creation of the first Six Flags Adventure parks. Marco merged with McCulloch Corp in 1961. Wood was also quite the chef, having taken first place in the World Championship Chili Cook-Off in Terlingua, Texas, in 1971. He called his dish “Three-Alarm Chili.”

According to Dave Pratt, there are several stories about how the power trio came together. “My dad probably met Woody

[C.V. Wood] through celebrity circles, connected to his work with the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce,” he says. “Woody likely brought him to McCulloch when he joined the company a few years later.”

“Another possibility is that my dad, a young marketing sensation, was introduced to Bob McCulloch by a developer named Penn Phillips,” he says. The M. Penn Phillips Company developed and promoted two southern California developments, Salton City and Hesperia. Pratt, a California native, became senior vice president of property developer Holly Enterprises, which McCulloch acquired to become the real estate arm of McCulloch Properties Inc. No matter how the friendship occurred, Dave Pratt is unequivocal about its fun for his family. “C.V. Wood was awesome. His wife, Joanie Dru, was an actress and the brother of Peter Marshal of the TV game show, The Hollywood Squares. Dru, who co-starred with John Wayne in She Wore a Yellow Ribbon, married Wood in our living room. Altogether, they knew everybody and had their hands on everything!”

Dave Pratt recalls visiting the Woods at their Beverly Hills home next door to Danny Thomas. “I would stay there in the summer and meet just about every celebrity that you can imagine,” he says.

Equally memorable was hanging out with Robert McCulloch and his son, Bob Jr., who owned the McCulloch Office Building in downtown Los Angeles. “Every time I went to Los Angeles, they always found

Left: Banner announcing C.V. Wood Jr. as a judge for the World Championship Chili CookOff, 1971.

Above: McCulloch and Wood looking over plans for London Bridge.

Below left: She Wore a Yellow Ribbon movie poster.

Below: Lorne Pratt.

July August 2022

Top: Lorne Pratt with his sons by his helicopter, 1970s.

Middle: Lorne Pratt with his sons including Dave (right) at Palomino Valley, Nevada, 1980s.

Bottom: A chess battle between Lorne and Dave Pratt. arizcc.com

Images Courtesy of Dave Pratt

Mitchum, Connie Stevens, Jackie Gleason, Paul Anka, and Gene Autry. “Again, I was just a kid, so it all seemed normal to me,” he says.

Some people created unforgettable memories with Dave Pratt. “The Amazing Kreskin changed the time on my watch during a family dinner. After his fight with Ali, I played basketball at my house with Jerry Quarry. I sat with Telly Savalas and Shirley Temple at a San Diego Charger’s football game, owned by my dad’s developer friend Alex Spanos. Golfer Lee Trevino picked me up from school. Tony Orlando helped me locate a peach-colored tuxedo for my high school prom as it was my date’s favorite color. My dad flew his football friends Dan Fouts and Lynn Swann to speak at our high school’s sports awards banquet.

Marlo Thomas took me to McDonald’s.

LOL!! So many others, too.”

Pratt, Woods, and McCulloch also did some business with the quixotic Howard Hughes. “He never personally shared much about Howard Hughes other than stories regarding a few properties in Las Vegas,” Dave Pratt says. “I do remember my dad telling me that Hughes was a gentleman.

He was always very nice, and to my dad, he didn’t come off at all eccentric. However, that is just one man’s opinion. They didn’t exactly hang out socially together; they just did business.”

We explored the trio’s Lake Havasu and Fountain Hills developments in the previous feature story. The group also created the new communities of Spring Creek, located outside Elko, Nevada, Pueblo West, Colorado, and Holiday Island, Arkansas, located in the Ozark Mountains.

After his father retired as a developer, Pratt says that he focused on other businesses, including coins and racehorses, and spent lots of time with his family, including his wife, Bobbi, and children, Judy, Tim, Tom, Robin, Dave, Cheryl, and Carolyn.

Lorne Pratt died at the age of 78 in 2000.

But more than any of his father’s business ventures, his son recalls Lorne Pratt as simply an incredible father. “He taught me to treat a waitress at a restaurant the same way I would treat a bank president or the lead singer of the Rolling Stones,” Dave Pratt says. “On many occasions, I noticed him quietly tip a waitress, waiter, valet, or busboy $100 or more. He was a warm and generous man.”

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Image Courtesy of Patty McClearn Image Courtesy of Author

DONALD “D.C.” SPEER: TOP-NOTCH CONTRACTOR AND GRANDPA MAECHEN STEWART

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wanted to keep his campaign promise to pave U.S. Highway 93 between Wickenburg and Kingman before election day that fall in 1956. Like most goals in his life, Speer, who was then the Assistant State District Engineer, finished the project on time.

But Speer would soon depart the state highway department for a job with a contractor and subsequently start a construction firm. Later in life, he would work in real estate in Sedona, dabble in art, and be a wonderful grandpa. But before these successes, Speer had to survive a hardscrabble upbringing in Arizona during the Great Depression.

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hen Donald “Don” C. Speer was told to “Paint it Black,” the appeal had nothing to do with the classic Rolling Stone song about despair and the loss of hope. Instead, it was a request from Arizona Governor Ernest McFarland, who

SIXTY

Top left: Speer with his granddaughter, Maechen Stewart, at NAU’s Morton Hall in Flagstaff, 1993.

Top right: Speer by his real estate office, 1980s.

Left: Rolling Stones picture sleeve to “Paint it Black,” 1966.

Speer was born on September 5, 1926, in California, but his family moved the following year to Arizona. During a 1991 interview, he recalled hard times growing up north of Flagstaff between Camp Townsend and “The Divide,” a pass in the San Francisco Peaks. “The nearby bean fields kept families from starving,” Speer said.

“My elementary school marched in a parade, waving American flags and carrying handmade shields, supporting President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s National Recovery Act and his Civilian Conservation Corps,” Speer added. The parade brought parents to Flagstaff to learn about FDR's programs.

"Not long after, parks around Flagstaff and many of the Oak Creek canyon hiking trails were created by these CCC workers,” he said.

Speer recalled the attack on Pearl Harbor by the Japanese Imperial Navy on December 7, 1941, and the flurry of miliJuly August 2022

Image Courtesy of Patty McClearn

tary activity afterward. His family gathered around the radio for FDR’s Fireside Chats, remembering the charismatic voice of the president.

At Flagstaff High School, Speers displayed his leadership skills as the Senior Class President and the editor of the Kinlani yearbook. He finished school early to join the U.S. Navy. His V5 Navy Air Corps Training Unit was stationed at the Arizona State Teachers College (now Northern Arizona University) in the same dorm I lived in 50 years later. When graduation time came, he walked with his class, proudly wearing his dress blues. He subsequently transferred to the V12 Navy Officers’ Training unit in Berkeley, California.

After VE (Victory over Europe) Day, Speer realized he wouldn't be going to war and changed gears, enrolling in radio school in Del Monte, California. Afterward, my radio school, my grandpa worked for the Arizona Highway Department.

Although he had no civil engineering background, the resident engineer convinced him to start International Correspondence School classes. After studying for nearly eight years, he went to the University of Arizona in Tucson to take the Civil Engineering test and passed, becoming Civil Engineer #2213.

Speer and his family moved around Arizona, supervising jobs for the state highway department. They lived in Clarkdale, Topock, Oatman, Holbrook, and Douglas. In the spring of 1956, Kingman was his final stop as Governor McFarland gave him a $250,000 budget to pave 54 miles of dirt road between Kingman and Wickenburg.

After Speer completed this project, his goal of becoming State Engineer still

Above: Speer on a grading tractor.

Left: Speer, sitting at the right, looks at the camera as fellow contractor B.L. Gustafson, in a wig, poses with H.L. Royden at an AGC party, 1972.

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didn't materialize, and he left for a job with Wallace & Wallace Contractors. Speer was hired with the assurance he could eventually own part of the business, and he brought his family to Phoenix. Speer traveled across Arizona for nearly five years for Wallace and Wallace, but he became discouraged when the owner made no progress on the promised partnership. And this is where the story goes a bit off the rails.

About the time Speer decided to quit, the owner died of a heart attack.

Speer made a flurry of decisions realizing his dream was within reach. The owner’s widow offered him a $20,000 loan. He took out another loan for $120,000 and was able to purchase some equipment from Wallace & Wallace. With this modest inventory, two arizcc.com

Arizona Contractor & Community

launched his own brokerage office in the Village of Oak Creek. Retirement wouldn't come easily to this man as he loved working and learning new things. Even a couple of heart attacks could hardly slow him.

Brisk walks were his specialty, as friends almost had to jog to keep up. He took some of my college friends and me for a walk to the Chapel of the Holy Cross, which included a lot of steep streets. He marched ahead of us like he was our Scout leader. All the while, he was talking about the nearby red rocks and caves. We followed, huffing and puffing the whole way.

The years in Sedona were the glory days of my childhood: he was the best grandpa. Later, I attended NAU in Flagstaff, making it convenient for impromptu visits.

We loved our drives together along Oak Creek Canyon, one of Arizona's most scenic drives. I loved sharing news with him as he lit up and celebrated my accomplishments.

He wanted happiness and success for everyone until passing away at 86 in 2013.

Speer was an extraordinary man: kind, generous, ambitious, curious, intelligent, artistic, active, and loving. He was a great conversationalist and a talented communicator. Listening to our chat on an audio recording from more than 30 years ago is a gift. To hear his voice again brings me true joy. And that, I know, would make him so happy. The special love for my dear Grandpa never fades.

SIXTY TWO

cupola “lookout” third floor surrounded by windows. There, fascinated by Native American history, he painted and became an accomplished artist.

In Sedona, he sold real estate and

Above: Speer piloting a houseboat at Lake Powell, 1984.

Below: Don Speer and his wife Judy (right), with two of his daughters, seven granddaughters, and three greatgranddaughters in Cottonwood, Arizona, 2012.

Images Courtesy of Author

business loans, a mortgage, a family with four young children, a blue station wagon, and a burning desire, in 1961, he started the D.C. Speer Construction Company in Phoenix.

D.C. Speer Construction grew steadily for the next two decades. "I had a lot of iron [equipment] and hot plants,” he boasted. At times the company had up to 120 employees, which created a lot of pressure. Nevertheless, Speer was mindful of the great responsibility to keep those workers busy and paid, even in lean times.

All the while, he acquired additional equipment and construction contracts. As a result, D.C. Speer had $20 million of annual revenue at its peak.

I remember hearing of specific jobs done by his company, including roads and runaway truck ramps. However, other projects seemed more exciting, including pouring all the concrete to reassemble the London Bridge in Lake Havasu. In my mind, Grandpa was now building bridges!

After 17 years in the business, in 1978, he gave the day-to-day operations of D.C. Speer to his capable staff and refocused on drawing plans for a unique home in Sedona. His octagonal house included a

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D.C. SPEER CONSTRUCTION:

fit with $20 million in annual revenue? It’s a compelling story of a talented individual destined to rise within the Arizona construction industry.

As covered in the previous article, Speer’s leadership skills were displayed at Flagstaff High School and in the U.S. Navy during World War II. After his military service, Speer worked with the launched D.C. Speer Construction Com- Arizona Highway Department for District pany. So how did Speer go from launching No. 1 in Northern Arizona, beginning in projectiles to the head of a contracting out- 1947. Concurrently, he took International

DOUGLAS TOWNE

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n the long-standing competition between Arizona and California, there have been some crazy antics. There's the voyage of "Admiral" Nellie Bush, whose ferryboats became stuck while attempting to transport Arizona National Guard troops across the Colorado River to stop California workers from completing Parker Dam in 1934. Then, there’s Donald “D.C.” Speer, who supervised a road project that “shelled” California with rocks from a dynamite explosion during the construction of Arizona Highway 95 along the same river in the early 1950s.

Fortunately, nobody was hurt in either situation, and both parties found subsequent success. Bush would later be elected to the Arizona State Senate, and as for Speer, this turned out to be a rare misstep for the self-taught engineer who later Above: Associated General Contractors’ party (l-r), Mr. and Mrs. Joe Mertz, Arizona Highway Department; Speer with his first wife, Margery; and Mr. and Mrs. J.R. Van Horn, AHD, early 1960s.

Right: Dynamite blasting during road project, 1950s.

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Image Courtesy of Patty McClearn

A LEGACY OF SUCCESSFUL PROJECTS AND EMPLOYEES

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Image Courtesy of Patty McClearn

Correspondence School classes in Highway Engineering and eventually earned a civil engineering license, surveying license, and heavy contractor license.

By 1949, Speer was chief inspector and transit-man, working alongside resident engineer Angus L. Chadwick and J.R. Van Horn, director of the Planning Survey DiviAbove: Wallace & Wallace batch plant photographed by Don Speer, 1950s.

Below: New Cedar Rapids stack up hot plant, bought by Lake Havasu Materials Co. 1964.

sion. Chadwick mentored him during construction of the Riordan Overpass on U.S. Highway 66, five miles west of Flagstaff. A year later, they worked on a fourmile stretch of improvements on Page Springs Road.

Then, Speer declared war on California. “He was the engineer overseeing the Parker Strip section of Arizona Highway 95 along the Colorado River," Judy

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Speer, his wife, said. “They dynamited a rocky area, and when the charge went off, it blew rocks across the river to a resort called Echo Lodge Resort in California. One chunk landed on top of a mobile home.”

According to his wife, Speer hastily drove across the river. As it turned out, the mobile home was occupied by a guy with a sense of humor. Speer inquired if he was OK? The man replied that it sounded like a bomb had gone off when the boulder came through the roof. But, aside from the hole and mess of debris, all was good. When Speer asked what could be done to help, he replied, "I wanted a skylight for a while, and now I have one." Speer made sure that a proper skylight was installed and said, "I got lucky. People were easier to deal with back in the day, but I was sweating bullets for a while."

The dynamite charge also created a local landmark. “The top of the rocky area arizcc.com

Arizona Contractor & Community

SIXTY SIX

recalled Judy Speer. “McCulloch had sought out Speer for his engineering expertise.”

D.C. Speer paved more than 500 miles of city streets, and LHM supplied 80 percent of the ready-mix concrete in the development’s early years, including that used for the London Bridge.

“All the homes in Lake Havasu City were on septic tanks, so D.C. Speer started Colo-Rio Construction with Clarence Eberling," according to Jed Billings, a D.C. Speer employee hired in 1968 while working on a BS degree in Construction Management at ASU. “The company performed home pad

Image Courtesy of Maechen Stewart

grading for many years. D.C. Speer, LHM, and Colo-Rio grew with McCulloch to build the infrastructure of this new city.”

McCulloch subsequently chose D.C. Speer for the initial site work for their next master-planned community called Fountain Hills in 1971. “Speer constructed the lake and surrounding home sites with five equipment spreads until a moratorium by the county officials stopped mass grading of this large development due to the water demand required,” Billings says.

“To tackle the heavy rock material, we used six heavy bulldozers, multiple scrap-

Image Courtesy of Joan Travis of the Parker Pioneer

Image Courtesy of Arizona Contractor & Community

that blew off landed in the river where the road work occurred," Judy Speer said.

“Today, that rock is known as ‘Idiot Rock’ by Parker locals. During the 1960s and 1970s, some visitors thought they had cliff diving skills which ended badly, so Idiot Rock became a local landmark.”

Speer, now an Assistant District Engineer, then worked on the Kingman Cutoff along U.S. Highway 93. Shortly after its completion in 1957, he moved to Phoenix for a position with highway contractor Wallace & Wallace. He stayed with the firm for five years, hoping to become a partner.

When the promised partnership hadn’t occurred, Speer was about to move on when in 1961, Frank Wallace, owner of the company, unexpectedly died. Speer worked with Wallace’s widow, Georgia, during the company's liquidation. He started his own contracting company, D.C. Speer Construction, that same year. The firm was based in Phoenix at 1700 South 19th Avenue, the former headquarters of Wallace & Wallace, specializing in road and bridge construction.

With partners H.L. Royden, Tom Royden Sr., and Bob Wallace, D.C. Speer Construction later started Lake Havasu Materials Company. LHM was an aggregate producer, ready-mix concrete supplier, and asphalt supplier for the Colorado River Valley in western Arizona.

In 1966 Robert McCulloch Sr., developer of Lake Havasu City, hired Speer’s company to grade and pave streets and commercial parking lots. "When McCulloch was developing the road plat for the community, the two flew over the barren land which would become Lake Havasu City,”

Left: D.C. Speer’s Caterpillar D9 working at Fountain Hills, 1971.

Above: Judy and Don Speer, 1985.

Below: Graffiti on Idiot Rock in Parker AZ, 2015.

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ers, loaders, blades, water wagons, and heavy drills,” explained D.C. Speer co-owner Tim O’Brien in a 1971 interview. “We had a total of 36 equipment operators.”

D.C. Speer bought the first Boeing 400 continuous mix hot plant in Arizona, according to Steve Basila, who joined the company in 1977 after completing a degree in Construction Management at ASU. "I worked in the field to help coordinate the jobs. We did a lot of paving with the 400, and Speer eventually purchased the bigger Boeing 600. After a few years, I moved to the office to learn estimating."

According to Billings, D.C. Speer also bid on Arizona Department of Transportation and Bureau of Indian Affairs contracts and was M.M. Sundt Construction’s major subcontractor for their paving needs. “D.C. Speer completed more than 200 miles of new interstate and BIA contracts within six years,” he says. “Some notable projects were I-10 west of Buckeye, Kingman Bypass on I-40, and I-40 east of Needles, California, and numerous new BIA roads on Navajo and Tohono O’odham tribal lands.”

But the company’s days were numbered. Before Don Speer reached age 60, he started his exit from the day-to-day management, handing it over to Billings and O’Brien. In 1982, M.M. Sundt purchased the crushing and asphalt plants and equipment from D.C. Speer, and hired Billings as part of the transition. Basila and Speer closed the business and sold D.C. Speer’s remaining assets in 1984.

Speer retired to Sedona, became a successful real estate broker/agent, and had an unforgettable trip to Lake Powell in 1967. “While out boating, we turned a corner and saw hundreds of apes dressed like humans just staring at us,” recalls Bill Speer, Don’s son. “We indeed had stumbled onto the filming of the movie, Planet of the Apes.”

Basila describes Speer as a "very intelligent individual, with kind of a Dale Carnegie personality. He was an honest guy and a good salesman. Enthusiastic about construction, and I liked working for him."

Basila subsequently became vice president for Ron Pulice and president of Pulice Construction, a major freeway builder in Maricopa County.

In 1986, Billings joined numerous former-Sundt employees who started FNF Construction in 1984. With the assistance of financial partners, the company grew into a multi-state highway contractor.

“Thanks to Don Speer and his management style of leadership and training qualities, most D.C. Speer employees continued to build on their careers and helped create successful construction projects for many years,” Billings says. arizcc.com

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ARIZONA’S SECOND WAVE OF MASTER-PLANNED COMMUNITIES:

ONE CONTRACTOR’S RECOLLECTIONS BILL KELTON ing gimmick was relocating the London Bridge to anchor the development. Sundt Construction performed the reconstruction of the bridge, which was the beginning of master-planned communities along the Colorado River.

My first memories of Lake Havasu City were flying there as a young boy with my grandfather, my dad, and Phil Berger to watch an airshow sponsored by McCulloch Aircraft Corporation to promote both the community and their Gyroplane, which had the speed and range of a light airplane combined with the spot takeoff and landing capabilities of a helicopter. I remember thinking Sundt’s 651 scrapers working under the bridge were just as exciting as the air show. So, the construction gene runs in my family, especially since I ended Left: John F. Long, Del Webb, Ed Robson, and Robert McCulloch, Sr. Below: Ed Kelton and his fellow employees examine a McCulloch J2 Gyrocopter, 1971.

SIXTY EIGHT

Images Courtesy of Bill Kelton

Image Courtesy of J.R. Eyerman

Image Courtesy of Robson Ranch Pioneer Press gr

Images Courtesy of Arizona Contractor & Community

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raditionally, Arizona’s five Cs have been Copper, Cattle, Cotton, Citrus, and Climate. However, I would argue the 1950s ushered in a sixth C: Communities.

After World War II, Arizona experienced rapid population growth, noticed by visionaries like John F. Long, Del E. Webb, Ed Robson, and Robert McCulloch, Sr. Long’s development of Maryvale stands as the state’s first master-planned community and is now considered an urban village in west Phoenix. Del Webb and his legacy visionaries saw the potential of retired folks wanting a low-stress lifestyle with recreation, shopping, and resort-style living.

Ed Robson started with Del Webb but soon started his own Sun Lakes development in the early 1970s.

McCulloch, who was best known internationally for his chain saw business, saw the appeal of Arizona for families of all ages and founded Lake Havasu City. His market-

July August 2022

Images Courtesy of Bill Kelton

morning bird hunters in September. During my tenure at R.E. Monks Construction, we were hired by Mike Ingram of El Dorado Holdings to build the first phase of Rancho El Dorado in Maricopa. We were skeptical up working at Sundt years later and using of their wisdom in having such a large-scale those scrapers on my projects.

Just as prosperity after World War II drove planned communities, the 1990s dot-com boom helped fuel the second wave of housing for Arizona’s increasing population. Del Webb kicked off Anthem north of Phoenix, Robson Communities created Robson Ranch in Eloy and Saddlebrook in Tucson, El Dorado Holdings broke ground on Rancho El Dorado in Maricopa, DMB and Caterpillar teamed up to start Verrado in Buckeye, and David Lords continued Colorado River development by creating Laughlin Ranch in Bullhead City.

Successful master-planned communities have become urban or rural villages with micro-economies and unique identities. Most feature a golf course, which stitches together the housing tracts. Golf courses provide a community with recreation, open space, and a means to store treated effluent water in their lakes.

Growing up in Arizona, dove hunting was a rite of passage for many, and the small community of Maricopa south of Phoenix was a popular place for early Above: Construction of Sun Lakes, located south of Chandler, 1973.

Bottom right: Construction of Rancho El Dorado in Maricopa, 2003.

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housing development in the then-remote area. But soon, Ingram showed us why we were dirt movers and not land developers, as El Dorado proved a tremendous success.

Development booms in Arizona run hard and fast. I recall negotiating Robson’s

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Images Courtesy of Bill Kelton

This page: Construction of Robson Ranch near Casa Grande.

new development near Eloy on a cell phone while standing in a parking lot at a charity golf event. Originally called Sun Lakes Casa Grande, it was later changed to Robson Ranch. Robson hired us to grade the first 2,200 lots and 27 golf holes on 900 acres in a remote landscape with few neighbors and little infrastructure. While the pace of construction was hectic, Tom Walter, Robson’s project manager, was a joy to work with, especially since his dog usually greeted you at his office, which took the edge off the pressures that accompany big projects.

David Lords and Arizona Land Advisors, in what he brilliantly marketed as “Arizona’s West Coast,” continued McCulloch’s leveraging of the Colorado River as a great natural amenity for ambitious community development.

As our team at Monks Construction was finishing the roadway construction on the Arizona approach to the Hoover Dam Bypass for the Federal Highway Administration in late 2003, we received an invitation to bid on a unique project just downriver in Bullhead City. Laughlin Ranch’s vision was to create a large master-planned community across the river from Don Laughlin’s SEVENTY

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Images Courtesy of Bill Kelton

This page: R.E. Monks heavy equipment during construction of Laughlin Ranch near Bullhead City, Arizona, 2004.

Riverside Resort in Laughlin, Nevada. The area was booming as bus trips from Phoenix to Laughlin had become popular in the 1980s. Riders partied to their destination, gambled all night, and slept on the way back. A boomer’s dream weekend!

Lords’ vision was simple; he wanted to convert the rugged desert into a golf course in less than a year. Having just finished a brutal summer working at Hoover Dam, the Monks team was probably less than excited to stay in the +120-degree Colorado River basin for another summer.

With our addiction to reshaping the earth, the brutally hot days just made for good conversation over a cold beer afterward.

Monks Construction broke ground in January 2004 and turned the first holes over to the golf course contractor in July.

By December, the facility had hosted its first golf event. Laughlin Ranch Golf Club general manager Pat Laughlin and course architect David Druzisky faced a challenging schedule that included soils that were tough to grow grass. So they had topsoil added to more than 100 acres to counter these conditions, on which specially develarizcc.com

Arizona Contractor & Community

This page: R.E. Monks heavy equipment during construction of Laughlin Ranch near Laughlin, Nevada, 2004.

cantly increased Bullhead City’s population after the city annexed the development in 2006.

I’m proud of my contribution to some of Arizona’s second wave of master-planned communities. We worked hard, played

hard, and did some activities that probably wouldn’t be allowed on a current construction project. It was an excellent time to be alive and part of Arizona’s construction industry.

Images Courtesy of Bill Kelton

oped sod was placed to produce nearly instant grass fairways.

Managing the Laughlin Ranch development was a unique experience. Convincing large crews to work in Bullhead City often necessitated a weekly “bonus,” paid only if they worked all week, to keep our labor force intact. Management visits usually consisted of landing at the Bullhead Airport on a commuter airplane, followed by a room at the Riverside Resort. After-shift meetings with the Laughlin development team typically were in the casino’s bar.

Sometimes, construction supervision consisted of watching the work from afar in our hotel rooms that overlooked the river and Bullhead City as we recovered from the previous evening’s activities.

Monks Construction ended its work at Laughlin Ranch around 2007 when the real estate market ebbed from a slowing economy. In those three years, which included three long summers, we moved nearly 12 million cubic yards of earth and graded hundreds of home lots. This work signifi-

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OLD SCHOOL EQUIPMENT:

ELEVATING LOADERS PART 3 – P&H ELEVATING LOADER

A P&H elevating loader and Euclid scraper on TMK’s U.S. Highway 80 project west of Gila Bend, 1959.

Seventy FOUR

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BILLY HORNER

July August 2022

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into the left side of a bank. This maneuver created a cut of 36-inches deep and 26-inches wide. A diesel engine mounted at the rear of the elevating loader turned the conveyor, which brought the material up and dropped it into the desired equipment.

Local contractors that utilized the P&H elevating loader included TMK, W.R. Skousen, and San Xavier Rock & Sand.

TMK, which stood for Tovrea, Maddock, and Kelton, used the machine extensively starting in 1959 on their U.S. Highway 80 project. The $1,074,872 contract included 13 miles of divided highway between Gila Bend and Yuma. In 1960, San Xavier was awarded $307,645 for 5 miles of highway widening and paving near Picacho.

The company’s Caterpillar bulldozer with the attached P&H machine scooped mass amounts of select material in an open pit just east of the highway. The material was used as a road base before paving. W.R. Skousen used the same machine to help build the road to the summit of Kitt Peak to construct an observatory in 1961.

Komatsu acquired the P&H brand in 2017.

Image Courtesy of Geoff Nowak

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he P&H elevating loader was popular with Arizona highway contractors for a decade starting in the late 1950s.

Let’s examine the history behind this somewhat obscure machine and highlight companies and projects that used it in the Grand Canyon State.

The story begins with Alonzo Pawling and Henry Harnischfeger, who opened Pawling & Harnischfeger (P&H), a Milwaukee company that manufactured overhead cranes in 1888. The firm was known for building electric track and wheel cranes, shovels, and hoists.

P&H introduced the company’s elevating loader in 1954. The machine was supported by four large rear wheels, boxed beam construction, and was pulled using a bulldozer. Empty scrapers or dump trucks would stage to the right of a giant conveyor as it continuously poured the material into their storage compartments.

P&H ads claimed that the machine could dig and convey “up to 1,000 cubic yards hourly in a fast continuous one-man operation.” Moving this much material was accomplished by angling the P&H blade

Top: Belly dump trucks being filled by a P&H elevating loader on TMK’s U.S. Highway 80 project west of Gila Bend, 1959.

Above: An Australian ad for the P&H Sierra elevating loader, 1959.

Below: A W.R. Skousen P&H elevating loader missing two wheels at Kitt Peak, 1961.

Bottom left: A W.R. Skousen P&H elevating loader conveyor at Kitt Peak, 1961.

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Building on the Past 1960: KUPD AND INTERSTATE 17

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s Phoenix began a new decade in 1960, change was afoot in the airwaves and freeways. That was the year, radio station KUPD began broadcasting on the FM dial at 97.9 and 1060 AM. Initially nicknamed “Cupid,” the station played adult contemporary music until it rebranded as hard rock in 1979. Two years later, Dave Pratt came on board the lowrated station.

According to Dave Pratt Behind the Mic…and Beyond, he saw a KUPD job notice posted on a bulletin board at the ASU School of Broadcasting. Making his own luck, Pratt ripped it down so that he would be the only applicant. He was hired. It was 1981 and KUPD’s office was an old trailer in Guadalupe; Pratt initially worked distribut-

ing radio station swag. A fluke opportunity soon had him doing the on-stage introduction for George Thorogood, who was opening for the Rolling Stones at Sun Devil Stadium. This appearance propelled Pratt into the KUPD broadcasting booth for two hours on Sunday mornings, from 3-5 a.m.

But it was Pratt’s memorable live appearances at clubs with his Sex Machine Band that eventually earned him the coveted timeslot called “Pratt in the Morning.”

Later nicknamed the “Morning Mayor” by then Phoenix Mayor Terry Goddard, 98 KUPD’s Big Red Radio took over Valley airwaves and became the nation’s longest-running rock and roll morning show. After more than 20 years at 98 KUPD, Pratt went on to success at other local stations.

In 1960, the same year KUPD first went on the air, the former stagecoach route connecting Phoenix to Flagstaff was being upgraded to a superhighway. Work on the Black Canyon Freeway, a portion of Interstate 17, was launched after decades of studies.

An interchange at Grand Avenue opened in 1957, and construction progressed north towards Indian School Road, where, amidst earthmoving endeavors, stood a KUPD billboard. The freeway wouldn’t be completed until 1978, which was three years before Pratt’s first on the air appearance. He spun ZZ Top, Eddie Money, and Billy Squire as his first artists.

Background: Looking east at a KUPD billboard, Thunderbird Lanes, and the soon-to-be-built I-17 overpass on Indian School Road, 1960.

Top right: KUPD logo, 1960s.

Right: Dave Pratt single, 1986.

Far right: KUPD employee interviews Bank of Scottsdale branch manager at a grand opening, 1961.

Image Courtesy of Duke University

Image Courtesy of Arizona Contractor & Community

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rizona master-planned communities have evolved over the decades, and a few stand out, such as DC Ranch in northern Scottsdale, which is coincidentally celebrating the 25th anniversary of its groundbreaking. DC Ranch was designed to capture a sense of community, offer a network of open spaces, and knit it all together with high-quality and attractive infrastructure.

Let’s put this community in its historical context as DC Ranch is rooted in understanding and interpreting this special place in the Sonoran Desert at the western foothills of the McDowell Mountains. This area was used by the ancient Hohokam people until the 1400s and later saw temporary

Architect’s Perspective: DC Ranch Celebrates 25th Anniversary Doug Sydnor, FAIA Doug_sydnor@outlook.com encampments by the Yavapai tribe and U.S. Army.

In 1885, Dr. W.B. Crosby purchased land in the area and registered the “DC” brand, which most believe reflects “D” for doctor and “C” for Crosby. However,

there is speculation that the “DC” stands for “Desert Camp.” E.O. Brown bought the property for his family in 1919, and his son, E.E. “Brownie” Brown, inherited it in 1940.

Brownie took on a business partner, Kemper Marley, in 1963.

The DC Ranch had at one time up to 4,000 cattle. Each year, some of the cattle would be herded south down Scottsdale or Pima roads, through Scottsdale’s small downtown, to the stockyards in Phoenix.

This cattle drive would take three or four days. The rustic architecture of these early ranching days would figure prominently in the future.

DMB Associates, headed by Drew Brown, Mark Sklar, and Bennett Dorrance, purchased DC Ranch from Marley-Corrigan in the early 1990s. The land became part of an 8,300-acre residential, retail, and golf course development. DMB Associates commissioned Scottsdale-based planner and architect Vernon Swaback, FAIA, to design the community. His plan took advantage

Images Courtesy of Author

Left: Neighborhood entry gate.

Below: Thompson Peak Parkway Bridge over a pedestrian trail.

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July August 2022

Top left: DC Ranch Marketplace Park.

Above: DC Ranch Marketplace.

Above left: DC Ranch Marketplace vehicular entry bridge.

Left: DC Ranch Marketplace pedestrian bridge and lights.

Images Courtesy of Author

of the hilly topography and choreographed spectacular vistas throughout the stunning desert environment. In addition, the development preserved open space along drainages, which are vital wildlife corridors. As a result, it’s not uncommon to see bobcats, deer, coyotes, javelina, and many other animals.

Swaback calls DC Ranch an “orchestration of natural materials” given its use of native stone from the site and a landscaped profusion of drought-tolerant, flowering plants. The development team created a project site to field-test exterior materials during the planning stage. Stone, plaster, paints, woods, stains, colored concrete, masonry, and metals were exposed to the intense ultraviolet light and outdoor elements to see how they performed over time. Swaback recommended an “earthy color palette,” as it would respect and aesthetically fit the landscape.

Thus, the DC Ranch infrastructure includes natural stone walls, wood-framed bridges, cast concrete walks with varied patterning and textures, steel lighting standards, playgrounds, seating, desert landscaping, neighborhood gates, and shade trees.

The City of Scottsdale was concerned about development on the higher slopes of DC Ranch within the McDowell Mountains.

DMB Associates, in an act of good land arizcc.com

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goal will ensure the health of its residents and the preservation of property values in a sustainable manner. Such foresight promises a bright future for DC Ranch.

DMB Associates has created other local master-planned communities such as Eastmark at the former General Motors proving grounds in Mesa and Verrado in the West Valley. But on DC Ranch’s 25th anniversary, we look back to salute the talented individ-

Above: Homestead Community Center.

Below: Silverleaf Village with McDowell Mountains.

uals responsible for the extraordinary execution of its original vision.

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

Images Courtesy of Author

stewardship, agreed to sell approximately half of their property to the city, which set it aside for the McDowell Sonoran Preserve.

The final plan of 4,400 acres adjacent to the McDowell Sonoran Preserve included four distinct residential villages, 26 neighborhoods, and more than 2,800 homes housing 7,000 residents. The Country Club, Desert Camp, Silverleaf, and Desert Park villages incorporated open spaces that could be shared throughout and effectively created “a sense of living with the land.” In 1997, DMB Associates began construction on the community.

In 1998 the first homeowners moved into the Desert Camp village, located just southeast of Pima Road and Thompson Peak Parkway. Former banker and Scottsdale civic leader Don Ruff and his wife were likely the community’s first residents. DC Ranch soon became a national model for high-quality master planning by seamlessly connecting people to the beauty of the natural Sonoran Desert.

Community amenities include Copper Ridge School, Homestead Community Center, a golf course, six tennis courts, The Village Health Club & Spa, a grand event courtyard, and Market Street Park.

Additional facilities are the Canyon Village offices, Corporate Center, DC Ranch Crossing, and DC Marketplace with its retail outlets and offices.

DC Ranch is approaching completion and has a governance that calls for maintaining an amenity-rich community. This

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DIGGING THROUGH THE ARCHIVES: L.R. CONTRERAS CONTRACTING CO. BILLY HORNER

A

local concrete company is no stranger to master-planned communities in Arizona. L.R. Contreras Contracting Co. in Mesa has performed the curb and gutter work for many such projects. I recently reviewed some of these with Mike Sommers, who I met over a decade ago while writing a story about their company for the first issue of Arizona Contractor & Community.

Sommers began his construction career in 1968 when he joined a union, Arizona Cement Masons Local 394, to learn the basics of curb and gutter work. His first job out of the hall as an apprentice was with L.R. Contreras.

Lorenzo Contreras started his company after he moved from Texas to Arizona Above: Sommers with an impressive stack of slip forms, 2021.

Right: Residential sidewalk concrete stamp, 1967. eighty six

July August 2022

general superintendent, had come out to give the crew a talk. After that, a big firm out of California, Bid D Construction, moved all the dirt, graded, and paved the job. All the pads had 18-inches of fill dirt from where they had dug the lakes.” Sommers worked on this project until 1978.

When Sommers told his boss, Lorenzo, that he had purchased the first new home available in Dobson Ranch, Lorenzo asked him what the payments were. “$341.” Over the next year, Lorenzo kidded him for pur-

Top left: L.R. Contreras newspaper advertisement, 1946.

Above: Construction for Continental Homes’ new Dobson Ranch community, 1973.

Below: Sidewalk and curb formed by hand at Bell Air subdivision for Continental Homes, 1973.

chasing a home with such a high payment.

Then, as the new master-planned community took shape, Lorenzo asked Sommers again what that payment was, and when he was reminded of the sum, his boss replied

Images Courtesy of Arizona Contractor & Community

in 1946. His first office was in Apache Junction in the back of a bar that he owned called the Oasis. L.R. Contreras began by building silos and house floors and soon transitioned to curb and gutter work.

The first project Sommers worked on was a trailer court in Mesa called the Venture Out Resort on the southwest corner of Higley Road and Main Street.

The company purchased its first curb machine, an Easi-Pour, from Huron, South Dakota, in 1973. Previously, concrete was formed, poured, and finished manually.

“Most of our jobs back in the late 1960s, early 1970s were in Mesa,” Sommers says.

“The specs were just the opposite of nowadays, where the sidewalk was cast first, then the curb and gutter last.”

By 1973, Sommers had become a foreman for L.R. Contreras. One of his first jobs in the new position was working with American Continental Homes, which was developing several master-planned communities in the Valley, including Dobson Ranch. L.R. Contreras was awarded all curb, gutter, and sidewalk work for the project.

The project had some personnel issues. “It was difficult for a few older hands to work under a young foreman,” Sommers says. “At one point, Johnnie Contreras, our

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with a smile, saying, “You should have bought three!”

Another Continental Homes project Sommers worked on was Bell Air, a planned community in the West Valley. The development started at 43rd Avenue and Bell Road. Pulice Construction did the mass excavation, streets, and paving, while L.R. Contreras performed the curb, gutter, and sidewalk work.

As our curb shoe article in the Mar/Apr 2022 issue of ACC Magazine explained, the importance of homemade slip forms for various applications was essential for concrete work. Sommers ran crews at Bell Air, going back and forth to Dobson Ranch. “We didn’t have a curb pouring machine; everything was done with forms,” he recalls.

“Our crews would set the back and frontside forms up for the sidewalk. Then, we had what was called an ‘adjustable drag,’ which was a handmade grading drag to cut our grade. It was attached to a little Ford 4-cycle tractor and would cut the monolithic curb and sidewalk grade between the forms.” L.R. Contreras retains several forms and homemade molds in their yard.

Del E. Webb Corporation contracted L.R. Contreras to assist with Sun City, using various forms to complete the curb and sidewalk. One form they received from Webb was for a modified curb section.

Webb provided Contreras with all the brass plaques to insert in wet concrete at the center of every sidewalk ramp.

L.R. Contreras also worked in the commercial market. “One of the biggest com-

entrances, the parking garage, and curbs around the resort. “A helicopter was rented and used to dump concrete from above for the walkways between the hotel and Camelback Mountain,” he says. “Allied Concrete supplied all the ready mix.”

More recently, L.R. Contreras has been doing concrete work at the Church Farms subdivision in Queen Creek. Out west, they are working on Rancho Mercado, a subdivision west of the 303 Freeway and Happy Valley Road. Sommers has three full-time crews, three curb and gutter machines, and five blades. “Most of our employees have been with us for 20-40 years,” he adds, proudly.

Images Courtesy of Arizona Contractor & Community

Top right: Concrete construction at The Phoenician resort, 1980s.

Below: Tanner Companies slip form used by L.R. Contreras, 2021.

Bottom right: Webb slip forms used by Contreras during Sun City construction.

mercial jobs we had was Arrowhead Mall.

“We poured 77,000 linear feet of curb and gutter for that project,” he says.

A high-end project was The Phoenician, an upscale resort started in the 1980s by disgraced developer Charles Keating and his American Continental Corporation. “We poured everything out there,” Sommers says. “The 18-hole golf course paths had exposed aggregates. So we made homemade sidewalk slip forms connected with a ball-hitch and pulled with a grading tractor.

The concrete truck rode alongside as concrete was poured in the steel funnel, making a nice sidewalk out the back end.”

L.R. Contreras constructed all the

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BID RESULTS MAY/JUN 2022 Destination Gateway BERGE Offsite Paving Redpoint Contracting Action Direct $7,284,480 5/5/22

Bowie Jct Ten Ranch Rd (191-B-NFA) Cactus Asphalt $3,336,796 5/13/22

Perkins Valley Holbrook (040-D-NFA) Sunland Asphalt - AZ $6,120,000 5/20/22

Mescal Telegraph Fires (999-A-(559)T) Technology Construction - AZ $2,686,015 5/6/22

Flagstaff Ash Fork I40 (040-C-NFA) FNF Construction - AZ $7,981,960 5/13/22

Maricopa County Buckeye Fuel Station FCI Constructors, Inc. $4,445,765 5/24/22

Mesa Payson Rye Indian Rd (087-B-NFA) Cactus Asphalt $3,994,822 5/6/22

2022 Water Main Replacement Premier Backhoe $1,861,298 5/19/22

Apache Blvd Pavement Replacement Innova Group $1,858,874 5/25/22

Taxiway C Connectors Coffman Specialities - AZ $7,851,927 5/10/22

Drake Road Reclamation Paveco Inc $2,553,585 5/19/22

Pioneer Parkway Roundabout Commerce CLM Earthmovers $2,952,804 5/26/22

Ocotillo Road Improvements 148th Haydon Building Corp. $14,479,000 5/10/22

Taxiway C Relocation Hot Spot Mitigation Fann Contracting $7,194,000 5/19/22

Water Main Replacements Quarter Sections B&F Contracting $5,500,000 5/26/22

Runway 14 32 Rehabilitation Sunland Asphalt - AZ $5,880,000 5/11/22

Runway 12C 30C Reconstruction Coffman Specialities - AZ $10,239,124 5/19/22

(CMAR) SPA 1 Capacity Enhancement Felix - AZ $22,000,000 5/31/22

PSHIA Utility Vault Upgrade Infield Paving J Banicki Construction Co. $11,000,000 5/11/22

Eastmark Roadway Traffic Signal Waterline DCS Contracting Inc. $10,831,642 5/19/22

Bisbee City Hall Canyon Building & Design $4,145,911 6/1/22

(CMAR) State Route 85 Landfill Excavation Rummel Construction, Inc. $16,300,000 5/11/22

Prescott Flagstaff SR 89A (A89-A-NFA) Paveco Inc $2,400,000 5/20/22

Construction Services Reclaimed Water Revolution Industrial $5,330,852 6/7/22

Show Low McNary (260-C-(214)T) Sunland Asphalt - AZ $2,115,550 5/13/22

Whiteriver Indian Pines Hwy (073-A-NFA) Sunland Asphalt - AZ $2,570,770 5/20/22

Santa Cruz River Irvington Drexel East Bank Granite Construction - AZ $5,996,437 6/7/22

JULY 1952 Const of 4 New Barrack Buildings Yuma Army Test Station Kitchell-Phillips, Phoenix $190,000 Additions to Sewage treatment Plant Litchfield Park Naval Facility Fisher Contracting, Phoenix $112,789 New High School Marana Craven-Hague Const., Tucson $417, 171 Remodeling Safford Junior High Tucson School Board Harold Ashton Building Co., Tucson $39,882 Resurfacing 6.5 Miles of U.S. 66 Arizona Highway Department W.J. Henson, Prescott $315,430 Elementary School Additions Kingman School District No. 4 Borst Const., Phoenix $58,5000 New Fire Station Building Tempe City Council Redden Const., Phoenix $39,073 Pipeline for Mesa Reservoir Mesa City Council Southwestern Contracting, Mesa $73,751 Reservoir and Pump House Construction Mesa City Coun�il E.H. Krall, Phoenix $180,845 & $29,840

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