Finance & Commerce recognized it’s Top Projects of 2016 at its annual awards ceremony held on July 26, 2017 at Minneapolis Event Center. A panel of experts in construction and closely-related industries selected the 33 honorees for 2016. OlympiaTech was proud to have provided electrical construction services for two of the recognized projects including Hewing Hotel and Star Exhibits. The Hewing Hotel project entailed renovating the historic Jackson Building in Minneapolis’ North Loop neighborhood into a Nordic-influenced, boutique hotel. Star Exhibits was a design-build, new construction project to house Star’s Minneapolis headquarters.
Top Projects of 2016: Hewing Hotel
By: Dan Heilman, Finance & Commerce
The 120-year-old Jackson Building, which once housed a farm implement warehouse and showroom, was recently transformed into a high-class, Nordic-themed hotel. The Hewing Hotel employs an open concept on its ground floor, which is home to the Tullibee restaurant, a bar, reception area, wine cellar and ballroom.
“This was a great building with great bones,” recalled Tim Dixon of building owner Fe Equus Development in Milwaukee. “My partners and I looked at it, and we felt the only thing it could be in that neighborhood was a hotel.”
Part of the redevelopment of the historic space involved taking advantage of those solid bones. After all, the word “hewing” itself refers to squaring off logs to make them usable for construction.
Top Projects of 2016: Star
By: Dan Heilman, Finance & Commerce
Star, which makes trade show and retail displays that highlight customer brands, has created such an environment for itself at its new Brooklyn Park headquarters.
“From a marketing perspective we’ve done a really good job of selling our brand and creating the experience that we want our customers to experience when they meet with their clients,” said CEO Mark Johnson, who founded Star in 1993.
The lobby in Star’s new 200,000-square-foot build-to-suit project features a gallery of client projects. That leads to modern, collaborative office space, a 50,000-square-foot fabrication area, a large warehouse, and shipping and receiving.