Published Nationally ®
Southeast Edition
May 4 2011
$3.00
Vol. XXIV • No. 9
“The Nation’s Best Read Construction Newspaper… Founded 1957.” 470 Maryland Drive • Ft. Washington, PA 19034 • 215/885-2900 • Toll Free 800-523-2200 • Fax 215/885-2910 • www.constructionequipmentguide.com
Inside
Myrtle Beach SkyWheel Soars to Completion By Brenda Ruggiero CEG CORRESPONDENT
Carolina CAT Hosts ‘Burgers in the Bay’…10
TEC Holds Open House in Savannah…14
In Myrtle Beach, S.C., a one-ofa-kind sky-high project is rapidly moving toward completion. Beginning in May, the Myrtle Beach SkyWheel will carry people 200 ft. in the air in 42 temperaturecontrolled, Swiss-manufactured, fully enclosed gondolas. Each ride will last from 10 to 12 minutes and will make three loops. A nightly LED light show also will be featured. The ride, which is located at the Oceanfront Boardwalk and Promenade, is the only observation wheel of its kind in the United States, the second in North America and the largest wheel of any kind east of the Mississippi
Two cranes putting the A-frame together with crew in the personnel lift working on the straps.
River. The companies behind the attraction are Koch Development, which is under the direction of see BEACH page 64
Ritchie Closes on New North Carolina Property Lifting assembled A frame leg from street to site. Li nk-Bel t Hold s Servi ce Scho ol at Pi nnacl e…20
Table of Contents ............4 Attachments Section23-27 Truck & Trailer Section .... ..................................28-31 Crushing, Screening & Recycling Section ....33-42 Auction Section ......57-67 Business Calendar ........60 Advertisers Index ..........66
After more than 10 years of service at its current site in Statesville, N.C., Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers officially closed on the property that will become the company’s 107-acre permanent auction site north of RaleighDurham, N.C. Construction of a new auction facility, complete with a refurbishment facility and equipment yard, is scheduled to begin June 2011 with expected completion targeted for mid 2012. Ritchie Bros. began searching for a larger property to support its growing operations in North Carolina in mid 2009, deciding on the property located in the Falls Lake Commerce Industrial Park (800 Business Park Dr.) in Butner, N.C., in March 2010. The new site will replace the company's 33 acre Statesville, N.C., permanent auction site located approximately 40 minutes outside Charlotte, N.C. Ritchie Bros.’ long-standing history in the state of North Carolina began with the purchase of the Statesville, N.C., facility as part of its acquisition of Forke Bros. Auctioneers back in 1999. The company conducted its first auction at the site on Sept. 6 of the same year. Since March 2004, 30 Statesville, N.C., auctions have attracted more than 30,000 bidder registrations and featured more than 28,000 lots. “Ritchie Bros. is very excited about the future opening of our new Raleigh-Durham auction site and we look forward to officially breaking see RITCHIE page 8
New-Home Construction Rises 7.2 Percent in March By Derek Kravitz AP REAL ESTATE WRITER
WASHINGTON (AP) Builders broke ground on more new homes in March, giving the weak U.S. housing market a slight boost at the start of the spring buying season. Home construction rose 7.2 percent in March from February to a seasonally adjusted 549,000 units, the Commerce Department said April 19. Building permits, an indi-
cator of future construction, rose 11.2 percent after hitting a fivedecade low in February. Still, the building pace is far below the 1.2 million units a year that economists consider healthy. And March’s improvement came after construction fell in February to its second-lowest level on record dating back more than a half-century. Millions of foreclosures have see CONSTRUCTION page 18