May/Jun 2018

Serving Contracting Firms and the Arizona Community. . .

Arizona’s Timeless Magazine

Canion & Bond Arizona Construction elders

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●The "Wrap" on Phoenix's Reynolds Aluminum Plant ●Support Found for arizona’s tallest adobe building ●The Importance of Schwenn and Clark Architects ●Racing along with Bloomquist Pump Service ●Route 66 in Holbrook Remembered ●Don't be Taken to the (Dry) Cleaners Arizona contractor & Community

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Arizona contractor & Community

Publisher William Horner Billy@arizcc.com Editor Douglas Towne Douglas@arizcc.com Contributors Michael Bernstein Marlene Blakeney Buddy Escapule Jennifer M. Levstik Roland Murphy Luke Snell Doug Sydnor Production Manager Laura Horner Laura@arizcc.com Magazine Advisor Chuck Runbeck Chuck@arizcc.com Publisher’s Representatives Tom Hogarty Tom@arizcc.com Barry Warner Barry@arizcc.com Advertising 602-931-0069 Arizcc.com/advertise Visit us online at arizcc.com

Serving Contracting Firms and the Arizona Community… Then & Now Arizona Contractor & Community (ACC) magazine is published bi-monthly (Jan/Feb, Mar/Apr, May/June, July/Aug, Sept/Oct, and Nov/Dec). ACC is a professional publication designed for the contracting industry, engineers, architects, equipment rentals, suppliers, and others interested in Arizona and its history.

Content including text, photographs or illustrations may not be reproduced without the written permission from the publisher. The publisher does not assume responsibility for unsolicited submissions.

ACC reserves the right to reject any editorial and advertising material and reserves the right to edit all submitted content material.

Arizona Contractor & Community Copyright © 2018 All rights reserved.

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May-Jun 2018

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CONTRIBUTORS

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Buddy Escapule Article on page 21

Jennifer M. Levstik, M.A. Article on page 52

Buddy Escapule has been immersed in mining, construction, and ranching since he was a child. He was raised in Tombstone, where his family has worked in those fields for several generations. This family influence steered Buddy into a construction career.

Buddy still recalls his excitement as an 8-year-old when his dad asked him if he wanted to help clean out the shotcrete pump hoses at a job site. His dad ran a sponge through the tube while Buddy sat on it. Suddenly, the pump pressured up, causing the sponge to shoot out of the hose like a cannonball and render Buddy airborne too.

In high school, Buddy would borrow equipment from his father's job sites on weekends to do side jobs, such as grading driveways and leveling lots.

He has worked for 5D Mining and Construction for the last eight years. His job tasks range from operating heavy equipment to running dirt crews to estimating and managing projects, such as demolition, excavation, grading, HDPE pipe installation, and concrete.

Buddy is currently managing a two-year project in Hayden, moving dirt and doing concrete work as part of a major upgrade to a smelter. Since January 2017, his crews have been working around the clock to pour around 5,500 yards of concrete.

Jennifer Levstik works as an architectural historian and historic preservation specialist for Logan Simpson, an environmental consulting, urban planning, and landscape design company based in Arizona. She serves as the head of Logan Simpson's historic preservation program and is based out of their Tucson office.

Jennifer has more than 19 years of experience in Cultural Resource Management and Historic Preservation. She has worked throughout Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, Nevada, California, Utah, Oregon, and Idaho and has broad experience as an architectural historian, archaeological field director, and is the former Lead Planner for the City of Tucson Historic Preservation Office.

She has also served as an adjunct instructor with the University of Arizona’s College of Architecture, Planning, and Landscape Architecture. She has authored hundreds of technical reports, national register nominations, academic and public history articles, as well as online publications for the Society of Architectural Historians.

In addition to managing a wide variety of projects including directing prehistoric and historic archaeological projects; historic building, district, and landscape documentation projects, and managing the rehabilitation and restoration of historic buildings and vintage signage, Jennifer has experience in both the private and the public sectors, having managed projects for numerous federal and local government agencies.

May-Jun 2018

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Arizona contractor & Community

Volume 7 Issue 3

CONTENTS 10.

13.

30.

32.

38.

40.

44.

46.

50.

52.

56.

58.

61.

62.

From The Editor: A Snapshot in Time: Holbrook, 1981 Douglas Towne Construction Around Arizona: Projects • People • Practices Back When: Hite Grows on Phoenix - Douglas Towne The “Wrap” on Phoenix’s Reynolds Aluminum Plant Douglas Towne Digging into Canion Contracting: Robert E. Canion Sr. Marlene Blakeney Digging into Canion Contracting: Robert E. Canion Jr. Marlene Blakeney Digging into Canion Contracting: Robert E. Canion Jr.’s Best Construction Stories - Marlene Blakeney “Bonding” Over Work: Two Construction Elders Douglas Towne Building on the Past: 1972: Spring Air Mattress Support Found For Arizona’s Tallest Adobe Building: Tucson’s Marist College - Jennifer M. Levstik, M.A. Architect’s Perspective: Schwenn and Clark Architects: Reminds Us of What is Important Doug Sydnor, FAIA Digging Through the Archives: Bloomquist Pump William Horner Bid Results - Bidjudge ACC Advertisers’ Index

Image courtesy of Laura Horner Photography

Front Cover Robert Canion Jr. and James Bond reminisce about their construction careers, which first overlapped at the Central Avenue underpass project in 1939.

Article on page 46.

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Arizona contractor & Community

Editor’s Column: A Snapshot in Time: Holbrook, 1981 Douglas Towne

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extra-kitschy Wigwam Motel and the only 90-degree turn on the entire highway, is one of its Holy Grails.

Since 1926, Route 66 has been the lifeblood of Holbrook, bringing traffic 24/7 through town looking for gas, food, lodging, and tchotchkes. When Interstate 40 bypassed Holbrook in 1981, the town’s Route 66 businesses suffered and many closed. The most famous highway in Amer-

ica, including the stretch through Holbrook, became an afterthought to most motorists.

It wasn't until a few decades later that Route 66 found a bit of its mojo again when nostalgic travelers set out to rediscover what a two-lane blacktop cross-country road trip felt like. By then, the town’s stretch of Route 66 was like a prehistoric civilization preserved in amber.

Images courtesy of Author

ravelers interested in the past are a funny breed. They are more excited about photographing a boarded-up diner than having a delicious meal. And they’ll choose a motel based on its dazzling vintage neon sign, unconcerned about the condition of their room.

Route 66, also known as the “Mother Road,” is fertile ground for these roadside historians, and Holbrook, featuring the

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Holbrook, Arizona, 1909.

Many of Holbrook’s Route 66 businesses had been shuttered for decades.

Some buildings were abandoned, and the curious took photographs, documenting the slow decay. Even the most famous Route 66 business in town, the Wigwam Motel that opened in 1950, was closed from 1982-1988 until the road once again came back into vogue.

Holbrook’s rebirth has inspired local resident Linda Kor-Fisher, editor at The Tribune-News/Silver Creek Herald. She is refurbishing a lodge formerly known as the Sundown Motel, which was built in 1949.

Located adjacent to the Wigwam Motel, the business has been closed since the early 1980s. This renovation project is emblematic of Holbrook’s neglected commercial landscape and the passion many have for the “Mother Road.”

Holbrook’s highway strip features several prominent rock shops. In the early 1880’s, Holbrook was a rough-and-tumble Wild West town. It was also the headquarters of the Aztec Land and Cattle Company, better known as the famous Hashknife Ranch, for the shape of its brand. After President Theodore Roosevelt established the nearby Petrified Forest National Monument in 1906, the town’s economy got a boost from the tourist trade.

The town became a rock collector’s paradise, with shops such as the Pow Wow Trading Post, which converted its motel units into sales displays that offered petrified wood, desert roses, and geodes. Some of these establishments, such as the Rainbow Rock Shop, not content to let nature’s gifts do their marketing, featured advertisements including life-sized, green cement dinosaurs to lure in customers.

Holbrook’s most unusual relic might not involve a prehistoric creature but a shuttered restaurant. Painted underneath the restaurant’s front window is “B-B-QED BOLOGNA.” Was this their specialty? Unfamiliar with this dish, a Google search www.Arizcc.com

revealed that barbequed bologna is sometimes called “Redneck steak.” Numerous online reviews tout it as a surprisingly tasty meal, especially if good quality bologna is used that doesn't have "mechanically separated" meat or injected preservatives.

I’ve added the dish to my bucket list, but I’ll have to venture somewhere else besides Holbrook (maybe the South?) to sample it. And isn’t that the whole point of being on the road, to see and try new things?

Arizona contractor & Community

Construction Around Arizona

Projects

Projects ∙ People ∙ Practices

Construction Around Arizona

Courtesy Chevrolet Tees it Up for Charity

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vercast skies didn’t dampen the enthusiasm of participants at the Third Annual Courtesy Chevrolet Fleet Customer Appreciation Day at the Arizona Biltmore Golf Course on February 16, 2018.

Long before the mid-morning registration check-in, eager golfers were on the practice green tuning up their putting strokes, touring booths set up nearby by a variety of vendors, and even enjoying customrolled cigars.

The crowd’s mood, already jovial from getting a Friday off from work, was heightened by the event’s good cause that ben-

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efitted the Boys & Girls Club of Metro Phoenix. A tasty lunch catered by El Toro BBQ featured pulled-pork, with Arizona pecan wood. Courtesy Chevrolet management then took the stage to thank participants and hand out prizes to raffle winners.

Golfers then assembled in their carts, with visions of birdies and eagles, and headed out for the tournament’s shotgun start. No word on how many “snowmen” showed up on participants’ score cards.

The auto dealership, known by many for having the Valley’s most beloved midcentury sign, the towering blue and yellow Courtesy Chevrolet arrow sign on Camelback Road, is to be applauded for their dedication toward improving the lives of youth in the Valley. The first two clubs opened in Phoenix in 1946, and since then

the Boys & Girls Club of Metro Phoenix has expanded to provide services to more than 27,000 local youths annually at 13 clubs and one dental clinic.

Courtesy Chevrolet has been serving the Valley almost as long, having been founded in 1955 by Edward J. Fitzgerald and prominent California car dealership owner R. Mitchel McClure. The dealership was partially acquired in 1981 by Fitzgerald’s son-in-law, William “Bill” R. Gruwell.

His grandson, Scott Gruwell is currently the general manager. “We have been able to stay very strong just on the founding principles of taking care of employees and customers,” Gruwell says. “If you treat your employees well, they treat the customers well, and it comes full circle.”

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Projects

But then momentum for the museum stalled. The LGF Foundation contacted neither Mackay nor Kirkland. Pan addressed the LGF Foundation about the situation and, not satisfied with the response, voluntarily left the group in April 2017.

Since then, the architect has continued making connections in the science world and is confident the museum could obtain specimens. The main issues remain funding and a site for the museum.

Pan has since tried unsuccessfully to rekindle the enthusiasm with Mackay. “It makes sense; she was snubbed by the project and likely feels it is going nowhere,” he says.

The architect is still excited about the museum project. “This is not an immovable obstacle,” Pan says. “But it’s a challenge to find a sponsor for the new design.” He hopes to find a benefactor to generate a new concept, without the LGF Foundation, and give Phoenix a tool to solicit political support with an eye towards a bond issue or private-public partnership.

“Phoenix is the nation’s fifth largest city,” Pan declares. “A monumental museum of natural history is in the city’s future. Will it be today or some distant decade from now?”

Kirkland, too, is still enthusiastic about assisting with the project, with one caveat.

"I hope it is science-based, focusing on the Natural History of Arizona; as our Natural History Museum of Utah focuses on Utah.”

Images courtesy of Trevor Pan

he proposed Museum of Natural History in Papago Park arose out of an unsuccessful design for a building on the other side of the world.

An architectural competition in 2014 for the design of the Guggenheim Museum of Art in Finland amassed 1,715 entries, including one from Phoenix architect Trevor Pan. The competition called for an inspiring use of timber, as Finland is a significant producer of the natural resource. “My scheme utilized glulam beams and columns with a slight curve to give a tree-like appearance—beautiful, but it didn’t win,” Pan says. He noted that the winning team’s inspiring uses of timber were not evident.

Nevertheless, Pan’s design attracted the attention of the LGF Foundation, a Tempe-based, non-profit whose mission statement is to actively research, accumulate, assemble, preserve and display natural history artifacts, including fossils and minerals. Founder Michael A. Fleeman has an impressive collection of these specimens.

According to Pan, the group planned to construct a museum of natural history but lacked the capital to move the project forward and a property to build on—stiff obstacles to overcome. The LGF Founda-

tion commissioned Pan to create a concept design to pitch investors for their proposed $200 million project in June 2016.

Pan suggested locating the museum in an area east of Papago Park, which would put three similar types of venues near one another: The Phoenix Zoo, Desert Botanical Garden, and the proposed LGF Museum of Natural History. “Imagine an Educational Tryptic in the best possible site in the Phoenix Metro Area!” the architect exclaims.

The LGF Foundation, however, envisioned a 300,000 square-foot museum for a site just west of the Tempe Center of the Arts, hoping there would be more potential walk-in patrons.

Pan and the LGF Foundation soon learned the Tempe site was unavailable.

Ryan Levesque, Tempe’s deputy director of planning, suggested the museum would be well suited to the Papago Buttes area and that they should contact the City of Phoenix.

Pan approached Christine Mackay, Phoenix’s new director of economic development, in December 2016. “She responded with enthusiasm,” Pan says.

“Her colleague, the Phoenix parks director, also shared her sentiments about the highlevel concept of a natural history museum east of the Papago Buttes.”

The architect reached out to Jim Kirkland, Utah’s state paleontologist, who has been involved in creating three museums.

“He was ready to help,” Pan says. “It seemed the project was on a great path.”

Construction Around Arizona

In Hibernation: Phoenix’s Museum of Natural History

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Arizona contractor & Community

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May-Jun 2018

Projects Construction Around Arizona

Elite Sports Hits Scottsdale Trifecta

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The project had multiple changes to the design during the construction process, which combined with unforeseen conditions required additional design and construction efforts. The weather influenced the work, with rain, heat during the summer, and unseasonably cold temperatures during the application of the track surfacing.

“This was a project that probably should not have been able to be completed with all of these constraints, but great teamwork and dedication by personnel

made it a memorable project that was finished within timelines,” Rudolph confesses.

The project included the complete demolition of the football/soccer fields and the running tracks. Reconstruction of these facilities involved: ● regrading and remediation of the native soils, ● electrical and scoreboard renovations, ● construction of a specialized drainage base system for the fields, ● new concrete vertical curbing and flatwork, ● installation of water cannon system with boxes, piping, and electrical, ● renovations of the perimeter fencing, ● construction of aggregate base course for the running tracks and site concrete, ● installation of new track and field equipment and asphalt paving, ● installation of FieldTurf Brand Synthetic Athletic Turf and game lines, and ● installation of Stobitan Track Surfacing and striping on the running tracks.

Images courtesy of Elite Sports

t was a sprint to the finish line in three Scottsdale stadium projects for Elite Sports Builders.

The Scottsdale Unified School District had awarded the Phoenix-based company a $3.4 million contract to renovate the stadium facilities at Chaparral High School, Coronado High School, and Saguaro High School between June 2017 and January 2018. The firm, however, was given only 100 days for these stadium projects to come to substantial completion.

This timeline was a challenge. “This constructability window was during the summer break for the campuses with no room for slippage,” Troy Rudolph, president of Elite Sports Builders, says.

The company dug their spikes into the track and completed the project on time.

But the race took some creative maneuvering. The only part of the work left out of the initial schedule was the track surfacing, which was done over the winter break with only 40 days to complete.

“These time restraints made the project extremely difficult and required extensive project management and multiple crews working long days and weekends,” Rudolph says.

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“This project was a much-needed complete renovation of the facilities to provide high-performance surfaces for the athletes while providing state of the art facilities for the district incorporating functionality, aesthetics, and safety,” Rudolph says. “These new facilities are among the highest quality high school facilities in Arizona, providing performance for years to come.”

Arizona contractor & Community

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Projects Construction Around Arizona

Golf Legend Gives Construction Approval

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Images courtesy of Mychael Ramirez

onstruction approvals generally don’t come from a man widely regarded as the greatest golfer of all time. The “Golden Bear,” Jack Nicklaus, however, had to give his approval before the recent renovations occurred at Superstition Mountain Golf & Country Club.

“He provided written feedback and recommended alterations to several holes,” Mychael Ramirez, Big Yam public relations coordinator for the course, says.

The recent work at the club featured a $2.2 million bunker renovation of its two Jack Nicklaus-designed golf courses. But why spend so much effort on golf bunkers, the rarely loved and often hated feature of many links? "Bunkers are the defining aspect of numerous courses around the world,” Scott Krout, director of agronomy at the club, says. “We must eventually provide these course hazards some TLC.” Bunker renovations, however, are no simple feat. While swapping out some sand seems like an easy task, Krout, who has been with the club since its inception, indicates that it’s a complicated process.

The project officially broke ground in May 2017, but planning for the renovation began more than a year prior. The process involved numerous meetings with the club’s ownership, the Hladky family, to sell them on this improvement. “Projected to cost $2 million, it was imperative the renovation was presented as an investment to our owners who successfully run Superstition Mountain Golf & Country Club as an efficient business,” Krout says.

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Given the green light, members of the club staff, Phil Smith Design, and the Nicklaus Group painstakingly reviewed each bunker on both courses. “Having worked with the Nicklaus Group on the initial design of Superstition Mountain back in the 1990s helped streamline the evaluation process as we critically analyzed the bunkers and surrounding slopes,” Krout says. ”Our survey also identified surrounding landscape that would need to be adjusted for optimal playability and view.”

Lastly, the Golden Bear himself reviewed each bunker blueprint and provided his approval or recommended alterations before breaking ground.

The project focused on the renovation of all 175 bunkers on the two, 18-hole courses, simultaneously. Construction crews removed existing sand, installed state-of-the-art Capillary Concrete, updated surrounding greens, and upgraded the drainage system.

While each hole required its own unique TLC, the construction crews discovered blocked, crushed or nonfunctioning drainage on 1/3 of the bunkers.

“Frontier Golf was an excellent partner during the entire process,” Krout says. “From the initial meetings, through the bid process and the completion of the work, we could not be happier with our choice. They were very professional,

stayed on schedule and came in on budget.

We are thrilled with the final product.”

Frontier Golf crews installed more than 1,440 tons of concrete and more than 4,500 tons of new sand during the five months of construction. Despite the size of the project, the club was able to offer members 18 holes of golf every day. At times, this meant combining holes from both courses, but the project was carefully mapped to limit course disruptions.

The project’s challenges included the weather. “Powerful thunderstorms were an impromptu, real-world test for the new bunkers,” Krout notes.” Despite multiple storms, the Capillary Concrete drained rainwater effectively, and the newly fortified bunkers had zero washouts.”

Krout says that the successful completion of the project was due to several factors, notably effective communication with staff and membership through weekly e-newsletters and updates on their website to view bunker progress.

“By keeping everyone in the loop, Superstition Mountain was able to reduce frustration and make membership and staff a part of this large undertaking,” Krout says. “By renovating our bunkers, we have provided an exceptional place to play golf for years to come, signaling the health of the Club and the Hladky’s commitment to their business and the sport of golf.”

Arizona contractor & Community

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Buddy Escapule

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Projects There is a strong sense of accomplishment to be able to bring a 70-year-old machine back to life, especially with my personal connection to it. I plan to keep the grader in operating order, using it around the house and on a few local side projects. This machine will likely outlive me and get passed on to my sons so they can appreciate the feel of vintage equipment and keep a piece of family history alive. To this day, when I smell the scent of starting fluid, it takes me back to being a kid sitting on the same machine with my dad getting it fired up.

Images courtesy of Author

estoring my 1947 Cat 112 grader is more than working on a vintage piece of equipment; I’m revisiting my childhood.

This grader was purchased by my father in 1994 when I was 5 years old. I vividly recall driving from Tombstone to Benson to view the vintage grader. After a day’s work getting it operational, he drove it back to our Tombstone home.

Many of my childhood weekends were spent riding with my dad while he built roads and leveled land around the Tombstone area. We used the grader until evening, when I was called to the house to get ready for school the next day. There remains the spot on the left-hand side of the fuel cell where I wrote my company name and “Buddy” in pencil still remains.

My dad sold the machine in 1998 to my grandpa’s uncle to maintain roads around his home in Tombstone.

My dad repurchased the grader in 2009, but it sat untouched in Tombstone until 2016. That year, I hauled the grader to Queen Creek, unaware of the extent of work necessary to get the machine operational. I knew the pony motor had issues and the tires were shot, but otherwise, I was entering the great unknown.

To begin with, I disassembled the pony motor, which revealed it was missing all

the external components. I started shopping for equipment, including carburetors, gas tanks, and governors. Once I pulled the heads off the motor I noticed everything inside was missing but the crankshaft. I was, soon again, on the phone reading off parts numbers, trying to track down replacements.

After a year, my dad and I were able to get the pony motor operational. After the rebuild, fine-tuning the carburetor and rebuilding the magneto, I was able to set the timing and turn on the fuel. With the push of a button, the starter engaged and the pony motor fired.

I knew I wasn’t in the clear yet, another obstacle needed to be surmounted. Shortly after the pony motor was running, I realized the diesel engine had a seized cylinder. My dad and I pulled the injectors, filled the cylinders with diesel, and slowly began to turn the motor back and forth. Luckily, after about 10 minutes, the diesel engine was free and spinning.

The next obstacle was the starter clutch pinion, the mechanism that meshes the gears from the pony motor to the diesel engine to allow the latter to begin turning the diesel engine. After some work and locating some spare parts, we rebuilt it. The tires came from my grandpa, who had taken some off his Gallion grader that were the correct size and still in decent shape. With little cost, I had the tires filled, and my 1947 CAT 112 grader was ready to roll!

Construction Around Arizona

My Childhood “Pet”: A 1947 CAT 112 Grader

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Arizona contractor & Community

Projects Construction Around Arizona

Senior Living Complex Planned Along Future Light Rail Line Roland Murphy Arizona Builder’s Exchange

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Images courtesy of Author

he South Central Light Rail Extension is still in the design phase and won't be in operation until 2023. However, at least one developer is planning ahead and creating an 80-unit, three-story senior living complex that will lie directly between two planned stops along the route.

In a Planned Unit Development submitted to the City of Phoenix in December 2017, Bethel Development, Inc. laid out its vision for a long-vacant 2.56-acre site at the southeast corner of South Central and East Sunland avenues. “The goals are to develop the property with an agerestricted multifamily development for seniors 55 and up, with a design that promotes walkability and access to the planned light rail,” the submittal states. As such, the development will be designed and built in accordance with the city’s Walkable Urban Code and Transit Oriented Development guidelines.

Sunland Senior Living will offer 62 one-bedroom and 18 two-bedroom units.

Sizes will range from 661-861 square feet.

Construction of the regional postmodern, 91,500 square-foot structure will be wood frame. The primary and secondary colors

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will be a yellowish cream and tan, with black accent trim and brown brick.

Access to the site will be via Sunland, and the existing curb cuts on Central will be removed. Sidewalks already in place will be enhanced to promote pedestrian ease of use. These enhancements include widening and, in some areas, detaching the sidewalk from the curb. The proposal claims the current pedestrian experience in the area is less-than-friendly, with cracked or nonexistent sidewalks and a complete lack of shade.

Depending on the location of the complex’s water line, shading will be provided either through planted shade trees

or building-attached shade structures.

"The improved pedestrian connections, enhanced landscaping, and the newly developed site will allow for increased activity and energy at this important neighborhood node adjacent to the light rail, while also addressing security for the residents," the developer claims. At least 75 percent of sidewalks adjacent to the property will be shaded.

Parking will be at-grade and screened from view. The plan also includes parking for up to 32 bicycles. Planned on-site amenities include a barbeque and picnic area, community room, workout facility, computer training room, and space for supportive services.

Sunland Senior Living is the latest proposal in the light rail corridor’s ongoing development and construction boom.

Between 2005 – when the light rail began construction – and July of 2015, development activity within a half mile of the first 20 miles of light rail topped $8.2 billion, according to Valley Metro.

Bethel Development, Inc. is the Owner/Developer, and its website shows a portfolio of more than 1,800 units in 23 developments across Arizona, New Mexico, and Ohio, where the company is headquartered. Athena Studio, LLC is the architect. Bethel’s in-house firm, Qualcon Builders, LLC, will serve as general contractor. No preliminary construction timeline has been established yet.

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hat’s your background? Although I was born in Bogota, Colombia, I was adopted by a Dutch family at birth. I attended a college prep school in the Tri-State area of New York before moving to Tucson in 1996. I graduated with a B.A. in Communication from the University of Arizona. Before becoming involved in management, I worked in radio and television.

My highlight was working for Geraldo Rivera on a show called Upfront Tonight, which aired on CNBC. My assignments included covering the Kosovo War. How did you start your management career? After graduation for the University of Arizona, I worked at Enterprise Rent-ACar and met Scott Kirtley, who at the time worked at the Arizona Department of Education. He suggested that I apply for a job at the Tucson Metro Chamber of Commerce. Three weeks later, I started as the Manager of Government Affairs.

Describe your work? For the past 16 years, I have been part of or have managed various associations. These include President & CEO of the Greater Oro Valley Chamber of Commerce, Executive Director of the Metropolitan Pima Alliance, and Chief of Staff to Council Member Kathleen

People

Dunbar in the City of Tucson before coming to the Arizona Transportation Builders Association as Executive Director in 2011.

My background includes lobbying at the federal, state, and local levels. I particularly enjoy fundraising and work with various stakeholders in the community to create a better Tucson community.

What are some of your most memorable projects? Recently, I helped create new funding sources for roads. I was part of the team that led Proposition 101, which is a 5-year plan to raise the city's sales tax a half-cent to resurface roads and improve equipment, vehicles, and facilities for the Tucson Police Department and Tucson Fire Department. The measure passed in May 2017. It’s hard to raise taxes, but if these items weren’t addressed, it would cost the city more in years to come and put the community’s health at risk.

What’s up with the Arizona Transportation Builders Association (ATB)? It was important for my association to get the community and our elected officials to understand what we did, so we changed our name from the Tucson Utility Contractors Association in 2014. Previously, people confused us for a general construction group, when we consist of members who build roads, bridges, and other infrastructure work. With so many trade associations, it was essential to let the public quickly understand who our members are, and how we can lend our professional support. The name change has lifted our level of community involvement and expertise.

Construction Around Arizona

Interview with Ramon A. Gaanderse, Executive Director of the Arizona Transportation Builders Association

What are you most proud of with your career? That I keep in touch with the people from various backgrounds, who I have met since the start of my career. The friendships and professional assistance I have received from them has been invaluable.

Who were the individuals that most influenced you? It starts with my parents and family who always supported my actions and gave me a sense of hope. My wife and daughter are the most important people to me and help with my crazy work schedule. Of course, there is my elementary teacher, Mrs. Coomes, who worked with me during a difficult time of being diagnosed with a learning disability. I still talk with her.

Do you have any other thoughts? Just that the Arizona Transportation Builders Association exists to help the community improve roads and bridges. My work, however, does not end with the association but it’s to better the community in many different ways. And those I have met who have assisted me in my career and personally will always have a place in my heart.

Editor’s note: Ramon A. Gaanderse became the Director of Corporate Communication for KE&G Construction in April 2018.

Left: Gaanderse congratulates Chad Housler of Granite Construction and Jennifer McMahon of Structural Concepts with an ATB Tonka truck and excavator for their donations of more than $5,000 to ATB scholarship foundation.

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Arizona contractor & Community

Twenty six

May-Jun 2018

Michael Bernstein

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People Images courtesy of Author

he most serious environmental concern during a real estate transaction involving a shopping center or a strip mall is the historical presence of a dry cleaner. A dry cleaning business may have resulted in soil and groundwater contamination, which could also result in an indoor air quality problem. Vapors from the underlying soil can be of concern, particularly if a tenant space is, or will be, occupied by a daycare center or another establishment where children are present.

The dry cleaning solvent of particular concern is tetrachloroethylene, also known as perchloroethylene (PCE) or “perc.” By 1948, it was the preferred dry cleaning solvent in the U.S. The challenge for a consultant performing a Phase I Environmental Site Assessment (ESA) is to determine whether, and exactly where, a dry cleaner was present.

If your consultant is fortunate, old city directories or telephone directories will be available. But what exactly was ABC Dry Cleaners doing during the 1980s? A party to the transaction who wants to make the consultant go away will claim that ABC was just a drop-off/pick-up counter. But does he or she really know what ABC Dry Cleaners was doing 35 years ago? How do they

know? The other tactic that is supposed to silence the environmental assessor is the assertion that the dry cleaning machine was a “closed loop” unit.

Closed loop is little more than a buzz word, and does not close the issue. If old records survive, a Certificate of Occupancy from the Building Department could be definitive.

How does a dry cleaner contaminate a property? Perhaps the proprietor hosed off the lint filters outside. But in the author’s experience, the problem usually isn’t leakage or spillage of solvent from the machine. The culprit is probably mismanagement of the contaminated water generated by the separator or the still that purifies the solvent for re-use. Proprietors considered this waste to be just water – but it isn’t. It’s highly contaminated. If the collection bucket overflows, the solvent will pass through the concrete floor. The federal drinking water standard for PCE is 5 parts per billion (ppb). I had a sample of this wastewater analyzed by a laboratory; it contained 15,000 ppb.

What became of this wastewater? It was poured into a sink, a toilet, or a floor drain, which discharged to a sanitary line that leaked. It was poured on the ground outside. Or maybe it was passed through an atomizer that wasn't properly used or

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maintained. Even today, if you see a pot of water boiling on a hot plate in a dry cleaner, the proprietor isn’t making lunch; they are trying to get rid of their wastewater without having to pay a waste contractor.

And don’t assume the potential contamination is limited to that tenant space.

If the sink, toilet, or floor drain discharged to a septic system or a dry well, the contamination might be there too. And where exactly was that dry cleaner among those 30 tenant spaces? Suite D? Suite 7? That’s good to know, but at which end of the building did the numbering or lettering start? Have the dimensions, numbering, or lettering of the spaces changed over the years?

If the consultant knows that actual dry cleaning was performed at the site, the buyer or lender will require a Phase II ESA. The current tenant might not like the noise and dust that will be created, but if the investigation reveals no impacts or minimal impacts, everybody will be relieved. If contamination is identified, applicable regulations must be reviewed.

The Arizona Department of Environmental Quality (ADEQ) has a Voluntary Remediation Program, by which the successful remediator is relieved of enforcement actions and can receive the coveted “no further action” status.

Your environmental consultant must know the intricacies of investigating a historic dry cleaner so that the issue doesn’t recur during a future sale or refinancing. Does the consultant know that a “PolyClean Center” was Whirlpool Corporation’s brand of self-service dry cleaner?

The author lives in Pennsylvania, but what I've described can happen anywhere.

Don’t get taken to the cleaners when buying or demolishing an old shopping center or strip mall. For more info, please contact Michael at environmental.assessor @verizon.net

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Construction Around Arizona

Don’t’ Be Taken to the Cleaners: Dry Cleaners and Real Estate Transactions

Twenty eight

May-Jun 2018

Luke M. Snell, P.E.

T

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his article is the second of three articles on concrete certifications that help produce a quality project. The first article discussed the tests done in the field to make sure the correct concrete was delivered. In this installment, we discuss professionals that finish the concrete.

The American Concrete Institute (ACI) defines a concrete flatwork finisher as a “craftsman who has demonstrated knowledge about and the ability to place, consolidate, finish, edge, joint, cure, and protect concrete flatwork.” The emphasis is on the word “craftsman.” Excellent finishing skills consist of both expertise and knowledge that only a craftsman who understands concrete can perform.

A finisher can learn about concrete basics, the importance of water-cement ratios, how adding water in the middle of the concrete load has detrimental effects, and what causes cracking. This knowledge is essential for a good concrete project; however, it’s only part of the story. Experience is also critical to a concrete project.

A skilled finisher must know how to adjust the finishing operations due to weather and soil conditions, what equipment must be used to meet flatness requirements, and when floating, toweling, and booming should begin. This list must be learned in the field from experience and can’t be taught in the classroom.

Many projects with various site and weather conditions are necessary.

ACI developed the Field Grade I certification, confirming that the technicians who perform field tests to make sure the

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Practices

concrete is correct. The organization then realized that craftsman who place and finish the concrete must also meet a high standard of workmanship. To achieve this challenge, ACI developed a two-tier approach.

The first level is recognizing that a finisher must have a basic understanding of concrete and what is done to it in the field during placing and finishing, which affects its final strength, durability, appearance, and performance. To assess an employee's concrete understanding, a workbook and a written exam was prepared, which covers the following topics: ● Planning for slab-on-ground placement, ● Concrete materials, mixture proportioning, and control tests, ● Preparation before placing concrete, ● Floor flatness and levelness, ● Placing equipment, ● Finishing tools and equipment, ● Procedures for finishing slabs-on ground, ● Jointing, ● Curing and protection of concrete, and ● Finishing problems and possible solutions.

The exam is a two-hour, closed-book test that finishers must pass every five years. Since many finishers have not recently taken an exam, certification-sponsoring groups conduct a review class that covers information in the study book.

The second part of the certification is to show that a concrete flatwork finisher has a successful work history. To be certified, they must do one of the following: ● Possess 1,500 hours of actual on-the-job finishing experience (approximately one year of regular full-time work) AND successfully complete the performance examination or ● Possess 4,500 hours of actual on-the-job finishing experience (approximately three years of regular full-time work).

Most certifications sponsoring groups do not have space or time to have each concrete flatwork finisher do a performance examination by completing a flatwork slab from start to finish showing their knowledge of each step. Instead, most sponsoring groups require the concrete flatwork finisher to verify they have 4,500 hours of job-finishing experience. The work experience form is completed by the finisher and checked by their employer.

A self-employed concrete finisher can

prove their job experience by documenting completed projects.

This program has been embraced by several companies, in particular by those that are building big box stores. Many of them now require that the lead finisher is certified, and some require that a percentage of the finishers also be certified. They assume that a finisher that becomes certified has demonstrated that they are truly a craftsman.

This certification is also used at some universities as part of the students’ educational program. The workbook articulates skills the finisher must have and how they should perform their job. Most students will not have the work experience needed to be a finisher nor will become finishers.

They will, however, be managing projects where there are concrete flatwork finishers. Thus it is important to have a good idea of what they are doing on the job site and the issues finishers are facing. If a person successfully completes the exam without the required work experience, they become a concrete flatwork technician.

Recently I did a review class and certification for a concrete flatwork company.

They had the attitude that everyone in the business is involved with concrete, so all field personnel, project managers, and estimators attended the class, which took place one hour per week for several weeks.

Many companies elect to do a 2-5 hour review course and take the exam on the same day. The amount of training required to be successful depends on the experience level of their finishers and the company’s internal training program.

For those wanting more information on the Concrete Flatwork Finisher Certification, contact the author at l.snell@wtus.com or visit the Arizona ACI website at azaci.org

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Construction Around Arizona

Concrete Flatwork Certification: Finishing it Right

Hite Grows on Phoenix Douglas Towne

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enry Hite, publicized as the tallest man in the world at 8 feet 2 inches, arrived on a TWA flight in Phoenix on June 4, 1963, to begin a two-week promotional tour as the “Corn King Giant” for Wilson’s Corn King Meats. Wearing his “Corn King” crown, Hite made appearances at Safeway stores in the Valley and Tucson. The marketing campaign, which also featured Corny the Clown who toured Basha’s Markets, increased sales 400 percent in five months.

In a Tucson Safeway store, a suspicious elderly lady told Hite, “You must be standing on stilts.” Hite pulled up his pant legs to prove he was indeed standing on his own two feet. “Well then,” said another onlooker, pointing to Hite’s midsection, “you most certainly must have something in the middle.”

Hite had many challenges in life, including driving a Volkswagen that had its front seats removed so he

could operate it from the back seat. While staying at the HiwayHouse Motor Hotel in Phoenix, the motel manager had to move two beds together to allow Hite to sleep.

Hite worked as the Corn King Giant for 15 years, after his vaudeville career as part of the act, “Lowe, Hite and Stanley” ended in 1962. He died in Los Angeles at age 63 in 1978.

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Back When

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The “Wrap” on Phoenix’s Reynolds Aluminum Plant Douglas Towne

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Reynolds Aluminum Plant, facing northwest from 35th Ave., and Harrison St., 1958. www.Arizcc.com

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hoenix is the land of sunshine, palm trees, and posh resorts. Unknowing visitors might have the impression that the most industrious work activity undertaken is waiters trotting out full trays of adult beverages during peak tourist season. But while the city might be light on heavy industry today, for four decades it boasted what once was the world’s largest aluminum extrusion plant. The Aluminum Company of America (ALCOA)’s massive 285-acre industrial facility had 37 acres of buildings.

The plant contributed to the Allied victory in World War II, processing scrap and pig aluminum into pontoon bridges and parts for the B-29 Superfortress. The four-engine, high-altitude bomber went into combat near the end of the war against Japan, including the atomic bomb attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The plant’s 3,300-person workforce at the time included M.A. Machell, who previously was a concert cellist. “I prefer music, but I took the job here because I felt it was my patriotic duty to do everything in my power for the war effort,” he told the Arizona Republic in 1945.

The $34 million aluminum complex was located at the southwest corner of Van Buren and 35th Avenue, which at the time was four miles west of the city limits.

Approved for World War II efforts by the Defense Plants Corporation (DPC) in 1942, the facility was initially to be located in Oregon. That state’s labor shortage caused by its extensive wartime shipbuilding program, combined with Phoenix’s inland location providing protection from Japanese aircraft, contributed to its relocation.

Wyatt C. Hedrick of Fort Worth was the architect and engineer. Principal contractors were the Central Contracting Company of Dallas and Thomas Bate and Sons of Denver. The Phoenix plant was the largest of 21 ALCOA plants constructed exclusively for military orders by the DPC. After the war, the facility was to be adapted to peacetime manufacturing.

The plant’s main 1,250,000 squarefoot brick building was three-stories high, a half-mile long, 100-feet wide, and had a saw-toothed glass roof. This hanger-like structure housed most production activities, including the melting and press divisions, heat treatment, extrusion finish, and tube manufacturing units. Behind the main building were the water tank and smoke-

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through a die. The plant’s heavy-duty press operated at pressures so high that, if placed under the Hotel Westward Ho, it would elevate the 15-story building seven feet in a matter of seconds, according to a 1945 article in the Republic. More than 4,300 different dies were in stock as of 1949.

The plant fabricated extruded aluminum shapes for the war industry, largely airplanes. Many women worked at the plant, including Waunita Huff, who operated an overhead crane that moved metal through the plant’s tubing department. “I love this work and wouldn’t be anything else but a crane operator,” she told the Republic in 1945.

The plant’s labor demand was so massive, that about three-fourths of the workers arrived from out of state, according to the book, Desert Visions and the Making of Phoenix 1860-2009 by Philip VanderMeer. To house the plant’s workers, the Federal Public Housing Authority constack incinerator. In front were nine smaller buildings. The Southern Pacific Railroad served the plant, which contained four miles of track with trains carting huge slabs of aluminum between buildings.

During World War II, guard towers ringed the facility, which had its own police

“There was nothing glamorous about the work; it was tedious and dangerous.” force, fire department, hospital, power plant, and housing. To the south and west was farmland, with more fields located to the east.

The plant manufactured extruded aluminum parts by applying hydraulic pressure on cast aluminum billets heated to 950 degrees Fahrenheit, to flow the metal

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hoenix is the land of sunshine, palm trees, and posh resorts. Unknowing visitors might have the impression that the most industrious work acti

Top left: H&R Transfer Co. cranes hoist an overhead carriage from a rail car into a shop building at 301 S. 19th Ave., 1967.

Right: Executives visit the plant, 1969.

Opposite page, top: The Reynolds Aluminum plant facing northeast towards midtown Phoenix, 1967.

Opposite page, bottom: Employees gather for a co-worker's retirement party, 1971.

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May-Jun 2018

Images courtesy of Arizona Contractor & Community magazine

structed the Alzona Park housing project.

Located on 80 acres directly northeast of the facility, 1,200 housing unit were contained in 100 row buildings. Alzona housed more than 5,000 residents at its peak.

Water was supplied by Phoenix, electricity and gas by Central Arizona Light and Power, and sewage was treated by the ALCOA plant.

When World War II ended in 1945, the plant scaled back operations because of canceled war orders. ALCOA was not allowed to purchase the plant, as the federal government feared it might enhance its perceived market dominance.

Reynolds Metals Company, which would soon introduce Reynolds Wrap aluminum foil to great success, leased the plant in 1946 and purchased it four years later for $6 million. The plant www.Arizcc.com

produced irrigation tubing, guard rails, and building and transportation materials, which were distributed as far as Europe, Latin America, and South Africa.

Company management heralded their employees at the Phoenix plant. The Valley had the best supply of skilled labor because “people come here for the climate,” said R.W. Pickens, the plant’s general manager, to the Republic in 1947. “Because of this factor, Phoenix has the cream of the crop [with workers].” At the time, Reynolds had almost 25,000 employees operating 48 plants in 18 states and Mexico.

During the Korean War, which started in 1950, the Reynolds plant worked at maximum capacity. The company expanded the aluminum extrusion plant, and it was the world's largest by 1952. The facility was among the areas annexed by the city of Phoenix in 1958.

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The plant had an annual Christmas party for the employees’ families, according to Al Macias. His father, Joseph, worked there beginning in the early 1950s. “I have an image of all these World War II vets streaming out of this massive facility during a shift change in the plant’s heyday,” Macias, news director for KJZZ, says.

Macias, himself, worked at the plant for eight months while attending college in the mid-1970s, sometimes working the graveyard shift. “Often you would find guy’s napping,” he says. Still, the experience gave him an appreciation for his father’s career. “There was nothing glamorous about the work; it was tedious and dangerous. The factory was a hot, filthy, noisy, miserable place. Still, my father went to work every day and provided for his family.”

The facility closed in 1983. “The plant had become too old to be cost-competitive, other firms could make the hard alloy extruded aluminum products more cheaply," a Reynold's spokesperson said to the Republic. “The operation had lost tens of millions of dollars in the 30 months before its closing.”

The closing didn’t surprise Ray Turner, who worked there as a mechanic from 1979-1981. “It was a huge plant with machinery that was breaking down all the time, with union employees that didn’t work. If you had 20 years in there, some guys would just sit around and foremen couldn’t fire them because of the union.

One guy would come in, throw down a bunch of rags and take a nap on them.”

Turner recalls a facility so large that foremen used bicycles to get around. The floor consisted of two by fours, not installed flat but on their ends, which had absorbed oil used as a lubricant during manufacturing. “It could have easily gone up in flames. It was a dangerous place to work; there were stories of guys getting killed or injured.”

An arson-caused fire severely damaged the plant’s main building in 1989.

ALCOA, which purchased the property in 2000, razed the remaining buildings.

An unfortunate legacy of the plant remains, however. Over the decades, the facility discharged trichloroethane and other toxic pollutants that were used in manufacturing processes. ALCOA has spent nearly $2 million in a long-term attempt to

Thirty is Sixthe land of sunshine, palm trees, and posh resorts. Unknowing visitors might have the impression that the most May-Jun 2018 work a hoenix industrious

remediate an extensive plume of contaminated groundwater.

It’s not surprising Phoenix’s aluminum plant lasted 40 years. “One of the major assets of the Phoenix area as far as Reynold’s is concerned is the wonderful climate,” said Plant Manager E.G. Drewey to Arizona Days and Ways magazine in 1963.

“Because of the mild winter weather, low humidity, and low annual rainfall, yearround work both inside and outside is feasible.”

And probably also because company executives could schedule plant visits in January.

Top: Reynolds employee inspecting median guardrails for the City of Phoenix, 1968.

Left: Reynolds Aluminum's main entrance, 1964.

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Arizona contractor & Community

Marlene Blakeney

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some of the state’s earliest basements, canals, and underpasses.

Robert, with his brother William, came to Arizona to work in the copper mines of Bisbee in 1903. They were two of five brothers who farmed a 300-acre spread near Smiley, Texas, located 60 miles southeast of San Antonio. As an underground

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pending time underground can be a relief from Arizona’s scorching summers. Few understood this better than Robert E. Canion Sr., who transitioned from dangerous employment as an underground miner in Bisbee to a challenging job as a steam shovel operator who excavated

miner in Bisbee, Robert gained renown for his talent using dynamite.

His future wife, Ola Greene, also moved to Bisbee from Texas after surviving the Galveston Hurricane of 1900 by finding refuge in the second story of her girls’ boarding school. Her family moved to Bisbee in a covered wagon, to a place where “hurricanes didn’t exist.” Ola graduated from Bisbee High School and married Robert in a ceremony in Arlington, Arizona located west of Buckeye, in 1910.

The couple continued living in Bisbee, but their hearts were still in the Lone Star State. When Ola became pregnant, Robert took her back to Texas for the birth of their

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May-Jun 2018

first child. “None of my children will be born outside Texas,” was the father’s quote passed down through the family.

Their first child died, the second child was named Narissa, and the third child, Robert E. Canion, Jr. was born 1916. When the U.S. entered World War I in 1917, Robert was given the option by the government of being drafted or going back to Bisbee to work for Phelps Dodge in the mine as a civilian. He chose the latter and Robert Jr. celebrated his first birthday on the train taking the family to Arizona. After returning to Arizona, the couple had another child, George “Jay” in 1918.

Robert eventually fell ill with lung disease from working underground in the copper mines. But along came an opportunity that was to change his life.

Phelps Dodge planned a project constructing dikes for mine tailings near Warren, a town located adjacent to Bisbee.

The company was going to contract out the work, but Robert offered to do the job for $50,000. He completed the work, saving the company an estimated $65,000. He was offered a bonus for his efficient work and asked for it in the form of an idle steam shovel owned by Phelps Dodge. Robert moved it to the railroad tracks, shipped it to Phoenix, and started Canion Contracting Company in 1924.

One of Robert’s first projects was digging canals and ditches for the Roosevelt Irrigation District in the West Valley. “My father didn’t like working in the area because the alkaline water was tough on the steam shovel,” Robert Jr., his 101year-old son, says. After completing the Roosevelt Irrigation District contract, Robert and his partner had paid off two steam shovels, two Buicks, two homes, and each had $32,000 in the bank.

Robert then moved his business and family to Tucson, mainly to avoid working with alkaline water, according to his son.

The company excavated the basement of the El Conquistador Hotel and other buildings, performed flood control work on the San Pedro and Big Sandy rivers, excavated

three underpasses for the Southern Pacific Railroad, and dug basements and utility tunnels at the University of Arizona.

Later, Robert returned to Phoenix. His company excavated basements for buildings including the Orpheum Theater and the addition to the San Carlos Hotel.

Robert then won a contract to build and pave five sections of Route 66 near Holbrook in 1932. The Route 66 project ended up bankrupting him.

The Route 66 project ended up bankrupting him.

Top: Canion Sr. and his dragline shovel on Route 66 project, 1929.

Bottom left: Canion Sr. with a rail car-mounted chain shovel at the Sacramento Pit in Bisbee.

Bottom right: Canion Sr. with a catfish he caught at Big Sandy Creek in Texas, 1960s.

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“Robert didn’t get paid for all the dirt he moved because the Arizona State Inspector wanted a kickback which he wouldn’t pay,” says his son. "He went broke financially, and it broke him physically."

With his father sick in bed, his son, Robert E. Canion Jr., took over supporting the family at the age of 16. Robert continued assisting his son when he could, and moved with Ola back to Smiley in 1961. He passed away there at the age of 84 in 1965.

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Digging into Canion Contracting:

Robert E. Canion Jr. Marlene Blakeney

Family

than 75 years. “A few years back, my father couldn’t remember the name of his wife who died in 1998 but recalled the nickname of a favorite piece of equipment from the 1930s,” Blakeney, a retired schoolteacher, adds.

This construction pioneer took over as the family breadwinner at age 16 in 1932. His father, Robert E. Canion Sr., had become ill and the bank was foreclosing on their house.

“Because we couldn’t make the $167 monthly mortgage payment, the bank was going to take it away and sell it to someone else for $50 a month,” he

Image courtesy of Canion

W

hat does the man who excavated the basements of numerous commercial and government buildings in Phoenix think about his life’s work?

“I started at ground level and worked my way down,” says 101-year-old Robert E. Canion Jr., with a chuckle.

But excavation is only one of Canion’s many talents. “He’s a man who could do anything in the construction field and do it well,” Marlene Blakeney, his daughter, says.

Canion has a passionate connection to the industry in which he worked for more

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"I've done enough excavating and dirt work at ASU they owe me a diploma," Canion declares.

Forty

recalls. “I told them, ‘Heck I can pay that amount!’” The bank subsequently rewrote the contract for their home at 2012 West Van Buren, now the location of the Coconut Grove Motel.

Canion was already a budding entrepreneur selling decomposed granite that he hand-loaded into trucks for use as roadbed. He recalls selling three loads for $36 and using $10 to buy more groceries than he could fit into a car.

He was attending Phoenix Union High School but only went one day a week.

Instead, to support his family, he repaired trucks or worked for Alison Steel as a welder. He missed graduating by a half-acredit hour in 1936.

Canion’s welding skills would come in handy during his long career. “When hauling at a mine, a piece of equipment broke that was going to shut down the job,” Blakeney recalls. “He welded it back together without a helmet, just turning his head.”

By 1939, he had launched Canion Construction and Excavation. One of his first jobs was working on the Central Avenue Underpass where he met Jimmy Bond, who became his friend and later owned a famous Arizona trucking firm.

Canion, who was also a farrier, used his mules to compact the roadbed. He recalls Top: Robert Canion Jr. water skiing on the Arizona Canal, 1936.

Left: The Cocanut Grove Motel at 2012 West Van Buren, the location of Canion's former house, 1950s.

Right: Canion excavating the basement for the Phoenix Library at Central Avenue and McDowell Road for TGK Construction Company, 1951.

May-Jun 2018

Image courtesy of Arizona Contractor & Community magazine

driving his mule team to the job and home again, sort of like a cattle drive.

Canion married Nelda Connelley in 1945. His bride-to-be lived with her parents and six siblings in a house at Union Sand and Rock located at Central Ave on the south bank of the Salt River. Her father, Will, was the company’s night watchman and his daughters cleaned the offices and ran messages. “I recalled her www.Arizcc.com

running from the shade of one bush to the shade of the next bush in her bare feet while delivering a message when I was 16, and she was 9," Canion says. “I offered her a ride, but she declined.”

They got married after double-dating.

“My father tossed a ring into my mother’s lap; she wasn’t sure if it was intended for her or her sister sitting next to her,” Blakeney recalls.

Canion went on to excavate many of the basements of buildings built during the post-World War II era, including the State Senate and House buildings, the Arizona Corporation Commission building (now the Arizona State Agriculture building), and the Phoenix Library (now the Phoenix Art Museum).

At the latter construction site, his son, Robert “Bob” Canion, III, recalls throwing Arizona contractor & Community

dirt clods in the hole at the library, which the contractor complained about. ”My father said, “If he can fill it faster than you can dig it out, I’ll get somebody else,” Bob says.

Canion has lost track of some of his projects but they also include the basements of Lincoln, Good Sam, Memorial, St.

Joe's, and Baptist hospitals. Other jobs were the Mountain Bell substations for Homes Construction, TGK Construction subcontracting work, a mile-long tunnel at Western Cable on West Van Buren, the Phoenix College Library, and the Math and Science buildings, Palo Verde and Manzanita halls, and utility tunnels at ASU. "I've

done enough excavating and dirt work at ASU they owe me a diploma," Canion declares.

Some events still stand out, many years later. “While working on Old Main at ASU, I salvaged a piece of red sandstone from the west side steps that broke in

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Executives of the Henry C. Beck Company pose in front of Robert Canion Jr.'s equipment at the Valley Center, 1971.

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two,” he says. “I used them to create the base for headstones for my wife and me.”

One of Canion’s most difficult excavations was for the three-story-deep parking garage at the Camelback Towers Apartments located at Central Avenue and Camelback Road. Engineers were worried about the vertical wall along Central Avenue collapsing. “I told them to drive a vertical steel piling in the island, drill a cable out to the piling, and use post tension to hold the wall,” Canion says. “The building is still standing,” he adds.

One of Canion’s strangest experiences occurred when he was in at the Grand Canyon helping construct West Rim Drive in 1956. Canion was in a truck when he heard an explosion, which turned out to be a mid-air collision between a United Airlines DC-7 and Trans World Airlines Lockheed Super Constellation. All 128 on board both flights perished.

Canion also continued doing road work, excavating dirt for the Beeline, Bush, and Black Canyon highways. He dug the pipeline to the paper mill at Snowflake and had to use dynamite, a skill he learned from his father. One of his last jobs was building the Burro Creek Rest Area on U.S. Highway 93.

In the late 1970s, Canion’s main focus changed to cleaning out tailwater sumps.

These reservoirs caught and retained excess irrigation water farmers applied to their crops. He worked in Harquahala Valley, Buckeye, Aguila, Stanfield, Casa Grande, Yuma County, Maricopa, and the West Valley, including the rose fields Layton Woolf owned near Luke Air Force Base.

“I quit construction in 1983 because most of the contracts were government and I had to pay a prevailing hourly wage, while non-union outfits could beat me by 30 percent,” he says. “I made more money cleaning out tailwater ponds in six months than working a year for union contracts.”

Most summers, he hired an assistant.

Sometimes this was his son, Bob, who was in high school. “I had paper routes and was used to a paycheck,” Bob, says. “After a few weeks of working for my father, I hadn’t been paid. I eventually asked him about it. ‘You’re getting room and board, what else do you want?’ he responded.”

Bob became a plumber in the Air Force and afterward became a minister.

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Canion was also a construction innovator. He drew a plan for an improved bottom dump truck and had it built. “While brand new Fruehauf trailers were developing cracks, mine held up,” he says. “The company offered me $10,000 for the patent and offered to build a few more for me. Jimmy Bond eventually bought my trailer.”

“Even at a 101, he still thinks he can do everything,” says Blakeney. "He's inventive and likes problem-solving. He taught himself to weld, lay brick, pour concrete,

and survey. Most everything he has accomplished was self-taught.”

Canion still lives in the North Phoenix house he bought in 1956, with his son and daughter-in-law to care for him – although he doesn’t think he needs it.

“He tried carrying a large piece of plywood with his walker, which he calls his ‘horse,’” Bob, his son, says. “I finally convinced him to let me carry it for him.”

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Digging into Canion Contracting:

Robert E. Canion Jr.’s Best Construction Stories Marlene Blakeney

H

ere are the best tales from 101year-old Robert E. Canion Jr.’s days in the construction and life:

A Dangerous Industry: Canion was working in 1936 on the construction of a bridge near Avondale, which was then called Coldwater. He was driving the lead truck hauling sand and rock for the roadbed.

Visibility was terrible as it was nighttime and the road was dusty. Canion crossed the Southern Pacific railroad tracks ahead of the other truck and was preparing to dump his load. He looked back to make out the other truck’s headlights as it bounced onto the railroad tracks. The Golden State Limited passenger train, which was running very late, concurrently blew its whistle at the crossing. The truck driver, Roy Warren, barely had time to dive through the doorless left side of the truck. The train hit the forty four

truck and carried it a mile before stopping.

Warren got up and walked toward Canion, who asked if he was hurt. He answered no and collapsed. Rattled after his near-death experience, Warren quit the bridge project.

Canion subsequently filed a lawsuit to collect $2,087 for damage to his truck from the Southern Pacific railroad. The railroad countersued for $173 for damage to their locomotive, according to an article in the Arizona Daily Star.

Refueling From a Bean Can: While working on a road project up north near McNary, Canion was driving his family from their camp into town on a Saturday night. The car was low on gas, so Canion would drive up hills and coast down them. He then determined this method wouldn’t get them to their destination and turned to go

back to camp but soon ran out of fuel.

Canion hiked a mile down the road to where there was a bulldozer and siphoned gas into a 15-ounce bean can. He walked back to the car, where his family was sleeping, and poured the fuel into the tank.

He did this five times and then threw some gas into the carburetor to get the vehicle started. He drove away after leaving a note on the bulldozer saying he had borrowed some gas and would pay them back.

Threatening Cable: Canion was driving a truck at the Western Cable plant on West Van Buren when a union steward approached him, saying a union guy should be doing that work. Canion responded that he was following rules, as there was a union oiler onsite. The steward said maybe so, but there’s no telling what might happen if you don’t hire a union truck driver. Canion started poking the steward in the chest with his finger telling him if anything happens to me, my equipment, or my family I’m going to kill you, you SOB! The steward responded by saying that sounds like a threat. “No, that’s a promise!” was Canion’s response.

May-Jun 2018

Image courtesy of Canion Family

Robert E. Canion Sr., Robert E. Canion Jr, and Robert Canion III (l-r) with new Bucyrus Frie shovel loaded on a semi-truck, 1961.

Superhero Skills: Canion had one of his drivers transport his Bucyrus Erie 25 crane to a construction site, while he and another employee followed in a pickup.

Canion had told the driver not to take Interstate-17, as the crane wouldn’t fit underneath one of the overpasses. Still, following a red light, the other driver slowly turned toward the interstate ramp.

Canion jumped out of the pickup, ran up to the trailer and jumped on it. He fired up the crane and managed to stretch out the boom right before it went under the low overpass, preventing damage to both the machine and the bridge.

There’s Never a Routine Job: “My father was very exacting with his digging,” Marlene Blakeney, his daughter, says. Still,

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everyone has the occasional mishap.

Canion once hit a water main while excavating along Thomas Road. His wife heard about it on the news and knew by the location that it was caused by her husband.

Canion also hit a gas line once, but it wasn’t his fault. He was going to get fined until officials found that the pipeline wasn’t listed on the city’s plans. Another close call came while cleaning a tailwater pond, when the dragline tilted down into the sump. Resourcefully, Canion threw the bucket on dry ground and pulled himself out.

Amateur Archaeologist: Canion unearthed some exciting artifacts while excavating, including a large fire opal, a ball from a Hohokam court, and an oddly-shaped Coke

bottle. While digging caisson holes at 19th Avenue and the Arizona Canal, he encountered bones which someone later identified as a huge sea turtle.

If Only There Was Video: For a stretch, Canion had trouble with burglaries at his home. Late one night, he got out of bed and noticed someone messing around with his boat in their driveway. He grabbed a pistol and ran after the culprit.

His wife, Nelda, called the police, who asked how to identify the burglar from her husband. “My husband is the one running around the neighborhood in his BVDs carrying a pistol,” Nelda responded.

Arizona contractor & Community

“Bonding” Over Work: Two Construction Elders Douglas Towne

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hoenicians who enjoy tunnels, or merely the opportunity to toot their own horn, like entering downtown from the south via the Central Avenue underpass. The structure was built in 1939 to circumvent both the Southern Pacific and Santa Fe railroad tracks. The new tunnel would provide a safer passage for the 10,000 autos that crossed the tracks on Central Avenue daily. The construction project resulted in a beautiful streamlined structure that featured a rigid concrete frame, cast concrete winged motifs, and “Central Avenue” rendered in aluminum letters on corbelled pylons.

The Central Avenue underpass was also the construction project where two Arizona construction pioneers first met: James Bond and Robert Canion Jr. Both men were beginning their careers. Bond was a 19-year-old working as a truck fore-

throughout the Southwest and Mexico.

Construction began in June, including excavation and driving piles to support trestles for the railroad tracks.

“We had the contract with Lee Moor to remove all the dirt in three months under the tracks to make way for the new road," says Bond, who later operated his

Images courtesy of Arizona Contractor & Community magazine

Top: Robert Canion Jr. with James Bond, 2018.

Bottom: Central Avenue underpass construction, 1940.

man, mechanic, and driver for J.D. Williams. Canion was a 23-year-old air-shovel operator who had just started Canion Construction and Excavation.

The project had the Arizona Highway Department as the underpass’s designer/engineer, and Lee Moor Contracting won the construction contract with a low bid of $178,089 in April 1939.

The El Paso-based company worked

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May-Jun 2018

Image courtesy of Author

Image courtesy of Laura Horner Photo

graphy

Phoenix-based James Bond Trucking Company for 60 years.

One incident, while Bond was backfilling a hole at the underpass construction site, remains vivid. “I was driving a new truck and starting to back up into the hole, but I thought that Bob, the guy who was directing me, was cutting it too short,” he says. “It turned out that Bob was right, there was plenty of room. He tapped me on the shoulder and said, ‘You just listen to me, and if you lose that truck, I’ll make sure my boss at Lee Moor buys you a new one.’”

Bond, a skilled mechanic, also recalls replacing a clutch in a truck during his lunch hour while on that job.

He changed it out at the nearby company shop, which had the necessary parts. He performed the repair so quickly that his boss didn’t think he did it. “Ask your brother-in-law here,” Bond replied.

“He watched me do it.”

Bond also fondly remembers working with Canion. “Bob was a good guy, and his dad was a fine man too,” he says. They saw each other occasionally at other projects over the years, including constructing the Beeline Highway to Payson. But it wasn’t until Canion saw an article about the Central Avenue underpass that featured quotes from Bond that they reconnected in 2016. “It’s really something to meet up again after all these years,” Bond says.

Bond, an Oklahoma-born farm kid who began driving trucks to haul water to cattle when he was 10 years old, was the subject Top right: Central Avenue underpass, 2012.

Bottom: Central Avenue underpass grand opening, 1940.

Right: Winter 2014 ACC magazine cover.

of a feature article in Arizona Contractor & Community magazine (Winter 2014). Bond later learned the intricacies of driving from a logging truck driver in Flagstaff.

He recalls getting a job as a 16-year-old when Lee Moor Contracting hired J.D. Williams to do the hauling during the building of the highway from Flagstaff to Oak Creek Canyon. “I asked one driver if I could ride with him, and watched how he

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Arizona contractor & Community

operated the truck,” Bond says. “On the way back, he let me take the wheel and later told his co-workers, ‘This kid can really drive!’”

There were, however, a few things Bond wasn't up to speed with yet. "I lost my first two paychecks to guys rolling dice on payday."

Bond worked for J.D. Williams from 1936-1943. William’s wife, Alberta, introduced Bond to his wife of almost 75 years, Renata, who passed away in 2015. A disagreement with Williams inspired Bond to

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start his own trucking firm. He started with three trucks and had a fleet of more than 100 when he retired in 2003.

And what about the Central Avenue underpass that they helped construct almost 80 years ago? The tunnel opened with fanfare - speeches, a parade, and a street dance according to a 1940 Arizona Republic article. The Phoenix Union High School band led a caravan of dignitaries, in more than 50 cars, through the underpass.

Boy Scouts distributed commemorative

windshield decals to the first 5,000 vehicles to transit the tunnel.

James Bond and Robert Canion have fond memories of helping build the underpass, which was a safe and speedy pathway that facilitated the development of the industrial-warehouse district and south Phoenix.

Hooved Secret Agents

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aising cattle was in James Bond’s blood. He worked on a ranch as a youth, and from 1979-2004 he owned the Del Rio Springs Ranch in Chino Valley.

When Fort Whipple was temporarily established on the ranch in 1863, and served as Arizona's first territorial capital for Governor John Goodwin. The capital was moved to Prescott the following year.

Water from Del Rio Springs was used for pastures at the ranch and from 1900 to 1910, pumped to Prescott for municipal use. The Santa Fe Railroad, whose tracks ran nearby, later purchased the ranch and hauled the spring water in tank cars for use in Seligman, Ash Fork, Winslow, and the south rim of the Grand Canyon.

The cattle brand at Bond's ranch was “007.” He says a commissioner from the Arizona Corporation Commission insisted that he use it. During his time there, Bond witnessed a decline of flow from the springs due to increased development in the area. Eventually, flow ceased completely during the summers. "I sold the ranch when I saw the flow of the springs steadily decreasing," Bond says.The springs currently produce one-fourth of their original flow and are predicted to go dry by 2025.

May-Jun 2018

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Arizona contractor & Community

Building on the Past 1972: Spring Air Mattress

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he Spring Air Mattress Company held a groundbreaking ceremony for a new, larger manufacturing plant on May 4, 1972. The five-acre site was located at 4410 West Jefferson Street and would feature a 40,000 square-foot building to be used for padding manufacturing and mattress assembly.

Spring Air Mattress, headed at the time by President Charles Ewing with Barry Bull as vice president, contracted with Robert Ewing Construction Company to build the new plant. Metro Rock and Tanner Bros. supplied materials and performed the earthwork and paving. The building would have its grand opening in November 1972.

The firm, which had been manufacturing mattresses in Phoenix since 1929, was previously located in a 14,500 square-foot facility at 1524 North 18th Avenue in the F.Q. Story neighborhood. Although most of the mattress firm’s operations would move to the new location, the older plant would continue to be used to manufacture bed springs.

The company’s expansion was necessitated by an increase Architectural re ndering of the new facility, 19 in its wholesale line of 72. mattresses, box springs, corner units, lounges, and accessories, according to square-feet of space had been completed.

Ewing, speaking to the Arizona Republic. The Phoenix plant was closed after a series The company had 40 employees, with of nationwide Spring Air Mattress ownermore being hired as needed after the ship changes involving a merger, bankexpansion, he added. ruptcy, and acquisition. Today, the The Phoenix firm manufactured and company has eight domestic factories and sold the nationally franchised line 35 international licensees that operate in of mattresses, and was affiliated with 43 countries worldwide, according to the Spring Air Mattress plants in Tucson and Spring Air website, springair.com/aboutAlbuquerque. The three plants were part us/. of a nationwide company that was a licensPresently, Valley Forge & Bolt Manuing organization, with local licensees man- facturing Company occupies the 4410 ufacturing the mattresses under a common West Jefferson Street building, while Space name for national marketing. Manufactur- 55 Theatre Ensemble is housed in the 1524 ing locations were dispersed across the North 18th Avenue building. A building country because of the products’ heavy across the street, at 1507 North 18th weight, high transportation costs, and low Avenue, retains a ghost sign of the Ewing value per unit weight of mattresses.

Mattress Company, which the firm was The Phoenix plant was active as late also known by. as 2005, just a few years after a $2 million expansion with an additional 35,000

Metro Rock delivers aggregate base course (ABC) spread by a Tanner Bros. blade during construction of the new Spring Air Mattress facility, 1972.

Images courtesy of Arizona Contractor & Community magazine

Construction of the Spring Air Mattress facility, 1972.

Barry Bull of Spring Air Mattress (left) and Robert Ewing (right), with his construction supervisor (kneeling), 1972.

Former Ewing Mattress Company building at 1507 North 18th Ave., 2018.

"J-Jon" portable toilet at the grand-opening ceremony, 1972.

Spring Air Mattress groundbreaking ceremony, 1972.

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Arizona contractor & Community

Support Found for Arizona’s Tallest Adobe Building:

Tucson’s Marist College Jennifer M. Levstik, M.A.

I

slowly separating from the two upper floors that once held the busy activity of local schoolchildren.

Until recently, the towering adobe building located at the corner of West Ochoa Street and Church Avenue, sited at the northwestern corner of the Saint Augustine Cathedral complex, was more eyesore than majesty. The cracking plaster, broken windows, tarps, and structural

Images courtesy of Tucson Archdiocese

Image courtesy of Poster Frost Mirto

t started innocently enough, forgetting routine maintenance on an old building. But then the monsoons came, year after year. The remaining 2-inch layer of dirt between the ceiling and roof couldn’t hold back the tide, and the water began to creep down the walls. After more than a decade of neglect and a mistaken choice of concrete plaster, the 100-year old adobe walls were saturated, crumbling, and

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bracing belied the vital history and engineering mastery of Tucson's Marist College, the tallest extant adobe building in Arizona.

Tucson’s second Catholic bishop, French-born Henri Granjon, commissioned master builder Manuel Flores to construct Marist College a few years after statehood in 1915. The two-story building was built with mud adobe walls supported by a concrete foundation and wooden trusses.

The adobe walls were originally covered in pale-green, lime plaster, with red-painted trim, but were later sheathed with white concrete stucco. The low-pitched roof is supported by wood trusses, covered in wood planking and earth, and surrounded by a 6-foot-high decorative parapet.

Marist College also features a plastered and streamlined façade punctuated by belt coursing, quoins, and an arcaded entryway capped by a second-story porch, and supported by telamon or atlas figures.

Together these architectural elements represent regional architectural traditions related to both adobe construction and eclecticism. The finished building showcases the Spanish traditions of its Mexican builder and the Italian influences of the Catholic Church.

At its inception, the school was built for four Marist brothers from Mexico and Texas, members of a Catholic religious order founded in France, whose purpose was to provide education to impoverished populations. The Marist brothers had come to Tucson a year earlier upon Granjon’s invitation to escape anti-clerical persecution in Mexico and to open a school in Tucson. Marist College became one of the first formal parochial schools for boys in Tucson.

From its inception in 1915 to its closure in 1968, Marist College provided educational opportunities for minority students who otherwise faced legal discrimination in Arizona. This philosophy continued after the Marist brothers left the school, under the leadership of the Sisters of St. Joseph and, later, the Daughters of Top: Marist College with the recently rehabilitated Our Lady’s Chapel (left) and cathedral domes in the background, 2017.

Left: Marist College, 1917.

Opposite page, top: Marist College, the early 1920s.

Opposite page, bottom: Marist College being refurbished, December 2017.

May-Jun 2018

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Arizona contractor & Community

Image courtesy of Arizona Daily Star

Images courtesy of Tucson Archdiocese

the Immaculate Heart. Following the implementation of de jure segregation in 1909, Marist College was the only racially integrated school that offered elementarythrough-high- school curriculum. African Americans, for example, had few choices for high school and could either end their education at middle school at the segregated Paul Lawrence Dunbar School or were allowed to attend classes at Tucson High School.

Following the school's closure in 1968, the building served as offices for the

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Tucson Archdiocese but was vacated in 2002. In 2011, Marist College and two other buildings—Cathedral Parish Hall (since demolished in 2017 to make way for a new Saint Augustine Cathedral event center) and Our Lady’s Chapel— were listed in the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) as a small historic district. The district was composed of three

buildings, and an associated perimeter wall, that flanked West Ochoa Street and lined the northern edge of the Saint Augustine Cathedral complex. The two other buildings were constructed by Flores on behalf of the Tucson Archdiocese a year after the college in 1916.

The local Archdiocese prompted the submission of an NRHP nomination in an attempt to make the property eligible for grant funding. In spite of these efforts, the buildings' structural issues made it cost prohibitive for the Archdiocese to rehabilitate Marist College, although the chapel was repaired utilizing charitable donations. Once again, the fate of the building was in limbo.

After a failed attempt by the City of Tucson to stay the demolition of the building, purchase the property, and use Housing and Urban Development Blight Abatement grant funds to rehabilitate the building, the Archdiocese moved forward with their plans to redevelop the property without Marist College. Public outcry led to stakeholder meetings to look for alternative options, which resulted in city façade grants to stabilize the building. Finally, the tide began to turn in favor of the beleaguered building in 2017.

As part of the redevelopment of the Saint Augustine Cathedral complex, the Archdiocese entered into an agreement with Phoenix-based Foundations for Senior Living. The group plans to convert a portion of the building into an affordable senior living facility with eight units, and an associated community center and offices. An additional 75 residential units included with this project are concurrently under construction on the former site of the Bishop Manuel D. Moreno Pastoral Center at 111 South Church Avenue, one block north of Marist College. Together, these facilities will breathe life into the building and provide for a new use that is compatible with the structure, and with the mission of the Archdiocese.

To resurrect Marist College, a multidisciplinary team of architects, engineers, contractors, and adobe specialists have come together to complete the rehabilitation by June 2018. The team is led by Savannah McDonald of Poster Frost Mirto Architects and is in collaboration with

The resurrection of Marist College is more than a sentimental attachment to the past, and more than an engineering feat.

May-Jun 2018

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Image courtesy of Author

general contractor Toffel-Dent Construction, historic building contractor Oden Construction, and adobe specialists, Tellez Masonry.

The project is not merely a massive repair project. Instead, a new steel movement frame or "endoskeleton" with new concrete foundations will be installed. This new steel frame will take the lateral loads, floor loads, and the weight of the new roof without stressing the existing walls.

With this change, the adobe will act more like a veneer and will be less prone to cracks and failures, as the current weight of the walls far exceeds the standard load-bearing capacity of adobe. This factor is why most adobe buildings are no more than a single story or are stepped in height.

The resurrection of Marist College is more than a sentimental attachment to the past, and more than an engineering feat. Its preservation is a clear statement of how important our historic architecture is in telling the story of a city. Marist College was constructed during a time when regional architectural expressions were falling out of favor throughout Ari-

zona. The arrival of the transcontinental railroad to Tucson in 1880 introduced new building materials and traditions. Local materials, notably adobe, were considered "primitive.� Despite the prejudice against adobe buildings, Marist College emerged

as a testament to the endurance of the city’s Mexican-American culture and an architectural symbol expressing unity with and continuation of community traditions.

Above: Marist College being refurbished March 2018.

Arizona contractor & Community

W

hen examining the architectural heritage of the Phoenix area, a particular collection stands out that has served the community well for more than 40 years. The assemblage is thoughtful, delivered an understanding of scale, and has durability in a time of disposability. These works were created by the Phoenix-based firm of Schwenn and Clark Architects, who were active from 1967 to 1990. This creative practice designed numerous high rise, governmental, professional office, educational, hospitality, recreational, and industrial projects throughout Arizona.

The firm’s principals were Donald B. Schwenn, AIA, and Gerald C. Clark, FAIA. Schwenn received a Bachelor of Architec-

Architect’s Perspective: Schwenn and Clark Architects: Reminds Us of What is Important Doug Sydnor, FAIA Doug_sydnor@outlook.com ture Degree from Iowa State University and became an American Institute of Architects (AIA) member in 1963. He was licensed in Arizona, California, and by the National Council of Architectural Registration Board. That same year, he formed the small practice Schwenn & Associates Architect until Clark joined him as a principal in 1967.

Clark, FAIA, received his Bachelor of Science in Architecture from Arizona State University (ASU) and became an AIA member in 1967. Around 1990, Clark began working on a project in Lake Havasu, and he left the partnership to form a new firm in that city, Clark & Associates. He has continued practicing as an architect, realtor, and contractor; and is also known for his passion and sales of miniature model trains. Clark received his AIA Fellowship in 1979. Both Schwenn and Clark were active in civic and professional organizations throughout their careers, with Clark

serving on the national AIA Board of Directors.

Here are some of their design highlights.

In 1970 the ASU Murdock Hall at 450 East Orange Street in Tempe was completed. It is composed of two large lecture halls, designed for multimedia augmented lectures, with the largest having a seating capacity of 458. The building exits are located every third row so the occupants can exit the building within 10 minutes, which speaks to safety as a design concern.

The structure has an aggressive and expressionistic character, as the exterior circulation elements for entering and exiting the building are fully displayed on the street. The stair landings are large cantilevered platforms and give definition to the outdoor spaces. The building’s main body is structural-bearing brick with a coloration that matches the typical campus brick for the visual continuity. The stairs are made of cast-in-place concrete with varying textures from smooth edges to exposed aggregate panels. Structural floors are of two-way, reinforced concrete waffle slabs and exposed.

While attending ASU in the early 1970s, I enjoyed taking my Environmental Psychology class in this lecture hall, as I was always studying how this animated piece was assembled. The hall is named after John R. Murdock, a teacher and dean from 1914, when the school was known as the Tempe Normal School, to 1930 when it was renamed the Arizona State Teachers College.

A year later in 1971, the ASU Psychology Building at 950 South McAllister Avenue in Tempe was constructed. The structure accommodates the Department of Psychology’s classrooms and offices.

Currently, it’s the home of a graduate student training facility known as the Clinical Psychology Center, an outpatient clinic that provides community services.

Top left: ASU Psychology Building Left: Murdock Hall at ASU.

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May-Jun 2018

Image courtesy of Scottsdale Historical Society

The architectural character and material palette are very similar to the earlier Murdock Hall, with the same brick masonry walls, cast-in-place concrete, cantilevered stair landings, and perimeter concrete beams that carry the upper brick walls. A striking detail is the upper wall, precast concrete components that frame deeply recessed windows, thereby minimizing direct solar heat gain. The exterior composition is effective at capturing an appealing scale and sound proportions. The materials and detailing express a sense of craft, and have held up extremely well for 47 years.

The Coe & Van Loo professional offices at 4524 and 4550 North 12th Street in Phoenix were built in 1973. The 4524 building initially served as the Schwenn

and Clark Architects offices. Coe & Van Loo, now known as CVL Consultants, Inc., has their national headquarters at this location.

The one-story office structures sit well within a pleasant landscaped setting of mature shade trees. Floor plans provided for more solid walls to the severe west and east exposures, which minimizes the heat gain. North and south-facing tall windows are shaded with cantilevered wood framed canopies. These windows provide a wonderful visual connection between the interior and outdoors, with the natural interior light ideal to perform office tasks.

The building structure is composed of exposed wood columns and beams throughout, which modulate the interior

spaces and break down the exterior scale.

This modulation achieves a more intimate scale in fitting within a predominantly residential neighborhood. Warm exterior colors use taupe-colored plaster walls, medium brown at linear elements as the exposed structure, and tinted glazing.

There is careful attention to the detailing throughout and suggests a quality that was influenced by post-World War II Southern Californian post and beam architecture and its precedent of traditional Japanese design.

These architectural examples serve as essential reminders to strive for design excellence while being reinforced with durable materials, thoughtful detailing, and exquisite scale.

A sampling of other Schwenn and Clark Architects Projects: ● 1973 Phoenix Public Library Century Branch, 1750 East Highland Avenue, Phoenix (interior remodeled). ● 1975 Phoenix Hilton Hotel, 50 East Adams Street, Phoenix (remodeled). ● 1976 Arizona Bank Tower, 101 North First Avenue, Phoenix (lobby area remodeled). ● Circa 1980s Continental Bank and Offices, 6710, 6750 and 6770 East Camelback Road, Scottsdale (minor exterior upgrades). ● Red Lion La Posada Resort, 4949 East Lincoln Drive, Paradise Valley (mostly demolished).

Images courtesy of Author

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

Top left: Century Branch, Phoenix Public Library.

Top mid: Office at 6750 East Camelback Road.

Top right: Red Lion La Posada.

Left: Office at 4550 North 12th Street. www.Arizcc.com

Arizona contractor & Community

Digging Through the Archives: Bloomquist Pump William Horner

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May-Jun 2018

W

Images courtesy of Bloomquist

hen you’ve been in the water well pump business 74 years, you’re bound to have some good stories. And Ted Bloomquist indeed does.

I asked Ted at what age he became involved with water pumps. “I was practically born into the business,” he responded, with a laugh. His family’s home and the pump business were at the same Phoenix location, 1217 South Eighth Street.

The telephone number was 2-1179.

His father, Ralph Bloomquist, and Frank Gilbert, the youngest son of the Pratt-Gilbert Hardware family, purchased the store’s pump-servicing operations in 1944. The duo ran the Gilbert Pump Company until 1947 when Ralph decided to start his own company.

Ralph purchased a winch truck for hauling equipment, but soon decided to re-enter the water pump business.

Bloomquist Pump mostly installed pumps on large-capacity water wells used for irrigating farmland. Ted tagged along with his father on many service calls, including one memorable visit to the Eloy area.

Ted recalls there being a big 55-gallon drum sitting over the open, two-foot diam-

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Top left: Ralph and Ted Bloomquist with their first winch truck, late 1940s.

Bottom left: Wamon Dixon, foreman for Mariposa Water Utilities, Lilly Gramer, and Ralph Bloomquist, early 1950s.

Bottom right: Ted Bloomquist with his jalopy and racing trophies; Smith & Jones Equipment was his sponsor, 1954.

Top right: Ralph Bloomquist, 1951.

eter well. After his father had installed a big turbine pump atop the well, they connected the electricity and tested the well.

Out came a tremendous amount of water, but something was amiss. “Mixed in with the water were bits of Levis and bones,” Bloomquist recalls.

His father called the sheriff. “The authorities found a burned pair of pliers over by the power pole,” Bloomquist says.

“They figured that some hoodlums were trying to steal the copper wire and one of them electrocuted himself. To dispose of the body, his buddy dumped him down the well.”

Bloomquist Pump moved to its present location at 1729 West Lincoln Street in 1965, when his father, Ralph, and stepmother were divorced. “She got the property on Eighth Street in the divorce,” he says.

After Ralph retired in 1972, Ted took over the business. Most of their jobs were in the Valley. “We’ve done occasional work as far away as Las Vegas and Silver City, New Mexico,” he says.

The business has changed over the years. “We don’t do irrigation pumps anymore, which used to be most of our work," Bloomquist says. "Now we do some industrial pumps but mainly domestic wells.”

Currently, Ted’s stepson, Mike Lubanovich, and Mike’s friend, Terry Schultz, perform the installation work for the company, which features a handful of different pump brands.

When asked for more interesting tales, Ted replies he has some from when Arizona contractor & Community

Images courtesy of Bloomquist ic

Top: Ted Bloomquist at their yard in Phoenix, 1960s.

Bottom left: Ted Bloomquist's "ghost truck" photograph, 1960s.

Bottom right: A Bloomquist "gold top" pump, 1960s.

Bottom: Bloomquist pilots a boat on a Phoenix gravel pit pond, 1959.

the Arizona Republ

extra weight. I stayed in the racecar’s front-half, which ground to a halt. Meanwhile, the back half flip-flopped around before stopping.”

Ted welded the pieces together and then found success racing the car at Manzanita Speedway.

Did such dangerous accidents cause him to retire from the sport? “No, I went broke racing,” Bloomquist says.

“How do you make a fortune in racing?” he adds. “You start with one.”

Image courtesy of

he raced jalopies at the Arizona State Fairgrounds. He says he still holds the track records for the 5/8th asphalt and one-mile dirt track at the Fairgrounds, as a prelude to talking about an exciting 100-mile race there, where one driver wrecked and burned to death.

"Because of the length of the race, we had to put lots of gas in my racecar," Bloomquist says. "I had already raced for 121 miles, but only 86 of them counted because of several yellow flags. On that 86th lap, my racecar snapped in half right where the roll bar was over my head, I think because of stress from carrying the

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Bradley & Dysart, Phoenix $241,032 18 Miles on Winslow-Long Valley HWY Select Material, ABC, Bituminous Surfacing W.J. Henson, Prescott $127,680 1 Mile on Miller Valley Rd. at Sheldon St. Widening, Drainage, Grading, Bituminous Surfacing M.M. Sundt Const., Tucson $25,532 Grand View District Sewer Improvements Phoenix-Tempe Stone, Phoenix $1,036,633 5 Miles of New Casa Grande Alignment on SR 84 Grading, Drainage, Cement Treated Base, Bituminous Mix

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Tempe Crane & Rigging 480-967-0026 tempecrane.com

P. 4

Atlas Copco 623-780-0200 allstatefenceaz.com.com

P. 49

Empire Sales Center 520-582-2050 empirecat.com/eloy

P. 54

Pavement Recycling Systems P. 37 800-966-7774 pavementrecycling.com

Trafficade 602-431-0911 trafficade.com

P. 20 & 24

AZBEX 480-709-4190 azbex.com

P.9

GenTech 800-625-8324 gentechusa.com

P. 24

Preach Building 602-944-4594 preachbuildingsupply.com

P. 45

TSR 602-253-3311 tsraz.com

P. 31

BidJudge 602-456-BIDZ bidjudge.com

P. 16

Gila River Health Care 520-562-3321 grhc.org

P. 4

R Directional Drilling 602-374-3173 drillrdd.com

P. 5

Vermeer Sales Southwest 480-785-4800 vermeersouthwest.com

P. 5

Branco Machinery 480-892-5657 brancomachinery.com

IFC

Hagen Business 602-570-7289 hagenbusiness.com

P. 20

RDO Rents 877-90-RDOIC rdoic.com

P. 14

Williams Scotsman 800-782-1500 willscot.com

P. 3

Calportland 602-817-6929 calportland.com

P. 6

Herc 602-269-5931 hercrentals.com

P. 7

Red Mountain 480-477-9400 redmountainrentals.com

IBC

Woudenberg Properties 480-620-8555 woudenbergprops.com

P. 3

CED 602-437-4200 cedphx.com

P. 20

Matt Brown Trucking 602-361-2174 mattbrowntrucking.com

P. 39

Reuter Fabrication 602-415-0449 reuterequipment.com

P. 49

WSM 623-936-3300 wsmacutioneers.com

P. 26

Cemex 602-416-2652 cemexusa.com

P. 45

MDI Rock 602-569-8722 mdirock.com

P. 6

Shanes Grading 602-992-2201 shanespaving.com

P. 31

Christy Signs 602-242-4488 christysigns.com

P. 16

Metro Engineering & Survey P. 16 623-466-6640 metroaz.net

Southwest Asphalt 480-730-1033 fisherind.com

P.7

Courtesy Chevrolet 866-809-7065 courtesyfleet.com

P. 18

Metro Traffic Control 623-879-0610 metrotrafficcontrol.net

Southwest Sweeper Sales P. 43 602-678-0496 southwestsweepersales.com

A to Z Equipment 480-926-5203 a-zequipment.com

P. 48

DCS 480-732-9238 dcscontracting.com

Allstate Rent a Fence 602-233-1433 allstatefenceaz.com

P. 28

Apache Equipment 602-272-7368 apacherentals.com

SIXTY TWO

P. 42

P. 24

May-Jun 2018

www.Arizcc.com

Arizona contractor & Community

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