News & Insight

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• Student Center addition planned at Miami University

  Miami University is planning a $23 million addition to its Armstrong Student Center that will put students’ futures at the top of their priority list. The project, which will be led by Messer, will convert and connect Culler Hall, an old academic building, to the current Armstrong Student Center. The additional space will feature a new career services location, along with a gaming and food stop, coffee shop, retail shops and more space for student organizations. The project, which is still in the planning stages, is slated for completion in 2017. Read More (via Dayton Daily News): Miami U preps for $23M addition to student center

• Messer to perform $24M NASIC expansion in Dayton

  The U.S. Department of Defense recently chose Messer to perform a $24.1 million expansion at the National Air and Space Intelligence Center’s (NASIC) Foreign Materials Exploitation Laboratory in Dayton. The 58,000-square-foot expansion, which is slated for completion in 2017, will double the size of the current lab. The Foreign Materials Exploitation Laboratory reverse engineers an adversary’s air, space and cyberspace technology to determine how it works. The facility is located at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, at which Messer has been building since the 1930s. Read More (via the Dayton Daily News): $24M contract awarded for major NASIC expansion

• Messer’s plans for growth, safety featured in Wall Street Journal

  Messer was recently featured in a Wall Street Journal story about how contractors are dealing with the construction industry’s skilled labor shortage. Messer Senior Vice President Mark Luegering is quoted in the article and details some of the methods the company is using to grow its craft force – from 425 to 500 people – and keep its jobsites safe. Luegering said Messer is offering cash incentives to employees who recruit new workers, and he cited the use of prefabrication as a way to limit the number of people on jobsites and foster safety and quality. "The primary benefit--and there are many of them--because of the worker shortage, it's a way to address that concern by having products built in a plant," Mr. Luegering said. "Our goal is to reduce the numbers of craft workers on the job site so that what you have there is easier to manage in a controlled environment." Messer has used prefabrication on several of its projects, including at The Christ Hospital Health Network’s $190 million Joint and Spine Center project in Cincinnati. Prefabrication has been utilized for restroom units, mechanical racks and more, resulting in a wide range of benefits, including safety, quality, schedule efficiency and waste reduction.   Read More (via The Wall Street Journal): Worker shortage hammers builders

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• Technology enhancing Messer’s work at Ohio State’s NRDT

  The Columbus Dispatch recently detailed the impact of Messer’s use of technology and innovative practices at The Ohio State University’s massive North Residential District Transformation (NRDT) project. In the article, Vice President and Columbus Region Leader Rob Verst outlined multiple ways “coordination, communication and collaboration” have been enhanced at NRDT, via the use of electronic kiosks, iPads/LATISTA mobile field management program, and a practice called “plan percentage complete.” NRDT is the largest current construction project in central Ohio, according to Engineering News-Record Midwest, as well as the largest in Messer’s 83-year history. It includes seven residential buildings, a dining facility, a residential/dining facility and a recreation building. Four residence halls and a dining facility are scheduled to open to students this fall. Read more about how these technologies and practices are being applied at NRDT: Construction company uses iPads, PCs daily on OSU job (The Columbus Dispatch)

• IUPUI breaks ground on first traditional residence hall

  Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPIU) officially broke ground recently on its North Hall project, for which Messer will serve as the construction manager as constructor (construction manager at-risk). The building will be the school’s first traditional residence hall since it was founded in 1969. Located on IUPUI's campus in downtown Indianapolis, the 172,000-square-foot, 700-bed building is designed to promote resident interaction. It will feature common spaces, including a grand lobby area and micro-lounges spread throughout each residential floor, as well as a computer lab, game room, fitness area, laundry facility, large programming area and two classrooms. High demand for student housing on IUPUI’s campus has created a need for residential space, which North Hall will help fill. IUPUI President Michael A. McRobbie noted at the groundbreaking event that the residence hall will help attract, retain and engage students, while enhancing their success. “The key issue,” added IUPUI Chancellor and IU Executive Vice President Charles R. Bantz, “is not that we want to be a landlord – although frankly it’s nice to employ students as resident assistants – and it’s not that we want to have another building. It’s that we want to see 700 students – the residents – be more successful. And we also know it will help the rest of the students on campus.” North Hall, according to IUPUI Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs Zebulun R. Davenport, will both fill a need and help create a more attractive, or ‘sticky,’ campus for students. For the first time in IUPUI’s history,” Davenport said, “we’re seriously approaching a critical mass of students who will be living on our campus and engaging on our campus, in ways that this campus has never really experienced before. It’ll create opportunities for students, it’ll create challenges for us, but we’ll see this campus come to life in ways that… make it more ‘sticky’ for our students.” Work on North Hall has already begun, with completion slated for 2016. The building will have two residential wings – four and six stories – and feature a sleek and modern style. IUPUI North Hall rendering. (Image courtesy of IUPUI)      

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• Messer expands its development services through partnership with Terrex

  To further enhance its development resources and expertise, Messer has invested in Terrex Development & Construction, a full-service boutique commercial real estate services company that specializes in the development and construction of multifamily, industrial, medical office, retail, urban and mixed-use projects. Based in Cincinnati, Terrex offers a full range of real estate services for clients in the Greater Cincinnati, Northern Kentucky, Dayton, and Indianapolis markets. Messer and Terrex operate separately, but the two firms plan to partner when it brings the best value to clients. “Messer’s partnership with Terrex brings consistency to our company’s development services,” said Messer President & CEO Tom Keckeis. “This partnership allows Messer to better serve clients while continuing to grow both our development expertise and footprint.” Messer’s investment comes on the heels of last summer’s completion of the first phase of University Station, a $54 million, mixed-use development for which it served as co-developer. The development, which sits adjacent to the campus of Xavier University in Cincinnati, includes apartment, retail and office space. Apartment and office space were 100 percent leased before the project’s completion, and its retail space currently includes Gold Star Chili, Graeter’s Ice Cream, Starbucks, Digital Docs and Xavier University’s All for One Shop. Read More (via Cincinnati Business Courier): New real estate firm Terrex teaming up with Messer

• Nashville event gives glimpse into city’s future

  To kick off Nashville’s mayoral election year, Messer today is co-sponsoring “A Conversation with Nashville’s Next Mayor,” a lunch event at City Winery that will feature a panel discussion between the city’s prospective mayoral candidates. The event, which is being hosted by the Society for Marketing Professional Services (SMPS) Nashville, will serve as an opportunity for mayoral candidates to present their platforms and opinions regarding the direction and future of the Music City. “Messer is pleased to be involved with ‘A Conversation with Nashville’s Next Mayor,’” said Tom Lampe, vice president and Nashville region leader at Messer. “The event promises to provide our city with a glimpse into the future, and we couldn’t be more excited to see what’s in store.” Messer Senior Business Development Manager Jonathan Holmes, who also serves as president of SMPS Nashville, says the event is a start to what will be a an important year for Nashville. “This event is an outstanding opportunity to learn more about the direction of our city,” he said. “We have five accomplished candidates joining us to share their insight about Nashville’s future, so we feel it will be a very productive way to kick off this important election year.” Messer’s involvement with the event is another example in a growing list of connections with the City of Nashville. The company has completed numerous projects in recent years for the Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County, including its most notable, the Madison Police Precinct and Crime Lab, which last year won a Build Tennessee Award (renovation category) from the Associated General Contractors of Tennessee. That connection extends to the local community, too. Over the last five years, Messer and its employees have invested more than $260,000, along with countless volunteer hours, across dozens of community organizations around metro Nashville. “Our employees live and work here in Nashville, so the health and vibrancy of the community is very important to us,” Lampe said. “This community has shaped who we are, so we’re committed to making sure it grows and has a similar impact on others for years to come.”  

• Messer’s growth featured in Wall Street Journal

  The Wall Street Journal recently spoke with Messer Senior Vice President Tim Steigerwald regarding the his perspective on what the newspaper deemed the “biggest year-over-year increase in construction employment since September 2006.” The article explores 2014 job growth in the US – the strongest in 15 years – and a falling unemployment rate, citing the construction industry as an example. Steigerwald noted to the newspaper that Messer plans to add 60 to 70 workers in 2015 as demand in non-residential building heats up, particularly in the health care and higher education market segments. “The signs are more positive this year than any year since the recession,” Steigerwald said. He noted that Messer this year is adding a mix of project engineers, business managers, accountants and tradesmen to its current staff of about 950. He expects wages to rise 2.5% to 3% this year for skilled workers, on top of a 17% gain in the firm’s healthcare costs. Steigerwald’s forecast did, however, come with a caveat. “The biggest thing that keeps me up at night is the skills shortage,” he said, citing specifically the absence of a readily available pool of workers who want to work physically demanding construction jobs where entry-level pay is around $15 an hour and an experienced carpenter can make more than $20 an hour. “Fewer people are willing to come onto a job site so we have to pay more.” Read the full article here: Hiring booms, but soft wages linger (The Wall Street Journal)