VOLUME 9 ISSUE 3
$5.99 May-Jun 2020 Serving Contracting Firms and the Arizona Community. . . Then & Now
Arizona’s Timeless Magazine
Directing Traffic Since 1962: Star-Lite Barricade & Sign Homespun Contractors: Willard Myers and Sons Arizona Masonry: A Barometer of Our Culture The Silver Dollar: South Central’s Starlight Screen Calvin Chester Straub, FAIA: Humanist DCS Contracting Unearths Past at Novus Innovation Corridor
Inventive Contractors: Buros Construction Co.
In Memoriam
Charles “Chuck” Runbeck 1928 -2020
ABOVE EVERYTHING, QUALITY!
Organizing projects around the house
Favorite home quarantine activity?
Publisher William Horner billy@arizcc.com
Enjoying my wife’s cooking
Editor Douglas Towne douglas@arizcc.com
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Contributors James Logan Abell TV, cable Alison Bailin included Carly Hanson Ethan Smith Billie Snell Luke Snell Reading Anne Hillerman’s new no vel, Doug Sydnor “The Tale Teller”
Movie nights in our backyard
Writing haikus about the natural world
Taking walks with my boyfriend and dog
Historic English documentaries Production Manager with ice cream
Laura Horner laura@arizcc.com
Publisher’s Representative Practicing Barry Warner guitar barry@arizcc.com In Memoriam Charles “Chuck” Runbeck 1928 -2020 Advertising 602-931-0069 arizcc.com/advertise Subscriptions: 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, Nov/Dec). ACC is a professional publication designed for the contracting industry, engineers, architects, equipment rentals, suppliers, and others interested in Arizona and its history. Content including text, photographs or illustrations may not be reproduced without the written permission from the publisher. The publisher does not assume responsibility for unsolicited submissions. ACC reserves the right to reject any editorial and advertising material and reserves the right to edit all submitted content material. Arizona Contractor & Community Copyright © 2020 All rights reserved.
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P R I N T | PA C K A G I N G | M A I L I N G | F U L F I L L M E N T E C O - F R I E N D LY S O L U T I O N S
A MESSAGE TO OUR SUPPORTERS NINE YEARS AGO, WE HAD A CRAZY IDEA We launched Arizona Contractor & Community magazine a few years after the Great Recession, at a time when print media was on life support. The publication filled a niche, documenting Arizona contractors’ upcoming projects and past successes and gave rental companies and suppliers an affordable outlet to advertise their businesses. In our short time, we’ve established ourselves as a significant archive of Arizona’s history, detailing the accomplishments of many construction pioneers. We’re doing the important task of capturing the stories of your industry for future generations.
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THANKS FOR YOUR SUPPORT…AND WE NEED IT EVEN MORE IN THE FUTURE With the current COVID-19 crisis, the country is hurting, and businesses are pulling back on spending. However, we hope advertising in our magazine will continue to be part of your portfolio. The economy will come back, and your advertisement will maximize your visibility in the construction industry and put your company at the forefront of prospective jobs. Remember, advertising is not an expense but an investment in your business that pays dividends. Each dollar that companies spent on advertising last year led to $9 in sales, according to the research firm IHS Markit. WE’RE A SMALL LOCAL BUSINESS, FAMILY-OWNED AND OPERATED The effects of COVID-19 have impacted the economy and particularly hit small local businesses particularly hard. You can help keep Arizona Contractor & Community magazine viable by assisting us in several impactful ways. Renew your advertisement with us. Consider more significant or more frequent marketing with us. If you’re receiving a complimentary subscription, consider purchasing one on our website. Or send a gift subscription to some friends who would enjoy the magazine. We thank you for your efforts.
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Arizona Contractor & Community
Contents 10 12
“TELL US WHAT YOU NEED AND WE WILL WORK WITH YOU TO MAKE IT HAPPEN”
480-641-3500
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BELLY DUMP—SUPER 16—END DUMP— LOW BOY SIDE DUMP— EXCAVATOR—LOADER—GRADER
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Contributors - Carly Hanson & Lynn Horner From The Editor - Remembering Chuck Runbeck Douglas Towne Construction Around Arizona: Projects • People • Practices Back When - South Central’s Starlight Screen Douglas Towne Inventive Contractors: Buros Construction Co. Douglas Towne Directing Traffic for Almost 60 Years: Star-Lite Barricade & Sign - Carly Hanson Arizona Masonry Design and Construction: A Barometer of our Culture - James Logan Abell, FAIA A Homespun Phoenix Family Business: Willard Myers and Sons Contracting - Douglas Towne
Charles “Chuck” Runbeck (1928-2020): A Tribute from His Three Sons
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Building on the Past - 1967: Financial Automation
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58
Architect’s Perspective - Calvin Chester Straub, FAIA: Humanist - Doug Sydnor, FAIA
Digging Through the Archives - Chuck Runbeck William Horner
60
Bid Results
62
Advertising Index
Front Cover - Installation of a vault, with a 4-ton door, directly behind the plate glass of the front window at First National Bank, 24th St. and Indian School Rd., which was built by Buros Construction, 1959. Inset - Lectro-Teller billboard. EIGHT
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Contributors
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TEN
Carly Hanson Article on page 38
Lynn Horner Office Assistant
C
L
arly is a Phoenix native, who is two years into her writing and marketing career. In 2018, she graduated from ASU with a journalism degree and started in a marketing position at Nexus 21, a Scottsdale-based technology manufacturer. Though she still has the same job, it’s practically the only thing that hasn’t changed. She bought her first house in Glendale, a fixer-upper if there ever was one, and spends most of her spare time turning it into a place she calls home. She thinks no house is complete without a furry friend, which is why the newest family member is a 5-month-old Maltese poodle named Bear. Suddenly home renovations are a walk in the park after attempting to potty-train a puppy. Between work and house renovations, she goes to the movies with her dad, a tradition they’ve long shared together. She also makes a point to travel with her boyfriend, Jeremy Sergent, who works for Sunstate Equipment Co. The couple’s latest visits were to Carly’s family cabin in Pinetop, Arizona and several cities in Colorado. Her favorite stops were Ouray and Breckenridge for their quaint shops, outstanding food, and endless rows of trees. They also take advantage of do-nothing days where they can binge-watch reality TV together, because everyone needs a guilty pleasure.
ynn (Sullivan) Horner is indispensable to Arizona Contractor & Community magazine, thanks to her behind-thescenes work with finances and distribution. Every Friday, she performs the thankless job of calling the companies on our distribution list to confirm their mailing information and make sure that they have received the magazine. “I love that I can be a small part of this process!” she says. Besides working for the magazine, Lynn has been employed in the dental field for 30 years, with the last 18 years at Northwest Endodontics. Lynn lived in Buffalo, New York until she was 12, and fondly recalls her time there with her parents, Bill and Maureen Sullivan, and her brother, Bill. “In 1968, my father’s company, Western Electric, relocated us to sunny Phoenix,” she says. “I attended Bourgade Catholic High School in west Phoenix, and still hang out with friends from school. We recently celebrated our 46th reunion!” Bourgade is also where Lynn met her husband, Bill Horner, who worked construction until his passing in 2007. “We were married in 1976 and raised three children: Billy (the magazine’s publisher), Andrea, and Jeff,” she says. “All my children are very successful, and I love them beyond measure.” She also enjoys spending time wither her children-in-law, Jim and Laura; granddaughters, Daphne and Kaia; and her boyfriend, Johnny Mack. MAY-JUN 2020
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Arizona Contractor & Community
From the editor: Chuck Runbeck Douglas Towne
twelve
growing up during the Great Depression, alternating between living in South Dakota and Coolidge, Arizona. His family produced The Coolidge Examiner newspaper, and had a hardscrabble existence. The Runbeck home lacked running water, so they hauled it 13 miles in a washtub set in a 1928 Chevy. “So that the water didn’t slosh out of the tub, we drove so slow over the rough roads, you could have almost walked faster,” he lamented. Chuck referred to himself as a “Hollywood Marine” since he joined the military too late for action during World War II. He made his enlistment memorable, however, by crashing a posh Southern California pool party, and then was invited to stay by the hostess, actress and swimmer, Esther Williams. After the war, he returned to Phoenix and graduated from Arizona State College (now ASU) in Tempe with a business degree. Chuck and his future wife, Kay Liem, started the short-lived McGuire, Liem & Runbeck Advertising Agency. Instead of returning to his college job as a truck driver delivering 7-Up, Kay had Chuck interview for an advertising position with John and Martha Akers, who produced Arizona Builder & Contractor. Chuck was their salesman from 1953 to 1968 and became a partner in 1959. The trio sold their publishing company in 1963, but Chuck remained as the sales manager until he started Runbeck & Associates, an advertising
We certainly needed him more than he needed us.
Left: Douglas Towne and Chuck Runbeck dressing alike, 2013. Below: Charles “Chuck” Runbeck, as an octogenarian, fearlessly helped launch Arizona Contractor & Community magazine in 2012. Bottom left: Franciscan Hotel, New Mexico.
Image courtesy of Runbeck family
T
he Arizona Contractor & Community magazine you’re reading is due primarily to the business acumen and connections of our dear friend, Charles “Chuck” Runbeck, who passed away recently at age 91. Many in the industry know Chuck as the former publisher and advertising dynamo behind Arizona Builder & Contractor, Arizona-New Mexico Contractor and Engineer, and Southwest Contractor. Or as the Executive Director of the Associated Equipment Distributors of Arizona (AEDA), a position he held for 35 years. We at the magazine only met Chuck later in life, when Billy Horner reached out to him a decade ago for guidance on how to launch this magazine. Chuck was happily retired and did not need work. But I suspect he liked our spunk at starting a print publication in the online era. Chuck was a born salesman and couldn’t resist the lure of being “back in the game.” We certainly needed him more than he needed us. Yet, I like to think Chuck’s success in steering the publication and putting his reputation on the line to sign up our first advertisers helped him remain vital in his final years. Chuck was able to reconnect with old associates, make new friends, and mentor the staff, happy to know that he still possessed the marketing magic needed to make this longshot vision became a reality. My favorite memory of being with Chuck was from 2013 when I interviewed him for a magazine profile at one of his favorite haunts, Alexi’s Grill on Central Avenue. The occasion got off to a bumpy start before we were even seated, as Chuck was perturbed that “she” – meaning the governor at the time – was sitting at his favorite table. We both ordered the restaurant’s signature Caesar salad and bonded over our requests for “extra anchovies,” which few seem to enjoy these days. When he started the conversation with the comment, “There’s a chance I may have used up all nine of my lives already,” I knew the visit would be memorable. Chuck regaled me with tales of
agency, in 1968. Chuck reentered the publishing field in 1983. He purchased a magazine, which he renamed Southwest Contractor, and sold it in 1990. Chuck retired from his last job serving as the AEDA Executive Director in 1997. He was done with work he thought, until Arizona Contractor & Community came beckoning. During our meal, Chuck shared some of his adventures in the publishing business. My favorite was his escapade on the roof of Albuquerque’s Franciscan Hotel, which was off-limits to guests, to get a photo in the 1960s. “I climbed a tower that had a ladder attached to it, but the rungs were close to the building, so it was tough to get solid footing,” he said. “At the top, I finally had a perfect shot and leaned on a horizontal flagpole to stabilize my camera, but it started swaying. By the time it had steadied enough to snap a photo, there was a crowd on the roof yelling at me to come down. It turns out people on the street had seen me and thought I was suicidal. Neither the cops or hotel staff were very happy with me.” Who wouldn’t love the creativity and determination of such an individual? Chuck’s absence will leave a void at the magazine, but now we’re more determined than ever to see his last business endeavor continue to succeed. Thanks again, Mr. Runbeck, for passing on your wisdom, sharing your stories, and allowing us to team up with an old master for one last exciting ride to the print house. You will be missed.
MAY-JUN 2020
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Arizona Contractor & Community
Remembering a kind man, a good friend, and a lifelong advocate for the construction industry. You will be missed. Charles “Chuck” Runbeck 1928-2020 Ditch Witch of Southern Arizona
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Projects . PEOPLE . PRACTICES
CONSTRUCTION AROUND ARIZONA Projects
CONSTRUCTION AROUND ARIZONA
DCS Contracting Unearths Treasures During Novus Innovation Corridor Improvements
D
CS Contracting dug through the past to create the future in their most recent Valley project. The company was involved in making infrastructure improvements to the Novus Innovation Corridor, a multi-phase, 350acre development near Tempe Town Lake arizcc.com
on the ASU campus. “The entire site sits on the old San Pablo neighborhood, which was demolished in the 1950s to expand the university,” David Kelly, DCS project manager, says. “During underground excavation, we located multiple trash and dumpsites containing bottles and old building debris.” Kelly says that with each discovery, an ASU archaeologist arrived to document and photograph the artifacts. “We even located an old brick cistern a few feet under the
existing Sixth Street asphalt that was nearly 30-feet deep.” There were many challenges besides researching the historical legacy of the construction location. The site and existing roadways contained a vast amount of both known and unknown utilities. “During underground excavation, unmarked utilities were located daily,” Ed Hyde, DCS superintendent, says. “This required extensive coordination with ASU, the city of Tempe, and all utility owners to Arizona Contractor & Community
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CONSTRUCTION AROUND ARIZONA Projects Images courtesy of DCS Contracting
try and figure out what the utility is, who owns it, and if it is active or abandoned.” The $4 million construction project is anticipated to take 18 months. DCS is working on three main tasks: • Building Packard Drive from Sixth Street to Rural Road, • Building Novus Drive from Sixth Street to University Drive, and • Re-building Sixth Street from Packard Drive to Rural Road. The latter task includes installing new infrastructure to supply multiple large building sites and the replacement of the Sixth Street water line from Veterans Parkway to Rural Road to increase capacity and update the water system with new services and fire hydrants. Turn lanes were also added along West Rural Road and North University Drive, which involved relocating two traffic signals and multiple utilities. The construction involved the use of numerous types of equipment, including milling machines, excavators, loaders, blades, curb machines, and asphalt-laydown machines. Subcontractors on the project included Phoenix-based CS Construction Inc. and WSP Inc., located in Glendale. The Novus Innovation Corridor will arizcc.com
eventually integrate more than 10 million square feet of urban office, retail, and residential development with new and renovated collegiate athletic venues. Novus Innovation is a public/private partnership
between ASU and master developer Catellus Development Corporation. The development is expected to bring approximately 20,000 new jobs and 5,000 new residents to the downtown Tempe area.
Arizona Contractor & Community