Jul/Aug 2018

Volume 7 Issue 4

$5.99 Jul-Aug 2018 Serving Contracting Firms and the Arizona Community. . . Then & Now

Arizona’s Timeless MagAzine

The Trucking Issue

• • • • • • •

Mike Poppe Moves Near-Impossible Loads Still “Truckin” at 84: Don “Pops” Poppe Creating a Smooth Asphalt Ride: Arizona Refining Company Playful Construction: Vintage Toy Trucks Semi-in-the-Sky: Marie’s Truck Stop in Benson Joe Bing Wong, AIA: Multi-Faceted Architect Boosting Cement Mixers: Cook Brothers Equipment

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Arizona Contractor & Community

Beating the heat at the movies

Publisher William Horner Billy@arizcc.com

Favorite AZ Summer Activity?

Editor Douglas Towne Douglas@arizcc.com

Staycations Contributors at the Alison Bailin Batz resorts Norman S. Fulton III, Esq. Tom Gibbons Watching the Tom Hogarty Diamondbacks MacKinley Lutes-Adlhoch Art Smith Abigail Spong Swimming Laura Stack with a coconut I Love smoo thie Doug Sydnor swimming Andy Wei

Production Manager Laura Horner Laura@arizcc.com

Wet “n” Wild

Magazine Advisor Chuck Runbeck Chuck@arizcc.com Publisher’s Representatives Tom Hogarty Tom@arizcc.com Barry Warner Barry@arizcc.com

Fireworks on the 4th

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.

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Contributors

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ublisher’s Representative Tom Hogarty joined the Arizona Contractor & Community sales staff four years ago, after moving with his wife, Donna, from San Diego to Scottsdale.

People ask Tom, ‘You moved from California to Arizona?’

He just nods. “Why spread the good word? What they don’t know won’t hurt them,” he says, showing that native New York City dry wit.

Tom grew up in Queens— the same borough that gave us Tony Bennett, Jimmy Durante, and Ethel Merman. This may explain why Tom sings a lot and is a member of the barbershop quartet organization called The Harmony Society.

Tom started his career as editor of New York Construction News and transitioned into construction industry public relations. He moved to California in 1987 where he published EGCA Magazine, for the Engineering & General Contractors Association of San Diego.

“I’m as busy now as I want to be,” Tom says, who also publishes a newsletter for Trafficade. “I have been truly blessed.” His family includes four daughters and five grandchildren.

Tom is one of those people who seems to have a song in his heart or on his lips. So when he stops by your office, be ready to sing a chorus or two of any Sinatra song—or “Coney Island Baby.”

Article on page 52 rt Smith was born in Pittsburgh and moved to Arizona in 1961. He spent his early years in Tucson and attended the University of Arizona before moving to Phoenix. For the last 30 years, Smith lived in Sunnyslope, beneath the shadow of the ‘S’ Mountain.

He worked as an art teacher at Moon Valley High School.

Smith retired from teaching high school several years ago. Through the Arizona Artist Guild, he taught classes to veterans, elders, non-English-speaking refugees, and young women who were victims of sexual assault and trafficking.

His paintings and smallscale dioramas have been featured in galleries in the Valley, Tucson, and Bisbee, and are in private and corporate collections. He is also a short story author, and his work has appeared in many poetry magazines, periodicals, and anthologies.

Smith and his wife recently moved to Mt. Holly, New Jersey. Living in the East provides him the opportunity to be close to family and to reconnect with his origins. They live in a turnof-the-century historic home.

He still paints and writes, and finds the environment and weather of the East Coast a source of new inspiration.

Smith continues to be an avid toy collector in an area rich with flea markets and antique shops.

Jul-Aug 2018

For Information Contact: Brad Cable (602) 415-0449 • Cell (602) 763-8039 Email: bradc@rec-reuter.com arizcc.com

Arizona Contractor & Community

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From The Editor: Still Delivering: Trucks from Shuttered Arizona Businesses - Douglas Towne Construction Around Arizona: Projects • People • Practices Back When: Fun By The Carload Douglas Towne Moving the (Near) Impossible: Mike Poppe’s Precision Heavy Haul - Douglas Towne Still “Truckin” at 84: Don “Pops” Poppe Douglas Towne Special Advertising Section - Buesing Corp Creating a Smooth Ride: Arizona Refining Company Tom Gibbons Playful Construction: Heavy-Duty Toy Trucks Art Smith Semi-in-the-Sky: Marie’s Truck Stop Douglas Towne Architect’s Perspective: Joe Bing Wong, AIA: Multi-Faceted Architect - Doug Sydnor

Digging Through the Archives: Cook Brothers Equipment - William Horner

61

Bid Results - Bidjudge

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ACC Advertisers’ Index

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Editor’s Column: Still Delivering: Trucks from Shuttered Arizona Businesses Douglas Towne

L

ong after the demise of a business, there’s a chance that the enterprise might just keep trucking along.

This is especially true in rural Arizona.

Used work trucks from businesses often find second lives hauling supplies on farms and ranches. And when they are all used up, the trucks are often consigned to the scrap yard, slowly fading in the sun. The truck logos reflect the history of some intriguing Arizona companies, including the following two firms.

Wheat Nursery at 3414 North 40th Street in Phoenix was part of a business that was started by James Kellogg Wheat in 1906. Wheat came to Phoenix from Minnesota in 1898, and originally raised and trained horses at the site of the former Territorial Fairgrounds at 1930 South Central Avenue with his wife, Lucy.

The nursery’s biggest sellers were palm, chinaberry, and mulberry trees. The latter were in demand for early mining TEN

camps to shade company houses, for “… they were the only trees hardy enough to survive smelter fumes,” according to Wheat’s son, DeWitt, in an article in the Arizona Republic in 1966.

Wheat noted that the trees had to be grown from seeds as trees were not shipped to Phoenix until around 1912.

The nursery also had to contend with alkaline groundwater from its wells, which can make micronutrients less available to plants. The problem was improved when water from the Verde River was piped to Phoenix in 1922.

Wheat passed away in 1927 but his wife kept working in the nursery business with her son, DeWitt, until her death in 1951. DeWitt recalls his mother, Lucy Wheat, revealing the key to successful tree planting. “It is better to put a 50-cent plant in a five-dollar hole than a five-dollar plant in a 50-cent hole.”

The Wheat family owned four nurser-

ies in the Valley during the 1950s, including the North 40th Street location. In 1969, this outlet was sold and became Baker Nursery.

The nursery closed in 2014 and has been redeveloped as the Villas at Baker Park.

Arizona Refining Company, which had offices in Flagstaff, Fredonia and Phoenix, the latter at 1505 North Arco Drive, is documented in a feature article in this issue.

The company had a secondary role in Arizona’s only oil refinery, Arizona Fuels Corporation; located in Fredonia on the Arizona Strip. The plant opened in 1969, after briefly operating in Page, according to an article in the Republic in 1979. The refinery processed crude oil from the Escalante Field in southern Top: Baker Nursery sign.

Utah, along with Right: Wheat Nurseries truck logo.

Jul-Aug 2018

Top: Former Arizona Refining Company truck.

Images Courtesy of Author

Below: Former Wheat Nurseries truck. excess supplies trucked in from Southern mile pipeline to tap mand nationalizaCalifornia. The plant could refine 6,000 the Four Corners tion.” barrels a day into diesel, gas, and other oil Pipeline. The pipeline would cross the ColThree years later, the refinery was shut products in 1979, with production set to orado River on the Marble Canyon Bridge. down after failing to tap the Four Corners expand to 10,000 barrels.

The company would also Pipeline, this time in Kingman. The comThirty percent of the The refinery processed continue drilling explor- pany proposed an emergency crude-oil refinery’s production was atory oil wells on the Ari- loading depot in a residential neighborcrude oil from the asphalt, a byproduct after zona Strip, “…until we hit hood, from which the commodity could Escalante Field in fuels had been refined. it [oil]. It’s got to be in the be trucked to Fredonia. But the firm had The Arizona Refining ComSouthern Utah, along area,” said the refinery already been placed in receivership after pany built a plant next to president, Gene Dalton. failing to pay the federal government for with excess supplies the refinery and piped the Still, Dalton was not opti- oil-production entitlements. asphalt to their facility. The mistic about the future of The Arizona Fuels Corporation parent trucked in from two operations were the his business.

“We know corporation, the Arizona Refining CompaSouthern California. largest employer on the that ultimately the feder- ny, was purchased by their rival, Sahuaro Arizona Strip. al government will not be Petroleum & Asphalt Company, in 1985.

To increase their crude oil supply, Ar- satisfied until the oil companies look so bad Their vintage truck, however, survives for izona Fuels Corporation proposed a 100- to the American people that they will de- another run at success.

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Arizona Contractor & Community

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Feedback

Message from the “Underground”

I read the last issue from cover to cover, great job. The coverage is fantastic and articles very informative. I had utterly forSouthern Exposure gotten Hagen Construction; they were still a big factor when I worked for Kelton ConI enjoy the Arizona Contractor & Commu- tracting. I just subscribed; love the maganity magazine as it provides a different his- zine! torical perspective of the state which I find interesting. Having moved to Phoenix from Phil Berger Tucson in 1994, it brings me up to speed on Senior Underground Estimator the history of the Valley. I am glad to see Markham Contracting, Phoenix, Arizona that the magazine covers the whole state, but since I grew up in Tucson, especially enHigh-Wire Research joy the nostalgic value of articles concerning southern Arizona.

The acrobatic couple in your “Back Keep up the good work, When” column (Mar/Apr 2018) John T. Owens Jr., was Betty and Regional Contract Manager Benny Fox, who Century Link, Phoenix, Arizona performed their “Dance of Death” We hope you enjoyed our recent article across the counabout the rehabilitation of Tucson’s Marist try. They were College, Arizona’s tallest adobe building. in Phoenix to promote their event at Cinema Park Drive-In on a specially constructed stage 140 feet in the air above Time Does Fly the theater’s screen to aid the United Red Feather Fund, a forerunner of the United Congrats on seven years! Wow, time flies as Way. It sounds like they performed a simiI remember when you were just gathering lar stunt on the roof of Korrick’s too. construction information. I’m glad for your success and for the awesome magazine Laura Lovato Stenzel, Treasurer that you distribute.

Friends of the Orpheum Theater Phoenix, Arizona Billy Anderson, Owner/Operator Connect 202 Partners, Mesa, Arizona

Music to Our Ears

Marital Discord Wow, I will not give my husband back his March/April issue, because it is a marvelous walk through history. It’s just so fabulous to read. Blaine Drake, Eugene Pierson, on and on. I’m going to send you a copy of my book; you might enjoy it.

Posey Nash, Author Phoenix, Arizona The Digger’s Daughter is a history of the 100-year-old A.L. Moore and Sons Mortuary in Phoenix.

arizcc.com

I enjoyed reading “The ‘Wrap’ on Phoenix’s Reynolds Aluminum Plant” by Douglas Towne in the May-June issue. The article notes that “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.”

It’s always interesting to connect the dots in our large complex world. M. A. Machell was Montague Arthur Machell. He and his wife, Cora Lee Machell, designed and built their home in the Cattle Track neighborhood of Scottsdale in 1952. My wife and I now live in this house. The Machell’s were a fascinating couple who lived more than a dozen years in this residence,

which some believe was designed by Blaine Drake, a disciple of Frank Lloyd Wright.

Montague was born on July 29, 1888, and received a Bachelor of Music degree from the University of Arizona in 1939. He performed in the Phoenix Symphony Orchestra and is credited with forming the Scottsdale High School Band in 1942 and the Boys Glee Club.

His wife, Cora Lee, was a pianist who would provide musical accompaniments.

Both were known as cello, piano, and violin teachers. Our small living room had two or three pianos, and there were more than 40 violins in the back bedroom.

Montague also hosted KOY Classics, which were an hour of recorded classical and romantic music by Tchaikovsky, Kostelanetz, and others.

Cora Lee taught piano at the Loloma Elementary School, which was the original 1928 Scottsdale Grammar School No. 2 designed by Lescher and Mahoney Architects.

I was fortunate to work with the Scottsdale Artists School to develop an adaptive reuse of this school to suit their program in 1993.

Cora Lee was also known as a gifted gardener and composter, who traded flower bulbs for horse manure and other organic material. Her garden had enough large trees to cover the entire house in the shade and dozens of rose bushes, which Sunset magazine featured in the 1960s.

Montague came from England and belonged to a mystical cult, the Theosophical Society, whose members believed they could choose when to die. Cora Lee also held such a belief when she went to Scottsdale Memorial Hospital-Osborn Campus (now Honor Health) in 1973. Witnesses confirmed that she determined, 5 minutes before her death, of when to pass away.

She was 79. Montague died in 1975 at the age of 86 in Texas.

Douglas B. Sydnor, FAIA, Principal Douglas Sydnor Architect + Associates, Inc. Scottsdale, Arizona

Arizona Contractor & Community

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PROJECTs • PEOPLE • PRACTICES

CONSTRUCTION AROUND ARIZONA Projects

CONSTRUCTION AROUND ARIZONA

Trucks “Piggybacked” Through Arizona Tom Hogarty

J

oe Lilly, a long-time fixture in the Arizona construction industry, recently met a three-part challenge. Now retired and living in Texas, Lilly was asked to haul three semi-truck cab units from Los Angeles to arizcc.com

Midland, Texas.

There was just one hitch to the 86-foot-long problem: he couldn’t back up. Lilly found a solution, putting together a three-truck hauling scheme in which the front wheels were removed from each truck.

Lilly’s scheme worked for three days, as he stopped at truck stops along the way. His luck gave out in pouring rain near Willcox, Arizona. One of the truck’s brakes

“froze” and could not be released.

He worked with a local mechanic to find a solution. Lying on his back in two inches of cold water with the temperature near 35 degrees, Lilly maneuvered the faulty brake and got it to release.

What did Lilly do to celebrate the repair? “After it was over, the truck stop’s hot shower felt great,” he said.

Arizona Contractor & Community

Jul-Aug 2018

Abigail Spong

L

Images Courtesy of Luna Azul

una Azul is Arizona’s first for-sale residential development explicitly designed to cater to adults with disabilities. The 30home development in North Phoenix at 1500 East Wahalla Lane is set to open in 2019 with a variety of cottage-sized layouts, customizable for future homeowners.

Mark Roth, founder of ECC Management, LLC, and a former attorney, initially began working on Luna Azul five years ago after not finding suitable housing options for his 18-year-old daughter, Emma, who has special needs.

“Luna Azul is a pocket neighborhood that we’re marketing primarily to the benefit of adults with intellectual, developmental, and acquired disabilities,” Roth said. However, owner-ship is not restricted to only adults with disabilities; other individuals and families are welcome into the community.

Ross Chapin, Luna Azul’s architect and community planner, is known for his work

in de-veloping pocket neighborhoods.

Pocket neighborhoods are coined as a cluster of neighboring houses that share a central, community area.

The gated-Luna Azul campus will be traffic-free, homes will have front porches to pro-mote socializing with neighbors, and the cottages will have safety and design features to meet the needs of people with disabilities. There also will be 24-hour onsite staffing. Prices will range from the mid$300,000s to the mid-$500,000s and sizes

CONSTRUCTION AROUND ARIZONA Projects

New Community for Adults with Disabilities

vary from 1,152 sq. ft. to 1,956 sq. ft.

Chapin said pocket neighborhoods work well for elders, young families and are especially suited for those with special needs. “It provides a safe, sociable community that balances the needs for sociability along with privacy,” Chapin said.

Roth said Luna Azul sets itself apart from other housing options for adults with disabili-ties because of its cost-effective, for-sale homes. “We weren’t satisfied with the idea of paying rent,” Roth said. “We would be worried about rent going up, we would be worried about wheth-er the lease would be renewed, we would be worried about pleasing a landlord.”

Sean Zimmerman, a real estate specialist with LaunchPad Sales & Marketing Group, han-dles the sales at Luna Azul.

Zimmerman said when he and his business partner met Roth over the phone, they knew it was a project they had to say yes to.“We had to do whatever we could possibly do because we just fell in love with doing something that could make such an impact,” Zimmerman said.

Compared to a traditional home and community development, Zimmerman said Luna Azul has been much easier to market.

“It’s easier because we are meeting a specific need that is not being met in the marketplace,” Zimmerman said.

Roth said he’s thrilled to be working on something that has the potential to benefit so many others.“If it wasn’t helping many people, it wouldn’t be helping my daughter,” Roth said.

Future residents and current prospects can expect to see Luna Azul completed and ready to be occupied in mid-2019. For more information, see www.lunaphx.com.

Abigail Spong is a student reporter at Arizona State University’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication.

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CONSTRUCTION AROUND ARIZONA Projects

Whole Foods Anchors “Local” Housing Project Andy Wei enver-based Forum Real Estate Group (Forum) is developing a multi-unit housing complex near ASU’s Tempe campus and Mill Avenue in downtown Tempe called The Local. The project broke ground in July 2017, said project manager David Hanson of JE Dunn Construction. The estimated completion is March 2019.

Located at 204 West University Drive at the corner of University and Ash Avenue, the project sits on an 80,938-squarefoot parcel and will be nine stories with 286 apartments. It will be anchored by a Whole Foods, which was a critical factor in getting the development approved on the long empty lot, Hanson said.

Director of Interiors Ann Fritz, a designer who worked on the project for Minneapolis-based ESG Architecture & Design, said the development is targeted toward a working professional demographic meant to appeal to people from a millennial audience to older generations.

“The way you do that is, you have to infuse current trends with old authentic designs,” Fritz said. The development “mixes modern eclecticism and long drawn out authentic designs. Everything we did is definitely a little more eclectic,” she said of the interior design. “Lots of black and white” is contrasted with pops of color and set against a heavily glass and concrete background. Fritz added that the design drew much of its inspiration from modern music and art.

The site will be anchored by a Whole Food’s 365 grocery store, which will have a parking deck on upper levels and housing units on top. The development will also feature two swimming pools and a spa area, as well as other amenities such as an atrium-style recreation floor and a game room on the eighth floor, Fritz said.

Image Courtesy of Author

D

Hanson said that while the project is on schedule, the site presented a few unique challenges. Neighboring a railroad to the west and surrounded by parking structures to the north and east, the construction site has been confined to a single entrance facing University Drive. “Working on a constrained site is always a challenge,” he said. “That has just made planning that much more important.”

The development underwent multiple neighborhood and community hearings where residents raised concerns about the Whole Food’s gentrifying the area, although the project generally received positive comments from the community, according to city records. The majority supported the construction of a grocery store in downtown Tempe and the walking distance for most neighborhood residents.

The next closest grocery store is Safeway, south of the ASU Tempe campus 2.5 miles away.

“Without a grocery store, I don’t think the project would have moved forward,” Hanson said.

The development will be Arizona’s first introduction to the new 24/7/365 concept from Whole Food’s which, according to a corporate press release, focuses on smaller stores and higher quality standards.

Despite the construction site being heavily involved with the local history of Tempe, no historical artifacts have been unearthed at the site, Hanson said.

According to the Tempe Historical Society, the lot was the site of the Tempe Cotton Exchange, a dual-cotton gin facility that helped facilitate the growth of the township. The last of the historic site was torn down in 1991.

Andy Wei is a student reporter at Arizona State University’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication.

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CONSTRUCTION AROUND ARIZONA Projects

Loop 202 “Bridges” Salt River MacKinley Lutes-Adlhoch

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when we are building out the Southern Avenue interchange,” Lewis said. “Other routes to the Salt River are just as challenging due to the turning radius needed to get the girders in.”

The concrete girders used in these bridges are the largest ever installed by ADOT, Krugel said, weighing 169,000 pounds. As of the third week in April, 238 of 292 girders are set.

With the continually changing elevation in the river itself, Lewis said crane setup and pad locations were vital to getting the girders into the construction site. While he noted bridge construction had gone relatively smoothly so far, problems arose while working in the water.

“The groundwater elevation is high in

the river bottom, making all drilled-shaft construction under slurry,” Lewis said.

“This adds equipment, pumps, duration, and complexity to the drilled-shaft construction due to having to drill under slurry to seal out the groundwater during concrete placement.”

The freeway’s connection between the East and West Valleys is projected to save Arizonans 15 million hours of travel time per year, according to Maricopa Association of Governments’ regional travel model. Krugel said this time is worth $200 million in savings for Arizona drivers.

MacKinley Lutes-Adlhoch is a student reporter at Arizona State University’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication.

Images Courtesy of ADOT

he Salt River bridges, the two longest bridges on the Loop 202 South Mountain Freeway, are two-thirds complete and projected to be finished by late 2018.

When the South Mountain Freeway is complete and opened in late 2019, it will span 22 miles. The Salt River bridges, two of 40 in the project, are located in Laveen, and they will stretch a half-mile each in carrying traffic over the Salt River.

Dustin Krugel, Arizona Department of Transportation (ADOT) spokesman, said these bridges were necessary additions because the 51st Avenue Bridge currently is the only all-weather crossing bridge between 35th Avenue and Avondale Boulevard. “The city of Phoenix’s 51st Avenue Bridge can get very congested, particularly if there are some weather events that flood the Salt River,” Krugel said.

A significant reason for the construction of these bridges, which started in February 2017, is not only to relieve congestion in the Southwest Valley because of potential weather events but to also deal with increased traffic. “The Southwest Valley is experiencing a lot of growth right now,” Krugel said. “We’re seeing a lot of traffic congestion in that area, particularly during morning rush hour commute.”

Walter J. Lewis III, project director with Connect 202 Partners, said the challenge of building these bridges has been maintaining access to the Salt River enough to be able to bring in large equipment and materials. “There is limited access to get the 170-foot long girders to the river bottom

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he people involved in building the $25-million Overstreet project on Arizona Avenue and Chandler Boulevard have faced some pleasant surprises and tricky challenges since construction started in May 2017.

LGE Design Build (contractor), MDB Properties (developer), Cawley Architects and Brick and West Design (design partner) collaborated to create the 77,000-square foot, mixed-use complex with retail and restaurants on the ground level and professional offices upstairs. One of the distinct parts of the project is Flix Brewhouse complete with a brewery, bar, and movie theater. Customers can have food and beverages delivered to their seats in each theater.

Project manager Darrell Malin said the building shells and site are anticipated to be finished by the end of June or early July.

The overall budget for the project is $18

million.

Sherman Cawley, the owner of Cawley Architects, said he was surprised about the time it took for Chandler to permit the project because it was unusually quick. It took about three months to process the permit when it usually takes about six months, he said. “From our point of view, from our architectural standpoint, it was remarkable, that’s very, very fast,” Cawley said.

He said he learned a great deal not only about mixed-use projects but also about working together on a project with a “very, very accelerated” timeline. Overstreet is one of Cawley Architects largest projects and its largest mixed-use project. “It was definitely a feather in everyone’s cap,” Cawley said.

Malin said his crew experienced some challenges and had to figure out workarounds because the site contained the remnants of a century of previous construction: Everything from farmhouses to residential buildings have been on the property.

Matt Gluskin, a graphic designer and spokesman for LGE Design and Build, said, “Following construction start, subterra-

CONSTRUCTION AROUND ARIZONA Projects

Image Courtesy of Brick & West Design

Subterranean Surprises Highlight Chandler Project

nean construction and equipment were uncovered that required excavation, infill, and further grading. When encountered, it is extremely important to remove these items and re-verify that the site is prepared for new construction per plan.”

Mike Rumpeltin, a Brick and West designer who worked on Overstreet, said the complexity of the design to work around previous construction on the property surprised him as well.

“You maybe have some idea of that being there in some more processed, developed areas, you know like New York City or downtown Seattle, but for Chandler, I think that was a surprise for everybody,” Rumpeltin said. “That kind of in a way was exciting about construction, dealing with those challenges.”

For Brick and West, a company that has mostly designed small-scale businesses, it’s great to be associated with such a large-scale project, Rumpeltin said.

Laura Stack is a student reporter at Arizona State University’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication.

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Arizona Contractor & Community

Ditch Witch of Southern Arizona

Ditch Witch of Arizona

4028 S. 36th Street, Phoenix, AZ 85040

Office: 602-437-0351 Fax: 602-437-1544

www.ditchwitchaz.com 1-888-316-3242

6975 N. Camino Martin, Tucson, AZ 85741

Office: 520-579-0261 Fax: 520-579-0268

Andy Wei

A

t 38, Gretchen Kinsella is currently the youngest project executive working in the Phoenix division of DPR Construction, one of the largest construction companies in the U.S. It is the second largest healthcare contractor in the nation this year, according to Modern Healthcare. Last year, Engineering News-Record ranked it the fourth top contractor in the Southwest.

Gretchen was an intern at DPR before starting fulltime in 2002. Currently she is overseeing two Banner projects: the $318 million Banner University Medical Center Phoenix (BUMC – Phoenix) and the $310 million Banner University Medical Center Tucson. She balances a busy work life with her 1 1/2-year-old daughter Sloan. She spoke with Arizona Contractor & Community to discuss her passion for construction, what the industry means for her, and what advice she can give to others.

Images Courtesy of DPR

What first attracted you to working in construction?

I didn’t really understand what an engineer was when I was younger. I did a job shadow of a civil engineer when I was in high school and that’s when I realized I was interested in engineering — I was interested in building things and that translated into engineering.

What kind of projects do you typically work on?

My specialty is health care. I want to provide value to my clients, and the best way for me to provide value to my clients is

to be an expert in their business.

Do you have a specific project on which you learned the most?

Yeah it was probably the hardest project I’ve ever done. This specific project was a hard-bid delivery project in Tucson (Pima County Behavioral Health Pavilion and Crisis Response Center). It was May of 2009 and the economy was crap. It was just a project that kind of all odds were against us, but we delivered a product we were proud of.

Do you learn something new from each project?

I learn a lot from the people I work with and trying to figure out how to best utilize their skills. I mean, I still learn technical things about new medical equipment and processes. But from my standpoint, I learn the most from how to use people on each team.

What are your more favorite projects?

I don’t think I have any specific projects that were my favorite. I do think that because I got to give birth to my daughter in the room I built myself 14 years prior (BUMC – Phoenix), that’s a pretty cool memory for me to have forever and to share with her. For nostalgia’s sake, that’s probably my favorite project.

Do you have any tips for people entering the industry?

Enjoy what you do, and find a company that allows you to be yourself. There’s a reason there is diversity in the world and every company is different, so finding a company that most aligns with allowing you to be yourself is very important.

Do you have any tips for women, specifically, entering the male-dominated industry?

I think that I hesitated to align myself

CONSTRUCTION AROUND ARIZONA People

DPR Construction: Interview with Gretchen Kinsella

with other women when I started. Early in my career I thought to myself, “Why do I need that support group?” And, I really wish I hadn’t been so shortsighted. I would definitely encourage women to connect with other women in the industry, whether it’s in construction or in design. I think the more women can feel comfortable identifying themselves as women, lets women support each other.

What does working in the construction business mean to you?

I think the best part about construction is that we are a service business with a product result. We get to see the outcome of the efforts that our team, working together, was able to achieve. To me, it’s very rewarding.

Do you have an individual that influenced you?

I’ve been very fortunate to have quite a few mentors along my journey. Our current business leader (Derek Kirkland) has probably been the most consistent mentor to me in the last 10 years. I think having that depth of resources is something that DPR likes to have, and that I try to provide as well. You want to make sure you have somebody to guide you and speak up for you.

What is your life like outside of work and construction?

I just had my first child about a year and a half ago, so it’s busy. It was something that I wasn’t 100 percent sure about because I’ve always been very career driven, and then I met my husband (Ryan Kinsella). She’s been happy and healthy, and she’s turning into a toddler now so she keeps me busy.

Andy Wei is a student reporter at Arizona State University’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication.

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Arizona Contractor & Community

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Twenty SIX

Jul-Aug 2018

er the subcontractor’s work is defective.

This “kitchen sink” strategy allows GCs to obtain a larger pot of cash for settlement with homeowners. Thus, CD claims and allegations of defective work tarnish the reputation of subcontractors with negative publicity in a very public forum.

Norman S. Fulton III, Esq.

2. Subcontractors Have a Duty to Cooperate with Insurers.

R

esidential Construction Defect (“CD”) litigation begins when unsatisfied homeowners file claims against the developer/ general contractor (“GC”) for alleged construction defects. A common misconception amongst subcontractors is that CD claims and lawsuits are matters to be dealt with by the subcontractor’s insurer, and are not the concern of the individual subcontractor. This could not be farther from the truth.

The following four points are essential for every Arizona subcontractor who wishes to avoid wasteful spending of hard earned money on CD litigation.

Insurance policies purchased by a subcontractor usually include “cooperation” clauses requiring the subcontractor to participate and assist the insurer in investigating claims involving the subcontractor.

It is crucial for the subcontractor to have a plan and strategy because merely ignoring an insurance company’s requests for information risks denial of assistance if, and when, the subcontractor eventually needs it. That said, the converse is also true; a subcontractor should not unknowingly disclose vital information without strategy and legal advice. Therefore, it is crucial for a subcontractor involved in CD litigation to 1. Construction Defect Claims Matter to have knowledgeable attorneys that are experienced in complex CD litigation.

Subcontractors.

Images Courtesy of Author

A substantial percentage of a subcontractor’s annual budget is spent on general liability insurance for the subcontractor’s protection from all sorts of claims, including CD claims. Insurance companies rate subcontractors based, in part, on the number of CD claims each subcontractor is involved in and the amount of money the insurer has reserved for settlement of those claims. Thus, subcontractors creating greater exposure for insurers will pay more for insurance coverage annually. Stated simply, CD claims affect a subcontractor’s bottom line through increased insurance premiums.

Secondly, a subcontractor’s reputation is at stake. These lawsuits and the allegations asserted are public records. GCs file lawsuits in state and federal court, naming every subcontractor that worked on the project by name, regardless of wheth-

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3. A Subcontractor Can Control Its Own Destiny.

Retaining personal counsel is a crucial first step for a subcontractor. Insurance companies routinely provide counsel to defend subcontractors in CD matters at no upfront cost. However, this representation may not be all it seems because the insurer often sends the subcontractor a large deductible bill, sometimes many months after the matter has concluded, all while increasing the subcontractor’s insurance premiums.

It is also important to remember where loyalties may lie when counsel is retained by an insurer. Typically, there are no conflicts between a subcontractor’s and its insurer’s goals. However, when those goals diverge, and they sometimes do, a subcontractor will be well served by personal counsel that will remain dedicated to the subcontractor’s goals over those of all other interested parties. Having experienced personal counsel is a valuable tool in assuming control over a subcontractor’s destiny.

CONSTRUCTION AROUND ARIZONA Practices

Four Points Every Arizona Subcontractor Must Know About Construction Defect Claims

obtain expert legal advice.

First, “read the contract.” Many subcontractors execute very complex contracts with large, national GCs without reading the contract. Many of these contracts explicitly require the subcontractor to “pay for everything” when homeowners file a lawsuit. However, a proactive subcontractor that has retained experienced CD attorneys may be able to review and edit the contracts to remove some of the more troublesome language. This upfront expenditure often results in substantial future savings when CD claims inevitably occur because the subcontractor’s edits could provide reduced contractual liability for years to come.

Lastly, subcontractors can get involved to change CD laws that are biased against subcontractors. The Arizona Association of Subcontractors, along with Jaburg Wilk’s attorneys and clients, are currently working to improve Arizona’s construction laws to “level the playing field” for subcontractors.

When it comes to CD lawsuits, subcontractors have power in numbers. Getting involved in subcontractor organizations will pay dividends in the future.

In summary, CD claims and lawsuits significantly impact Arizona subcontractors through ascending insurance premiums and harm to their reputations. Proactive Arizona subcontractors are retaining attorneys experienced in CD litigation to protect what they have built. Many subcontractors are taking a proactive stance against GCs 4. Reducing Future Involvement in CD and homeowners with success. Please feel Claims. free to contact the author to discuss these matters in greater detail, and find out how Often subcontractors become frus- you too can be a more prepared and profittrated after being involved in several CD able subcontractor. lawsuits, and they ask us, “How can I avoid CD lawsuits in the future?” Subcontractors Norman S. Fulton III, Esq. is a construction must become proactive, get involved, and law litigator for Jaburg Wilk.

Arizona Contractor & Community

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Jul-Aug 2018

Alison Bailin Batz

C

ommercial and residential contractors and sub-contractors have historically been considered high-risk borrowers. As such, contractors have found it difficult to get financing from commercial banks. The recent recession only added to this issue.

“Typically, a contractor will need three main types of financing – working capital lines of credit; equipment loans; and/ or owner-occupied real estate,” says Ben Danner, senior vice president and Arizona business banking manager for Washington Federal. Danner, who has focused on helping contractors in the market obtain financing for more than 30 years, suggests contractors do several things to increase their chances of securing a loan. These include: 1. Maintain Good Records: quality financial records are vital to assisting the bank in understanding the financial workings of the business. Quality internal bookkeeping and accounting processes and support go a long way to establishing a pattern for proper accounting.

2. Understand your Financial Needs: Many contractors do not fully understand the cash flow needs of the business and timing issues related to financing multiple jobs.

3. Communication: Establish and maintain effective communication to allow the bank to understand the good and the bad of what is happening in the business.

4. Discipline: Be able to comprehend and explain what good business is for your business. In slow times, businesses try to expand their markets by going to places and taking on work that they do not fully understand.

5. Establish a Management Team: Small businesses mainly start based on the talents and efforts of one or two key members. As the business grows, they fail to

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increase the breadth of management to maintain the ability to focus on all aspects of daily operations.

6. Keep Lists: Maintain and have available a record of successful projects and clients.

“Contrary to what many contractors might believe, banks can and will work with them on loans,” Danner says. “There are several success stories post-recession that sometimes get overshadowed by the more negative reports.”

Sonoran Crest Construction is an Arizona-based commercial general contracting firm established in 2005. Washington Federal was impressed with the company’s management team as well as their focus on expansion and aligning themselves with quality clients.

“Specialization with a focus on longterm relationships has fueled the continuous double-digit topline growth for the past five years. The relationship with Washington Federal has helped facilitate our growth,” Greg Smith, of Sonoran Crest, says. “The implementation of a line of credit from them has provided for greater bonding capacity, allowing for a greater number and larger-sized projects to be pursued. The line of credit has also provided opportunities to help with cash flow and allows for strategic use cash to facilitate growth.”

Smith also notes that Washington Federal has provided capital leases for equipment allowing the retainage of cash with the ability to take advantage of tax-deprecation opportunities.

Reddi Services, Inc. is a multi-state contractor that is headquartered in Arizona and operates as a full-service plumbing, drain cleaning, and air conditioning company. Owned by the Gravatt family since 1957, its mantra has been to put their clients and employees before any corporate goals.

The company’s president, Jay Gravatt believes the key is relationship banking, through both healthy and tough times.

“Your bank, as ours does, must have an

CONSTRUCTION AROUND ARIZONA Practices

Number Crunch: Being the Best Bet for a Bank Loan

understanding of the construction industry as well as a solid investment in getting to know who we are as a business and people,” Gravatt says. “Over the ten years we’ve worked with our bank, it’s been the regular interaction they have with us as well as our key service providers including our CPA, risk managers, and equipment providers that has made all the difference.”

According to Gravatt, this approach facilitates more timely and meaningful recommendations as to the optimal bank structure. “This practice occurs in all facets of the business whether it’s for cash and treasury management services or tailoring specific working capital or long-term financing options specific to the operation’s regional needs and objectives,” he adds.

Kowalski Construction is a family-owned general contractor founded to serve the commercial and residential structural restoration market in 1967. “They tackle structures that have been damaged by water, fire and other forms of destruction,” Danner says. “Kowalski Construction’s success in business and with us has been built upon being prepared, taking responsibility, and treating clients like family.”

For more information, visit www.wafd. com or contact Ben Danner at ben.danner@wafd.com.

Arizona Contractor & Community

Back When D

ouble-features were the policy of the one-screen Indian Drive-In Theater when it opened at the northeast corner of 27th Avenue and Indian School Road on August 27, 1948. Patrons rolled in to see Randolph Scott in the Western, Coroner Creek, and Rita Hayworth and Orson Welles in The Lady from Shanghai. The latter film ended with a memorable shootout in a fun house hall of mirrors.

Garfield Anderson, who also owned the Phoenix Drive-In and Pioneer Drive-In, operated the Indian Drive-In, which had a capacity of 1,360 cars. Customers fondly recall the theater’s playground that fea-

tured a merry-go-round with wooden horses, and the carload deals where teenagers packed into a vehicle for one low admission price.

In 1966, the Indian Drive-In had a $100,000 upgrade that included new restrooms, concession areas, a projection room, and offices. Architects George R. Walsh of Phoenix and Henry G. Greene of New York designed the update, which was built by Homes & Sons Construction Co., Phoenix. The theater closed in the early 1980s and the land was redeveloped into the Willow Springs Apartments, which according to online reviews, has become a challenging place to live.

Images Courtesy

Douglas Towne

of Author

Fun by the Carload

Jul-Aug 2018

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Arizona Contractor & Community

THIRTY TWO

Jul-Aug 2018

Moving the (Near) Impossible: Mike Poppe’s Precision Heavy Haul

A

Douglas Towne

s a youth, Mike Poppe learned the tricks to operating and maintaining a truck from his father. The creation of his trucking company, Precision Heavy Haul, Inc., however, was all his vision. Today his firm is acknowledged nationwide as one of the industry leaders in transporting oversized, overweight, and awkward loads.

“I saw an opportunity that looked not only promising but also challenging in the construction equipment hauling and super-load market and went for it,” Poppe says. “I found customers among local excavation, building contractors, and steel fabricators who wanted to move their equipment without as much teardown. And their equipment was getting bigger and bigger.”

Mike’s Kenworth with a Beale scraper trailer and dolly hauling a Caterpillar 631B scraper. arizcc.com

Image Courtesy of PHH

“The exciting part of every large project is seeing the finished product and knowing that you helped get it there.”

Along the way, Poppe discovered he had a creative flair for simplifying the movement of large equipment, including the design of custom trailers for massive loads. This knack paid off in other ways for Poppe. “I figured if I could do a good job moving contractors’ largest machines, I was usually asked to move the rest of their equipment,” he says.

After starting Precision Heavy Haul in 1984, Poppe never looked back. “Every job, every day is different, and they always present new obstacles,” he says. “I enjoy challenging myself and thinking outside of the box.”

As a kid, Poppe was fascinated with his dad’s vehicles and the equipment he moved. Poppe would accompany him on hauls and work on the trucks during the summers and weekends. “At a very young age, I remember how he’d come in and wake me up at 5:00 a.m. on the weekends and take me with him to the yard,” Poppe says. “He put me to work servicing his equipment, teaching me the craft of his Arizona Contractor & Community

Images Courtesy of PHH

Top: Poppe’s company hauls a mirror on the Swift Trail up Mt. Graham.

Top right: Poppe’s first truck, a 1967 Ken­worth with a new 1986 custom-built Seibert trailer, transporting a large CAT 245B excavator for Pulice Construction.

Bottom: Poppe’s company hauls a dish on the Swift Trail up Mt. Graham.

THIRTY FOUR

Jul-Aug 2018

trade. Or perhaps it was just child labor.”

At an early age, Poppe became adept at moving equipment. He made his first transport for his parent’s B & D Trucking company at the age of 15. “During the summer of 1974, my dad had a project to build a levee at a pumping station in Wikieup, Arizona,” Poppe recalls. “My job was to load material with his Hough 90 wheel loader and transport it from one end of the job to the other driving a 1959 Kenworth butterfly hood with a twin-stick pulling an end dump. “ He started his own company, Precision Heavy Haul, ten years later. He

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purchased his first truck, a 1967 Kenworth narrow nose with a 1674 Cat without a Jake brake, Retarder or even an exhaust brake.

The 15-speed truck had steel fuel tanks, steel wheels, Hendrickson rubber-ride suspension, and a roof-mounted AC unit.

When asked if he still has the vehicle, Poppe exclaims, “No, I kick myself in the butt every day for letting that truck go!”

The Tolleson-based company specializes in large, challenging loads and has won a multitude of awards from organizations such as the Arizona Trucking Association and the Specialized Carriers and Rigging Association. When asked about his most unusual day in the unique business, he says, “To be honest, I can’t think of any one particular day that was more unusual than any other; in this industry, we are faced with new and different challenges on a daily basis.”

Poppe can’t recall ever turning down a hauling job, just offers that were not carried out due to practicality. “Some projects have extreme costs with logistics and working with the proper officials to remove overhead obstructions, or shut down roads, etc.,” he says. “We will always offer a feasibility study, and it’s up to the customer to decide if the cost is worth the move.”

Still, Precision Heavy Haul has moved some impressive infrastructure over treacherous roads. This includes hauling a $10 million telescope mirror up to the top of 10,500-foot Mt. Graham in 2003. The instrument was delivered without any problems at the end of 29-mile trip.

The next year, Poppe’s company hauled many components of the Arizona Cardinal’s stadium, including the biggest parts of its retractable roof, without incident.

In 2013, his company’s significant accomplishment was the successful transportation of the Kitt Peak Radio Antenna, delivered to the top of the 7,000-foot mountain in southern Arizona. The $14 million instrument weighed more than a million pounds, combined gross weight.

When asked about the most nail-biting moments of each move, Poppe conArizona Contractor & Community

Images Courtesy of PHH

siders his answer. “I can’t say there were any scary moments, only because we took the time to plan and organize for a flawless outcome. The exciting part of every large project is seeing the finished product and knowing that you helped get it there.”

“Every job, every day is different, and they always present new obstacles.”

The most frustrating part of Poppe’s work isn’t the odd loads his company hauls but the illegal activity from others in the trucking industry. “It makes the job harder for everyone and creates more challenges,” he says.

One of Poppe’s biggest rewards is doing the job right and maintaining one of the highest U.S. Department of Trans-

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THIRTY SIX

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Jul-Aug 2018

Top left & right: Precision

portation’s SAFE Heavy Haul transporting STAT scores in the sections of the University of country. Speaking Phoenix Stadium.

Bottom left: Precision Heavy from an ethical Haul donated transportation and legal view- services to the placement of point, he says his battleship guns in Wesley Bolin record is possible Memorial Plaza, 2013. by adhering to the laws and regulations, always keeping the best interest of the company, the customer, and the public as the highest priorities.

After almost 35 years in the trucking industry, there have been a few surprises for Poppe. The biggest is that Precision Heavy Haul, which currently has a fleet of 16 tractors and more than 160 trailer combinations, has achieved worldwide recognition and become a leader in the industry. It’s an achievement that Poppe attributes to the people he has surrounded himself with at the company, especially his family. “I am surprised that I have been able to include my family in my business and watched it become their passion as well,” he says.

Mike’s brother, brother-in-law, daughter, and step-son all work for the company.

Many things have changed since Poppe first started working. He says one improvement that has benefited the industry is the creation of the Class A Oversize / Overweight envelope permit in 1993.

But the adverse changes outnumber the positives and include added restrictions, regulations, and aging infrastructure.

“Everyday traffic conditions and construction zones have become major challenges for drivers,” Poppe declares. He says that stop-and-go traffic, merging traffic, and smartphone use elevate driving dangers immensely.

“Dealing with oversize and overweight loads adds more challenges. Increasing restrictions from the growing number of weight-restricted bridges, roundabouts, and overhead restrictions such as overpasses, VMS boards, and low signals make it tougher and tougher to move high loads in an expedited manner,” Poppe says.

All in all, Poppe is pleasantly surprised where he finds himself all these years later. “I feel lucky to work with such a great team and watch my vision become a reality. I have been surprised by all of the wonderful people I have been introduced to or worked with, the places I’ve gotten to travel to, and the continuous learning that comes with time and growth.”

Despite his phenomenal success, Poppe isn’t sure if he chose the career or if the career picked him. “I recently asked my Dad if he had to make me go to the yard with him at such a young age or if I really wanted to go,” he says. “Dad smiled and said, ‘You always wanted to go.” arizcc.com

Arizona Contractor & Community

THIRTY EIGHT

Jul-Aug 2018

Images Courtesy of Don Poppe

Still “Truckin” at 84: Don “Pops” Poppe Douglas Towne

D

on “Pops” Poppe has witnessed a few changes in his 60-plus years in the trucking industry. The first trucks he drove lacked power steering, had two or three stick shifts, and their brakes often malfunctioned. Most drivers today would be hard-pressed to operate such a truck.

“I could probably still drive one of those trucks, but I might be a little rusty,” Poppe says, modestly.

Poppe has hauled material through towns like Ray, Arizona that no longer exist and driven “highways” that were sometimes little more than improved dirt roads with potential hazards around every bend.

And he remembers a time when if you broke down, someone would stop to render assistance. Poppe would do the same when he came upon a vehicle on the side of the road, waving off subsequent offers of payment. “I helped them because it was

Left: A Kenworth truck and trailer with a self-unloader for taking off concrete blocks, which Don Poppe used while working for Superlite Block in 1957.

Right: Bonnie and Don Poppe before starting B & D Trucking; “B” is for Bon­nie or the boss and “D” is for Don or the driver, 1957. arizcc.com

Arizona Contractor & Community

the right thing to do,” he says.

His career was inspired by a trip he took as a 12 year old. “I fell in love with trucks while we were moving out here from Wisconsin,” he recalls.

Poppe’s family moved to Arizona because of his dad’s health. “He was a dairy farmer and contracted pneumonia three straight years. We came here because my mother had a sister who lived in Ajo. Her husband was killed at the mine while operating a steam shovel.”

“If it hadn’t been for my brother, I might have jumped from the truck,” he says.

The family initially stayed at the Crystal Motel along Grand Avenue in Glendale, before settling in Tolleson to raise livestock on five acres. After graduating from Tolleson High School in 1951, Poppe went to work for Superlite Block as an inspector and a forklift operator loading trucks. Two years later, he was drafted into the Army. After infantry training, Don Poppe was assigned to the 35th Transportation Light Truck Company in Hanau, Germany.

After his discharge in 1955, Poppe returned to Superlite as a truck driver. He made local deliveries as well as long hauls to Las Vegas and Los Angeles. The job was not

without its challenges.

Coming back from a delivery to Show Low, Poppe was descending into the Salt River Canyon when his truck’s air compressor broke. He managed to stop the vehicle at the bottom Top: Poppe’s truck dumps cotton seed at an oil mill at 55th Avenue and Buckeye Road, 1966.

Top right: Mike Poppe in his father’s 1960 Kenworth truck.

Left: Road damage on U.S. 180 near the Petrified Forest National Park after a trailer neck broke while hauling a Caterpillar D9 bulldozer.

Right: Don Poppe changing a tire on a Superlite Block Kenworth truck, 1950s.

FORTY

of the canyon and hitched a ride to Globe to phone his office. “’My truck is at the bottom of the Salt River Canyon!’ I excitedly told them, not thinking how it sounded,” he says. The office thought he had gone off the side of the road and was injured.

Many of the company trucks were underpowered, which presented complications when hauling material to places like Payson. After going through Sycamore Creek, the road had a steep grade that was a few truck lengths long. “Superlite only had one truck that could make it to the top in first gear; the others would power out before the top,” he says. “So we had to put rocks behind the wheels and roll back and come up off them and get a little more distance, and do it again until you made it Jul-Aug 2018

Images Courtesy of Don Poppe

over the top of the hill.”

Another time, Poppe was delivering Superlite block to Ray and his disabled brother came along for the ride. The company truck had old brakes that would fade if they got hot, and they did just that on the approach into town. “If it hadn’t been for my brother, I might have jumped from the truck,” he says. “I wasn’t going very fast, but I couldn’t stop it. I was going to try and pull over at the first service station, but I didn’t stop until I came to the second one on the other side of the town.”

His most memorable delivery, however, was hauling a large forklift to Denver.

Poppe started up the treacherous Wolf Creek Pass over the San Juan Mountains in southern Colorado as a few snowflakes fell. arizcc.com

Arizona Contractor & Community

By the time he made it over the summit, one of the scariest photos you’ll ever see,” the weather had turned abysmal. “Every- Poppe says. “When I stepped out of the one warned me on the truck onto the highway, CB how slick the road I was immediately on my was,” he says. back; it was that slick.”

Then his truck went Poppe was then one way, the trailer went almost run over by a another, and he wound snowplow that had to up in a precarious podrop its plow to come to sition perched on the a halt. Its driver, a lady edge of the icy road. “I wearing boots and a can’t find the picture of it now, but it was skirt, jumped out and angrily told him that

“Poppe has hauled material through towns like Ray, Arizona that no longer exist.”

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FORTY TWO

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Top: A Hough 500 loader owned by JBC Construction has been set on blocks and had its tires removed to be shipped from Tucson to Indio, CA. Left: Don Poppe with his sons, Kenny and Mike, in front of his first truck, a 1960 Kenworth leased to Cagle Bros Inc. Bottom left: Kenworth truck hauls a Caterpillar 631B scraper on a jeep and scraper dolly through the Navajo Nation, 1966.

Image Courtesy of PHH

some incompetent was supposed to stop traffic at the bottom of the pass because of adverse driving conditions.

The first tow truck to reach him from Pagosa Springs refused to help. “If I hook up to you, we’ll both wind up down in the canyon, he told me,” Poppe says. A tow truck operation that came from the other direction, in South Fork, needed two wreckers to get him back on the road.

Poppe was about to continue his journey on U.S. Highway 160 when a Colorado State patrolman told him how lucky he was to have spun out when he did. “The patrolman said that some guy coming up the other way driving a motorhome got spooked and tried to turn around and got stuck, blocking traffic both ways. If I had made it down the pass further, I would have just

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Image Courtesy of PHH

crashed into him.”

In 1962, Poppe and his wife started B & D Trucking, which stood for Bonnie and Don. “Or you can say, Boss & Driver,” Mike Poppe, his son says, with a laugh. Poppe purchased his first truck, a 1960 Kenworth K-100 Cab-Over Tractor powered by a Cummins 335 engine with a twin-stick 4 x 4 and 38k rears, leaf spring suspension, and 240inch wheelbase. He purchased the truck from W.J. Digby, whom he had worked for as an owner-operator for a year.

Poppe subsequently worked for Cagle Brothers, where he hauled cottonseed, bailed cotton, pipe, steel, and heavy equip-

Top: A 1966 Kenworth is used to haul an Allis Chambers 762 scraper on a jeep and scraper dolly.

Above: Mike and Don Poppe at Precision Heavy Haul in Tolleson, 2018.

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He then joined the Precision Heavy Haul team as an owner-operator in 1992; hebecame a company driver in 2005. He retired in 2012 and toured Europe, camped with friends, and gardened for two years before the open road beckoned again.

Poppe then worked part-time for RWC International Trucks, picking up and delivering new and used trucks across the country and road-testing trucks coming in and out of the repair shop. Since 2016, he has worked part-time for Vargas General Engineering as a fill-in driver.

After many decades of moving equipment around the Southwest, Poppe has crossed paths with countless drivers. “It is still a common occurrence for someone to come up to a Precision Heavy Haul employee and ask, ‘How is Don Poppe doing?”

Mike Poppe says. “That takes a special type of person to leave such an impression on such a wide range of age groups. My father is a true pioneer in the industry and is still the hardest working man I’ve ever known.”

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BUESING CORPORATION

Buesing Corp Simply the Best Who is Buesing Corp

pany began to own loaders to load the trucks, track excavators, dozers, and eventually scrapers.

Buesing Corp is a general engineering While the majority of the material transport porcontractor that provides a variety of civil related services such as earthwork, material transporta- tion of the business involved soil import/export tion (trucking), shoring/earth retention, concrete/ and aggregate hauling, Buesing Corp also hauled liquids, asphalt, wood chips, etc. He served all asphalt recycling, shotcrete, foundation drilling, of Minnesota and 8 surrounding states until the micropiles, etc. Buesing Corp is licensed in sevmid-1980’s. During its peak in Long Lake, MN, eral southwestern states and serves 10+ market Buesing Corp owned over 20 trucks, 10 plus sectors. Jerry Buesing’s trucking and construcpieces of earthwork equipment, a truck maintetion business acumen has allowed him to be nance shop, and employed many truck drivers successful over five decades and counting. and heavy equipment (earthwork) operators.

From his experiences growing up on a famTrucking from Day One Jerry Buesing started Buesing Corp in 1965 ily farm, Jerry could drive and operate everything Jerry Buesing. at the age of 21 with one material transport truck he bought and owned. When he needed to, he performed production type equipment operation in Long Lake, MN from a small $12,000 loan. and truck driving throughout the years. CombinHe was the truck owner, driver, and mechanic ing his farming roots and his business savvy and to keep overhead costs down and payoff that recognizing the important of quality equipment, bank note. As they were part of Jerry’s humble that he researched and negotiated the keen beginnings. Creativity and hard work were the equipment as the need arose. backbone of Buesing Corp. There were times Jerry started a new venture as a separate of sleeping in the truck front seat (the truck did company (The Constructor) in 1982 to design not have a sleeper compartment) mid-point and manufacture custom belly dump trailers. The between multi-state long hauls. He would goal was to produce a highly efficient trailer that ask and then plan, and perform hauling just could maximize the payload and maintain duraabout any material with his tractor truck. In the early days it was a Kenworth brand. In the bility and cost. The side business not only helped Minnesota winter months, he would clear and Buesing Corp greatly, he sold these trailers to haul snow from rural roads and driveways for other contractors in other states. Although Jerry was successful with this trailer manufacturing some form of winter revenue. company, he decided to sell it off after a few Jerry grew the business over the next years, and focus on Buesing Corp. couple years focusing on material transport Buesing Corp performed its first job in Ari/ trucking and initiating the company’s mass zona in 1986, and in 1988 Jerry Buesing moved excavation and grading services. The com-

Buesing belly dump truck in deep cut, Minnesota.

FORTY SIX

Buesing belly dump truck at Sky Harbor Airport.

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BUESING CORPORATION Buesing belly dump truck in Minnesota for football stadium construction.

Buesing belly dump truck in Minnesota going under bridge.

the company headquarters and its operations to Phoenix, AZ, including a few estimators, heavy equipment operators, and truck drivers (±16 in all).

During Buesing Corp’s peak in the early 2000s, the company owned 22 Mack tractor trucks and 20 Ranco straight belly dump trailers, and 2 Ranco double belly dump trailers. As leaders in the metro-Phoenix area, Buesing Corp kept its trucking fleet - plus another 60-80 trucking subs and trucking owner/operators busy most of the time. Buesing Corp’s philosophy has always been to also manage the trucks well in dispatch, onsite and on-road cordination with a field truck boss, and with an overall trucking manager.

This level of managing service helps satisfy the customer’s needs in a more effective and positive manner providing value to a project, and also provides the opportunity to be more efficient and productive internally.

belly dump trailers, and 4 Mack brand 12-wheel end dump trucks (supers). Buesing’s trucking fleet is a core part of its business just as much today as it was in 1965.

Although Buesing has an appreciable fleet of earthmoving and drilling and crushing equipment, its trucking operation continues to be an integral part of the company’s success. Jerry himself takes pride in keeping its trucks and trailers clean and well branded with the company logo and colors, and always hire professional drivers. He has instilled this pride and ownership throughout the ranks of the company. Often people in the industry continue to remark to Jerry and others how they recognized a Buesing truck recently on the road or on a jobsite and how professional Buesing Corp is Trucking Today while conducting its work. Jerry continues to Today, Buesing Corp prides itself as a leader say year after year with all sincerity, “Buesing’s in import/export soil and aggregate hauling trucking and equipment fleet and the hard work primarily serving the metro-Phoenix area utilizing of all employees (with a special mention of truck 10 Mack brand tractor trucks, 10 Ranco brand drivers) makes Buesing Corp Simply the Best!”

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JerBue ry Bue atlySafe sinsing g bel ty Aw dum p ard Pretru senck tatiinondee in fron t of. KW p cut Truck. Minnesota, 1970s.

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Arizona Contractor & Community

Creating a Smooth Ride: Arizona Refining Company Tom Gibbons

T

he red paint job gives the 1938 Dodge sedan a strong resemblance to a vehicle featured in music videos in the early days of MTV. It’s not an exact match, mind you. The famous Eliminator used in the “Sharp Dressed Man” and “She’s Got Legs” videos was a 1933 Ford coupe.

As if he was reading his visitor’s mind, Corky Hill said, “This is my ZZ Top car.” Hill, 72 and a great-grandfather of eight, hops into the Dodge. “Listen to this,’’ he said.

He fired up the Dodge’s modern engine. It roared to life. Corky’s Dodge could – as they used to say – lay rubber. Hill knows a thing FORTY EIGHT

used to cut road noise.

Hill later owned an asphalt-spreading company. He sold the business a few years ago and over the years gradually sold off much of the leftover equipment. “These days I just play with cars,’’ he said. But he still has enough asphalt machinery and accessories, including two semi-trailer trucks once owned by Arizona Refining, scattered on his property in the Verde Valley that it or two about laying rubber on asphalt.

And about laying asphalt. “I shot as- could serve as a kind of disorganized museum of the history of postphalt all over,’’ Hill said.

World War II paving in AriAnd about laying asphalt zona, with Hill playing the with rubber in it. roles of curator and docent.

Early in his working Hill started his paving life, Hill worked for Aridays as “a boot man.” He zona Refining Company, climbed up on a platform which helped paved roads behind an old tank trailer throughout Arizona, and with a spreading mechain New Mexico, Utah, Calinism and explained how it fornia, and Texas and as far worked.

The boot man stood on a platform away as New England. The company was a pioneer in rubberized asphalt, now widely behind a tank full of hot asphalt. The tank

“If I drove a truck with an automatic transmission, I’d fall asleep.”

Jul-Aug 2018

Top left: Arizona Refining Company delivering hot oil that is mixed with ABC at the Goodyear auxiliary runway, 1951.

Top right: Hill and his Sa­guaro Petroleum tanker truck.

Left: Hill’s 1960s twin-stick Peterbilt truck.

Bottom: Hill’s Autocar truck.

Images Courtwesy of Arizona Contractor & Community

was insulated and warmed by oil, called burner oil.

During the energy crisis of 1973-74, a second use was found for the burner oil. “APS was so desperate for fuel, they’d buy the used burner oil,’’ Hill said. “We’d haul it down to the Ocotillo plant near Tucson.”

Using a lever, he operated the spreading mechanism, basically a bar with nozzles and two wings, so the width was adjustable. To get an even coat over the designated paving area, the driver had to drive at a slow, steady pace. “It was hard to do,’’ Hill recalled.

In the late 1970s, a Wickenburg company, Bearcat, came up with a computerized system. That made it easier for the driver and eliminated the boot man. The first version didn’t work that well, Hill said, but by the 1980s there was a reliable version. Hill kept the hardware from one of the systems. It’s a panel with switches to control each nozzle. Bearcat provided a paper calculator to figure out the settings.

Arizona Refining had three plants in Fredonia, Flagstaff, and Phoenix at 19th Avenue and McDowell Road. Hill worked mostly out of Flagstaff. He was born in Oklahoma in 1946 and first came to Northern Arizona when he was about 6 months old. His father worked summers logging in the small town of Happy Jack. The family split time between the farm in Oklahoma and his father’s work as a lumberjack.

“We’d go and prepare the farm during the winter,’’ he said. “Get everything ready. My uncle would farm it for my dad.”

The family eventually settled in Flagstaff, and Hill became a truck driver. He

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and another trucker, Richard Walters, were neighbors and worked on a paving job for Kiewit. “Corky was a fun guy,’’ Walters said. Walters suggested they go to work at Arizona Refining Company. “They were a good outfit. They always treated their people well.”

Hill started working for Arizona Refining Company in 1970. Not long after, Arizona Refining marketed a pioneering rubber-

FIFTY

Top left: Hill’s Kenworth trucks.

ized asphalt. The Top right: Hill’s Mack tow truck.

At Arizona Refining, Don Nielconcept dates to Below: Arizona Refining Compasen thought there was room for the 1840s when ny’s Flagstaff plant, 1989. improvement. Born in Mountain scientists experiView, California, Nielsen had come mented by adding liquid rubber to paving to Arizona to train at Thunderbird Field in material. The modern version owes its pop- Glendale as a bomber pilot. He served in ularization to Charles McDonald, a city of the 457th Bomb Group in England, flying Phoenix engineer, who in the 1960s began numerous missions in 1944-45. experimenting with rubber from used tires.

After the war, Nielsen went to work McDonald got a patent on his process. for Unocal in Southern California. When Unocal bought Arizona Refining, founded before the war by Pete Bell, Nielsen went to work for the Phoenix-based subsidiary as the sales manager in 1965 under Mel Goodson. When Goodson retired, Nielsen, who passed away at 95 while this article was being prepared, became president.

“He worked his whole career for Union Oil. He started in road oils. He really liked asphalt,” said Sandra Nielsen, his widow.

“He’d track it in on the carpet. When he did, he’d say, ‘Well, that’s what’s paying for the carpet.’’’

Asphalt was a good business to be in after World War II. Road maintenance had previously been a low priority, and after the war, Americans bought cars and took to the road. The federal and state governments began road improvement projects.

In the 1970s, Nielsen and James Begley came up with a rubberized asphalt process they felt improved on McDonald’s and patented it. They transferred it to Unocal for $1.

Arizona Refining marketed its product, Arm-R-Shield, primarily in Arizona, California, New Mexico and Texas. It competed against Sahuaro Petroleum & AsJul-Aug 2018

double transmission, which helped the driver control the RPMs and operate the vehicle more efficiently. Later drivers didn’t want to deal with two transmissions – or any manual transmission, Hill said. “Now days they have automatic transmissions,’’ he said. “If I drove a truck with an automatic transmission, I’d fall asleep.”

Hill has many stories. Some are funny, such as the time when a truck at the Phoenix plant was left in gear and self-started (“Those old engines would do that sometimes”) in the

middle of the night and wound up hung up in a pit for changing the oil. Or the guy who ignored the cones on the road and drove his new Corvette behind the paver and wound up coating his car with hot asphalt. Some are tragic, such as another driver who ignored the cones, this time while drunk, and drove into a roller and died.

Does Hill miss the work? He paused for a minute, and thought. “Yeah, I do miss it,’’ Hill said. “You see, I like to talk to people.”

In Europe, they called it “whisper asphalt”

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TOMORROW STARTS TODAY phalt Company, which used McDonald’s process. Arizona Refining even took ArmR-Shield abroad – to Belgium and South Africa. “When you drive over the rubberized portions, you can feel the difference.

It’s smoother,’’ Sandra Nielsen said. “In Europe, they called it ‘whisper asphalt.’ ” Corky Hill worked through the 1970s for Arizona Refining Company, until leaving for a year. “I got divorced, and that cost me a lot of money,’’ he said. So he went to back to work for his former employer.

In 1985, Unocal sold Arizona Refining to rival Sahuaro. Hill said the new owners initially talked about dovetailing the two workforces. But seniority issues with the respective Teamsters contracts made that impossible. Walters and Hill worked as independent contractors for Sahuaro until its parent company filed for bankruptcy in the early 1990s.

Sahuaro owed Hill about $8,000. Hill settled for some paving equipment and started his own company, Rainbow Refining, which he ran until 2012. Hill’s second wife Elaine bought a fifth wheel and would come to the job sites. He worked on jobs independently until two years ago.

Hill takes his two Kenworths to shows, outfitting them with Arizona Refining Company stickers. “Arizona Refining Company ordered them in green,’’ he said of the semis. “I don’t know why. Maybe it reminded them of money. But I didn’t like it.” So he painted one orange and one brown. He still has all the original service logs.

He showed off the interior of his Kenworth. The truck has two shifters and a arizcc.com

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Arizona Contractor & Community

Playful Construction: Heavy-Duty Toy Trucks Art Smith

“H

ave any old toys,” I asked the older lady at the fourth yard sale of the morning.

She looked puzzled. “Just what I have out here,” she responded, which mainly consisted of Dean Martin records, ladies shoes, and dishes.

I thanked her, and as I headed back to my truck, she called to me. “I have an old tin truck that had belonged to my husband.

I’ll go get it,” she said and disappeared into the house. She returned several minutes later with a 1920’s Keystone, pressed steel coal truck. At almost 24 inches long and quite heavy, she struggled with it as she

ample supply of Left: Smith with a toy cement mixer. toy soldiers, and Middle: A toy ambulance even an old tricy- truck. cle for him.

Right: Smith with his toy And then it truck collection. dawned on me.

Toy trucks! Here I had a week-old son, and he didn’t have any toy trucks! What was wrong with me? So I began to search yard sales and flea markets for large, yellow Tonka trucks.

In those days, they were cheap and over time I amassed a sturdy fleet of dump trucks, rollers, scrapers, and cranes. My son and his cousin spent hours digging holes and building roads in a sandpit I built for him. The addition of water made the mud pit even more fun.

came through the door.

“Yes!” I exclaimed. “That is just what I’m looking for!”

I have always collected things. Topps baseball and football cards when I was in elementary school. And later, exhibit arcade cards, Marx toy soldiers of numerous varieties, Davy Crockett cards, records, and finally bicycles.

Before my son was Clockwise from top left: born 25 years ago, I had Buddy L toy concrete mixer ad. already purchased sport Keystone toy truck loader ad. card sets commemorating Smith’s toy soldiers.

Structo toy steam shovel ad. the year he was born. I had Structo toy steam shovel. vintage Disney figures, an Keystone toy truck loader.

Images Courtesy of Author

Toy cement mixer.

FIFTY TWO

Jul-Aug 2018

Once my son’s collecting needs were solved, I began to focus on my interests.

First were vintage trucks and cars from all eras; I eventually settled on large, pressed steel trucks built in the 1920s.

Buddy L, Keystone, Sturditoy, Sonny, Steelcraft, and American National were the most successful companies building and selling toy trucks to American boys after World War I. They were pricey 25 years ago, but I took extra money made from buying and selling other toys along with an occasional sale of my art, towards acquiring these older toys.

I went to toy shows, yard sales, and antique stores, searched Craigslist and eBay, and befriended other collectors. I followed auction sales online to understand pricing.

And slowly over the next 25 years, I began to fill the shelves of my studio with old toy trucks.

I view these “toys” as individual works of art. Manufactured in factories in the Midwest, the quality of the design and the workmanship of the construction are quite remarkable.

There is also an interesting connection with history as it relates to toys. Paddy wagons, baggage trucks, anti-aircraft army trucks, and sand loaders all reflect a particular time in the history of America.

One of the best examples I have is an early 20th-century field ambulance with canvas-covered sides that roll up. A stretcher is an accessory that came with this 1925 Keystone toy, which weighs over 17 pounds and is 25 inches long. It originally sold for $7.50. This price was at a time when an actual Ford Model T cost $260!

These were not toys for low-income, working-class boys. Over the years, many were sold for scrap for the war effort. Many rusted in barns. But a good number were squirreled away in attics or put away on a shelf to survive time and the elements.

These toys are still available in a variety of conditions. Collectors prize the rare mint-condition or even used trucks without any repainting or repair. Often trucks were spruced up with a new coat of paint or other visual embellishments such as company names over the original decals.

Occasionally vehicles can be returned to original condition by removing the old paint, often revealing pristine decals beneath the layers. Restored trucks with reproduced parts create yet another category.

These toys are exciting to me from the perspective that one can see what a kid might have discovered under the Christmas tree in 1922. I’m less interested in restorations than in original toys, as the scrapes

and dents on my trucks represent kids playing with these toys, as my son did with his yellow Tonkas in the sand pit.

Because my toys are not pristine, I let my five-year-old son play with a vintage Buddy L dump truck and sand loader. The trucks were half a century old, and I knew he couldn’t hurt them. I wanted him to have the experience of playing with a toy that, because of safety and economics, would not be manufactured today. Watching him play was transcendent.

I view these “toys” as individual works of art.

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Common wisdom says that people collect toys from their childhood. Born in 1949, it would seem logical that I would be interested in Tonka and Structo toys of the 1950’s. But from the first time I saw one of these big old trucks, I was hooked.

I still hunt for these types of toys, but they have become harder to find. Prices have fluctuated over the years but have become expensive. The search has taken me many places, where I have met many wonderful people. I continue to search, hoping I will experience the discovery of yet another unique work of “construction” art.

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Semi-in-the-Sky:

Marie’s Truck Stop Douglas Towne

F

or many years after World War II, Marie’s Truck Stop in the southeastern Arizona town of Benson dispensed diesel fuel, mechanical services, and food 24-hours-a-day, seven days a week. The business was located on a stretch of road designated both Arizona State Route 86 and U.S Highway 80, which carried cross-country traffic along its sun-kissed route. The truck stop was bypassed by Interstate 10 in 1970, and the subsequent decline of truck traffic closed the business before the end of the decade.

For most truck stops, that would be the end of the story. Marie’s, however, has achieved a sort of immortality. It’s featured on the cover of a fine art book and a photograph is on display at the Smithso-

FIFTY FOUR

nian American Art Museum.

Marie’s lives on because of her remarkable neon sign. It’s an icon of the open road, symbolizing travel before interstates and franchises were the norm.

The one-of-a-kind advertisement has its roots in medieval times when signs communicated their services through pictorial shapes. The sign’s outline of a semi-truck makes its verbiage, “Marie’s Truck Stop 24-Hour Service Café” mostly redundant.

Marie’s sign captured the attention of Warren Anderson, an art professor at the

University of Arizona, when he drove U.S. Highway 80 from Savannah, Georgia to San Diego in the 1970s documenting regional commercial signage. Anderson used colored pencils to create artwork reminiscent of vintage linen-textured postcards for his favorite roadside images.

Of the many motel, restaurant, gas station and other travelers’ signs Anderson recreated for his drawings, he selected Marie’s Truck Stop for the cover of his 1981 book, Vintage Roadside America. “I recall the sign while visiting Benson and my father telling me it was a life-size semi which impressed me more than you can imagine,” Brian Anderson, his son, recalls.

In a description of the drawing entitled, “Marie’s rolls no more,” Warren Anderson wrote, “The Interstate has passed it by, but travelers’ havens like it have become an American institution. These motels, eateries, and filling stations that line U.S. highways are linked by more than asphalt and macadam. They share a proud, individualistic style of advertisement originally designed to appeal to Americans of the 1930s through ‘50s who set out to discover their country by auto.”

The book powerfully depicts the visual

Marie’s, however, has achieved a sort of immortality.

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evolution of highway travel. “The unique intimacy communicated by individual sign painters of earlier eras has been replaced by the national image so highly prized by mammoth corporations of the ‘70s and 80s,” James K. Ballinger, chief curator of the Phoenix Art Museum, wrote in the book’s foreword.

What possessed Anderson to capture these images for posterity, long before the nostalgia for Route 66 and the recognition of historic commercial signs as a form of art? In his book, Anderson describes automobile travel as a “common man’s ship of discovery” and feeling “responsibility for the preservation of these rapidly disappearing vestiges of a vernacular American art form and a more leisurely mode of travel.”

These signs appealed to Anderson with their “spirit of optimism, security, and pride not found in today’s slick and seemingly temporary images.” He lamented the resulting national homogeneous highway community, lacking regional charm and individuality that replaced local roadside businesses.

Anderson was wise to undertake his voyage while remnants of the formative years of highway travel were still extant across America. He noted that by the time his book was published in 1981, more than half the signs he had artistically rendered had vanished.

Of Marie’s Truck Stop, he wrote that while the business had fallen into ruin, the sign still survived. It had “outwitted the typically dimwitted vandals that attack such splendors” since it was “parked at a rather high altitude.”

The victory was only temporary, as the sign soon disappeared from the landscape.

Vintage roadside fans’ continued appreciation of Marie’s Truck Stop sign provides a sky-high example of the Greek aphorism, “Ars longa, vita brevis,” which translates into “Art is long, life is short.” arizcc.com

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Arizona Contractor & Community

S

cottsdale was a small, quiet farming community of about 2,000 people when it was incorporated in 1951.

However, this bucolic setting would soon change with explosive growth over the next few decades. One Scottsdale-based architect who took advantage of this building boom was Joe Bing Wong, AIA. Wong was born in Clifton in eastern Arizona in 1921. He worked in his family’s general store and restaurant until 1940 when the family moved to California. He received a degree from the University of California – Berkeley in the California School of Fine Arts. Wong subsequently worked a string of jobs including Ship Conversion Engineer at General Engineering & Drydock in San Francisco, providing architectural services for the U.S. Army during World War II, and as an architect at Nichols-White Architects in Palo Alto, and Higgins & Rudd Architects of San Jose.

He returned to Arizona in 1953 and found Scottsdale to be “a lazy, beautiful little area.” Wong started working for Hiram Hudson Benedict, who was one of the first architects practicing in Scottsdale. Wong worked on the first Paradise Valley Country Club in 1953 and the Paradise Valley Racquet Club, which later became John Gar-

Architect’s Perspective:

Joe Bing Wong, AIA: Multi-Faceted Architect Doug Sydnor, FAIA

Doug_sydnor@outlook.com diner’s Tennis Ranch and is currently The Sanctuary Resort. He left the firm to start Wong Associates, Architects in 1954.

Wong’s extensive involvement in the community includes the Scottsdale Library Board, Design Review Board, Building and Fire Advisory Board, Scottsdale Advisory Board of Appeals, Lions Club, Rotarians Boys Club, and Scottsdale Charros. He was a Life Fellow of the International Institute of Arts and Letters, American Institute of Architects Member, and a patron of the arts.

Being an Asian American at the time in Scottsdale had its challenges. In regards to purchasing his family’s first house at Universal Homes at Hayden and McDow-

ell roads in Scottsdale, Wong stated in a 1981 interview, “And during the negotiations for the home, we understand that someone had passed a petition around the neighborhood, saying they didn’t want Chinese in the area. And it wasn’t until later that our neighbor to the back of us, Jenny Anderson, told us that a petition had been signed, saying that they wanted to keep us out of the neighborhood.

She threw them out of the house. We didn’t really encounter much prejudice after that. Once we became established here, we found life very pleasant, found many things to do.”

Wong is believed to be one of the first Asian American architects licensed in Arizona and later was registered in California, Nevada and with the National Council of Architectural Registration Boards (NCARB).

He designed more than 550 projects including private homes, Native American housing, retail, churches, offices, banks, restaurants, and schools. Notable projects included the Carefree Sundial with solar consultant John I. Yellott, Scottsdale’s Fifth Avenue, Hopi Elementary School, Hotel Valley Ho additions, and Carefree Inn. Wong’s firm was active until he retired in November 1998.

He returned to Arizona in 1953 and found Scottsdale to be “a lazy, beautiful little area.”

Wong’s work includes the following projects.

Shepherd of the Hills Methodist Church at 5524 East Lafayette Boulevard in Phoenix was built in 1959. The well-maintained church is one of Left: Shepherd of the Hills his best remaining projMethodist Church, 1959. ects. His plan reflects Bottom left: Medical Oftwo wings perpendicufice Building at 7300 East lar to each other, which Fourth Street, Scottsdale. jointly focus on a large

Images Courtesy of Author

Image Courtesy of Petley Fudala

Bottom right: Carefree Inn.

FIFTY SIX

Jul-Aug 2018

Images Courtesy of Author

Left: Stagebrush Theater at 7020 East Second Street, Scottsdale.

Right: The Clock Tower at 7107 East Sixth Avenue, Scottsdale.

grassed courtyard. The north wing includes the single column clad in a colorful mosaa parlor and fellowship hall whereas the ic ceramic tile. Wong seems to enjoy the west wing has the pre-school, nursery, and materiality, character, and color of differing Christian education program. finishes, but this design approach can be The structures have a horizontal challenging when bringing them all togethcomposition with a series of thin floating er. roofs supported by a succession of brick Wong and his family performed with columns. Walls and full-height glass are the Scottsdale Community Players Theater, typically recessed behind shaded outdoor which started in a one-room structure and breezeways, thereby mitigating the solar is one of the longest-running communiheat gain. A tall natural stone tower with ty-based theaters in the Valley. Audiences a steel cross visually anchors the horizontal quickly outgrew this venue, and they startforms to the site. The construction exploits ed construction of a new enlarged theater the durable brick material with various with phases built in 1956, 1964, and 1967. crafted detailing.

It became the Stagebrush Theater at 7020 The circa-1960 Medical Office Build- East Second Street in Scottsdale with 209 ing was built on the current Honor Health seats.

Osborn Campus at 7300 East Fourth Street The main hall walls are constructed of in Scottsdale. The two-story structure in- 4-inch courses of concrete masonry units cludes medical offices and a pharmacy. The with a cantilevered roof edge. The main exterior is composed of alternating vertical entrance is a one-story piece with various panels of aqua blue glazed brick with off- theatrical strategies to draw attention to it white and sand textured plaster. A criss- from the street. It has broad outreaching cross pattern of horizontal bands of glazing stair steps, a series of telephone pole coland a base wall of slump concrete masonry umns with light globes on top for an eveunits is capped off by a thin projecting eye- ning glow, recessed glazing, and an accent brow. natural stone wall. All these elements are To draw functional and visual attention geometrically rotated in a plan in contrast to the main entry is a one-story component to the primary structure. pulled out from the more extensive main Paul Messinger, a long-time Scottsdale structure. It is articulated resident, described Wong with a natural stone wall, Left: McCune Building, 1950s. in his Scottsdale Republic a larger view window, re- Middle: Saba’s store addition in column after the archicessed entry doors, and Scottsdale. tect’s passing on March 12, defined with a thin roof Right: Stetson commercial 2011. He was “generous, lid. Also, a unique detail is shops, 7120 East Sixth Avenue, kind, courteous, humble, Scottsdale.

arizcc.com

yet confident” and was a “many-faceted man with a wide range of interests.”

Messinger concluded by stating that “…he left strong evidence of having been here with the impact on architectural design in Scottsdale.”

A sampling of other projects in Arizona: • 1956 - First Baptist Church of Scottsdale, 7025 E. Osborn Road, Scottsdale • 1956 - Scottsdale Unified School District Administration, Phoenix • 1960 - Hopi Elementary School, 5110 E. Lafayette Boulevard, Phoenix • 1962 - Paiute Multipurpose School, 6535 E. Osborn Road, Scottsdale • 1960s - The Clock Tower, Brooks Builders, Inc., 7107 E. Sixth Avenue, Scottsdale • 1964 - Scottsdale City Jail and Courthouse Addition, Scottsdale • 1964 - Saba Store Addition, Brown Avenue and Main Street, Scottsdale • 1973 - John Tu Building, 4225 N. Marshall Way, Scottsdale • 1978 - Stetson Commercial Shops, 7120, 7136, 7137 E. Sixth Avenue, Scottsdale • 1981 - Police Facility and Courthouse, Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community Douglas B. Sydnor, FAIA, is a Principal at Douglas Sydnor Architect + Associates, Inc. and author of three architectural books.

Arizona Contractor & Community

Top: Cook Brothers staff at 2300 South 16th Street, 1957.

Digging Through the Archives: Cook Brothers Equipment William Horner

U

company I came up dry. I then broadened my research and sent out some emails inquiring about the short-lived Arizona distributor.

Left: Cook Bros money clip and a 1950 $20 bill.

Below left: Arizona Sand & Rock Co. employees casting roof forms with their new Cook Bros. reverse mixer, 1960.

Below right: Phoenix Junior Miss 1965 stands on the Challenge arm of a Union Rock mixer, 1965.

Bottom left: Cook Brothers staff pose by a Schield Bantam Company dragline in Phoenix, 1957.

Images Courtesy of Arizona Contractor & Community

nless you’ve been in the Arizona equipment sales market for many decades, the name Cook Brothers Equipment will likely be unknown. While digging around for information on the

Soon afterward, while working on another article, John Riskas, Jr. asked me out of the blue if I had ever heard of Cook Brothers. “I found a Cook Brothers money clip which was my fathers and you can have it,” Riskas said. “My dad used them in the 1950s for equipment, and they had given him a money clip. Add this to your collection of construction memorabilia.”

I later discovered that brothers Charles and Howard Cook went to southern California from Oklahoma to pursue new businesses in 1920. They formed one of the first auto dealerships in Los Angeles, City Ford. That was followed by Cook Brothers Equipment Company, which sold and serviced construction equipment, according to the website, http://www.classicrefusetrucks.com/.

As an equipment manufacturer, Cook Brothers introduced experimental military vehicles and modifications to existing trucks beginning around 1942. After World War II, the company manufactured transit mixers, dump truck bodies, chain-drive motor trucks, and garbage trucks.

Cook Brothers Equipment opened a branch in Phoenix at the Glendale Equipment Company, located at 1100 NW Grand Ave-

FIFTY EIGHT

Jul-Aug 2018

Arizona Sand & Rock Co.’s new Cook Bros. front reverse cement mixer, 1960.

nue in 1949. The company promoted motor truck equipment, mainly civilian-type trucks using Ford and Reo cabs for different applications. By 1957, Cook Brothers Equipment Sales had moved to 2300 South 16th Street, which currently is a vacant lot in south Phoenix.

In 1960, the company merged with Challenge Manufacturing of Bryan, Ohio to become Challenge-Cook

Brothers, which focused on cement mixers.

By the early 1960s, a few Arizona companies used their truck chassis with Challenge s cement drums in their fleets, along with the larger Diamond T mixers manufactured by International.

The new company discontinued refuse and motor trucks and, by the 1970s, had become the largest American manufacturer of mixers, according to

By the late 1960 , the rear booster axle was standard on every cement mixer in Phoenix.

http://www.classicrefusetrucks.com/.

One of Challenge-Cook Brothers early innovations was the Boost-A-Load, now referred to as a rear booster axle. Hydraulic arms, anchored to the rear of a cement mixer, would track the extra wheels up and down. This action would support the Challenge 10-yard drums loaded and retracted in the air while the chute dispensed concrete. By the late 1960s, the rear booster axle was standard on every cement mixer in Phoenix.

The Challenge-Cook Brothers moved their facility from Los Angeles to the suburbs in the City of Industry, before closing sometime in the 1980s.

The Cook brothers, who were close friends of Ronald Reagan, also dabbled in finance. They formed the Community Bank in Los Angeles in 1945, which was the first new bank established in the state since 1929. Howard Cook passed away on April 10, 1971, and his brother Charles Cook died in 1986.

Left: Union Rock cement mixers with new Challenge Boost-A-Load trailer mixing drums, 1964.

Bottom right: Challenge pump machine pouring columns for Coulter Cadillac on Camelback Road, 1969. arizcc.com

Arizona Contractor & Community

FINE PRINT

Bid Results 5/1/2018 Buoy Line Replacement Tempe Town Lake Technology $ 247,500

5/11/2018 Lake Havasu ADOT Fann $ 1,111,054

5/1/2018 Pinnacle Peak Rd 45th Ave 35th Ave Combs $ 7,494,528

5/15/2018 Pavement Management Program DBA $ 957,671

5/1/2018 Scottsdale Airport Delta Apron Combs $ 2,230,591

5/15/2018 Durango Regional Conveyance Blucor $ 14,312,412

5/1/2018 Valencia Wilmot Kolb Rdwy Improvements KE&G $ 18,744,744

5/17/2018 Payson Airport Banicki $ 729,589

5/2/2018 Sierra Vista Sewer Main Rock Country Builders $ 503,482

5/22/2018 Grand Canyon Airport Show Low $ 1,522,131

5/3/2018 Eastmark XI Road Improvements Redpoint $ 7,190,838

5/22/2018 (CMAR) Waterline University Heights Haydon $ 14,000,000

5/4/2018 Holbrook Springerville ADOT Cactus $ 1,386,852

5/23/2018 Sossaman Rd Terminal Nesbitt $ 1,615,426

5/4/2018 Apache Junction ADOT Visus $ 1,270,000

5/24/2018 Robinson Drive Reconstruction Capital Improvements $ 3,988,500

5/4/2018 Midway Road Ash ADOT SWP $ 1,323,323

5/30/2018 Lake Pleasant Parkway Sidewalk Deer Valley Standard Construction $ 1,222,614

5/10/2018 Glendale Landfill Rummel $ 5,669,366

5/31/2018 Main Street Lindsay Road Sewer Achen Gardner $ 1,762,172

arizcc.com

Past Project Awards July-August 1958 Flickinger Bros. Contr., Phoenix $763,533 3.7 Miles on US 60 Grading, Drainage, Paving Winslow, Bradley & Dysart, Phoenix $241,032 17.7 Miles Winslow-Long Valley Highway ABC/Select Material, Bituminous Material W.J. Henson, Prescott $127,680 0.9 Miles on Miller Valley Rd. in Prescott Widening, Grading, Bituminous Material Hagen Const. Co., Globe $339,996 4.3 Miles on US 70 East of Globe Grading, Drainage, Bituminous Material Isbell Contr., Phoenix $1,009,724 6.5 Mile Alignment SR79, Flagstaff Grading and Drainage Phoenix-Tempe Stone Co., Phoenix $1,036,633 5 Miles New Alignment SR84 Grading, Drainage, Bituminous Material Bentson Contracting, Phoenix $283,992 Sky Harbor Improvements Parking, Taxiways Extension of Main T1 Ramp

Arizona Contractor & Community

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SIXTY TWO

P. 7

P. 3

P. 16

Jul-Aug 2018

Quality equipment when you need it!

Pete Costa Phoenix and Southern Arizona Cell: 480-433-8833

Jeremy Cowing Cell: 602-377-8293

Patrick Hazelton Phoenix and Northern Arizona Cell: 480-639-7495

Owen Cowing, CEO Cell: 760-807-8568

197 East Warner Rd, Chandler, AZ 85225 | Phone: (480) 477-9400 | Fax: (480) 899-9340

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