This Month’s Featured Stories:
BUILD SMART.
CONNECTION
Tom’s Corner - Joe Herr Howdy from Texas Upcoming Events Spotlight Employee - Todd Showers New Projects March 2013 Issue
Mark your calendars for these Upcoming Events
Though it doesn’t quite look like it yet in Wisconsin, spring is finally here. We’ve made it through the thick of winter (fingers crossed!), and soon the trees will be blossoming with new growth. With any luck, as vibrant spring flowers begin to brighten up the landscape, more construction projects will be popping up as well. Speaking of luck and spring, this time of year is always particularly special for Tri-North as we have our very own leprechaun in our midst, spreading around cheer and smiles. For the past ten years, Senior Project Manager Joe Herr has spent the month leading up to St. Patrick’s Day as his alter ego, “Shawn Patrick,” a compassionate and funny little leprechaun. For those of you who don’t know, the idea began as a Halloween costume years ago. Ever the philanthropist, when Joe saw the happiness he could spread while dressed in his little green costume, he decided to seize the opportunity to use Shawn Patrick as a catalyst to brighten the lives of those who could really use a good smile, and a little bit of magic. Every March since then, Joe has spent countless hours visiting local schools, hospitals, and community events dressed as Shawn Patrick with the intent to spread joy and make people laugh and smile. I’d like to take the opportunity this month to recognize Joe, both as the endlessly dependable and consistently high-performing project manager and as the cheerful, kindhearted leprechaun.
Kudos, Joe, on all of your hard work, and thank you for making us all smile!
April 9th
American Red Cross Blood Drive held at TNB Madison from 11:00AM – 4:00PM. Contact Robert Thayer (rthayer@tri-north.com) to set up an appointment.
April 10th
Bond Financing Seminar & Webinar at TNB Madison from 3:30PM – 5:00PM. Contact Anna Stern (astern@tri-north.com) to RSVP.
April 16-18
GlobalShop Expo at McCormick Place in Chicago, IL.
By: Wessel Lubbe
Hi y’all and a hearty “Yeehaw” from the land of the Longhorns, tumbling weed, mesquite, and rapid weather changes. They say if you don’t like the weather in Texas, just wait a couple of minutes because it’s bound to change. Having resided here for the past 4 years, I have learned to have several sets of clothing in the car, as I am bound to need at least one item for every season on a daily basis. I joined the Tri-North team in Texas during the latter part of 2012, and was pleasantly surprised by the helpfulness and accessibility of the personnel across all Tri-North locations. I was acutely aware of the challenges that a new position away from the corporate office can bring, but my concerns were soon relieved by a very capable and effective support system. Jackie Harrison and Danielle Shaw have been my support and constant companions in this extremely competitive and often stressful environment called retail construction. We are conveniently located at the intersection of Interstate 35W and the 820 Loop, about 10 minutes directly north of downtown Fort Worth. The spacious office has an attached storage space and, like the California office, we were able to accept several deliveries last year from our clients. Having a small warehouse available for emergency storage situations is indeed a great value added offer to our clients and a great convenience for security and monitoring purposes.
As a professional construction company in the current extremely competitive market, our office aims to stay in tune with the expectations of our current and potential clients. We take pride in recognizing current trends in retail design and construction products. We also try to anticipate
what our clients are looking for in new areas, and try to offer choices that fit each business’ unique needs. We always insist on sustaining the highest quality, remaining on schedule and within budgets, and adequately servicing our work and the components we use to build new projects. To achieve all these goals, we are particular about the subcontractors we work with in order to ensure a sustained high-quality end product. In Tri-North’s Commercial Division, we are serving as liaison and the first point of contact for the Madison office on a 4-story medical office building shell in downtown Fort Worth. We are currently also working on securing the build-out scope of work for the rest of the building as well.
We devoted the first couple of months of 2013 to tying up loose ends on several Petco renovations, an Office Depot ground-up development, and assisting the California office with a new Victoria’s Secret flagship store at the Northpark Mall in Dallas. New project bidding has been fast and furious, and we are happy to report that we just started a Bath and Body Works and a Lucky Brand Jeans this month. Dallas is host to the 49th annual SPECS (store planning, equipment, construction and facilities services) event currently wrapping up. We enjoyed having a contingency of Tri-North personnel from several different offices join us locally for this great event. We realized that a significant volume of economic activity was postponed in 2012 due to elevated political and global economic uncertainty. In (continued on the back)