ENR Midwest's judges carefully curated a list of 97 high-quality entries down to 35 winning entries for this year's ENR Midwest Best Projects competition. The winners will be featured in-depth in the November 18 edition of ENR Midwest and we'll physically give the awards to each winning project team at our annual Awards Breakfast December 3 at the Chicago Renaissance Downtown. We'll also be honoring our Owner of the Year, MidAmerican Energy, Contractor of the Year Pepper Construction; Design Firm of the Year HNTB Corp. and our recently named Specialty Contractor of the Year, Gaylor Electric of Indianapolis. We'll also unveil our 2019 Legacy Award Winner at the breakfast.
The independent judges selected this year by ENR Midwest had a daunting task. Each of our 20 project type categories had multiple strong entrants with the exception of the green projects category which had several entrants from other categories moved to it. We had multiple projects that won in more than one category. Our judges — Danielle Dy Buncio, President and CEO of ViaTechnik; Laura Young, CEO of Griskelis Young Harrell; Michael Sturino, President and CEO at the Illinois Road and Transportation Builders Association; Steve Zimmerman, associate principal at Wiss Janney Elstner Associates; Lynda Leigh, project manager at Turner Construction; Jeff Emrick, director of safety and compliance at Ozinga and Sam Mishelow, chief strategy officer at Meyer Najem Construction — all generously donated their time and expertise in judging a diverse group of entrants that ranged from major highway projects to skyscrapers to water and landscape projects. Our safety judges, Jeff Emrick and Sam Mishelow, faced a particularly tough task in comparing safety projects across a wide swath of project types. Any judges whose companies or firms made awards submissions were recused from judging the categories those submissions appeared in.
Our judges' final task will be to designate an overall Project of the Year from the Best Project-level winners listed below. We’ll reveal the Project of the Year at our awards and networking breakfast in December. Hope to see lots of our loyal readers at the Renaissance as well. Here are ENR Midwest's 2019 Best Projects.
Airport/Transit
Best Project: Milwaukee M-Line/The Hop, Milwaukee
Submitted by HNTB Corp.
Award of Merit: American Airlines O’Hare Hangar 2, Chicago
Submitted by Ghafari Associates, LLC
Cultural/Worship
Best Project: Museum at the Gateway Arch, St. Louis
Submitted by IMEG Corp.
Award of Merit: National Veterans Memorial and Museum, Columbus, Ohio
Submitted by Turner Construction Company
Energy/Industrial
Best Project: FD Kuester and AJ Mihm Generating Station, Negaunee and Baraga, Mich.
Submitted by Burns & McDonnell
Award of Merit: Ottumwa Generating Station Selective Catalytic Reduction, Ottumwa, Iowa
Submitted by Stanley Consultants
Government/Public Building
Best Project: Chicago Union Station Great Hall Restoration, Chicago
Submitted by Berglund Construction Company
Award of Merit: Lake County Courthouse Expansion, Waukegan, Ill.
Submitted by Clark Construction
Green Project
Best Project: Village of Oswego Police Headquarters and Training Facility, Oswego, Ill.
Submitted by HOK and Gilbane Building Co.
Health Care
Best Project: Froedtert & the Medical College of Wisconsin Integrated Procedural Platform, Wauwatosa, Wis.
Submitted by Mortenson Construction
Award of Merit: BE Smith Family Center in Merriam, Kansas
Submitted by Turner Construction Company
Higher Education/Research
Best Project: Creighton University School of Dentistry, Omaha, Neb.
Submitted by RDG Planning & Design
Award of Merit: University of Minnesota Tate Science and Teaching Lab Renovation, Minneapolis, Minn.
Submitted by JE Dunn Construction
Award of Merit: UC Gardner Neuroscience Institute, Cincinnati
Submitted by Messer Construction Co.
Highway/Bridge
Best Project: Southern Ohio Veterans Memorial Highway, Portsmouth to Columbus, Ohio
Submitted by Dragados USA, Inc.
Award of Merit: Kentucky 152 Bridge Replacement Over Herrington Lake, Harrodsburg, Ky.
Submitted by Walsh Construction Co. II, LLC
Interior/Tenant Improvement
Best Project: McDonald’s Corporation Headquarters Relocation, Chicago
Submitted by Executive Construction Inc.
K-12 Education
Best Project: Topeka Center for Advanced Learning & Careers, Topeka, Kansas
Submitted by DLR Group
Award of Merit: Burbank School District 111: Luther Burbank School, Burbank, Ill.
Submitted by International Contractors, Inc.
Landscape/Urban Development
Best Project: 41st Street Pedestrian Bridge over Lake Shore Drive, Chicago
Submitted by AECOM and F.H. Paschen
Manufacturing
Best Project: Prestage Foods of Iowa Pork Processing Plant, Eagle Grove, Iowa
Submitted by Epstein
Office/Retail/Mixed-Use
Best Project: Independence Library and Apartments, Chicago
Submitted by PlanGrid, an Autodesk company
Award of Merit: Insinkerator Corporate Headquarters, Mt. Pleasant, Wis.
Submitted by Riley Construction
Renovation/Restoration
Best Project: The 1060 Project at Wrigley Field, Chicago
Submitted by Pepper Construction Group
Award of Merit: Union Terminal Renovation and Restoration, Cincinnati
Submitted by Turner Construction Company
Residential/Hospitality
Best Project: Shinola Hotel, Detroit
Submitted by Barton Malow Company
Small Project (Under $10 million)
Best Project: NorthShore University Health System MOB, Round Lake Beach, Ill.
Submitted by Pepper Construction Group
Award of Merit: Chicago Architecture Center, Chicago
Submitted by Turner Construction Company
Specialty Construction
Best Project: Ameren Missouri Bagnell Dam Stabilization Project, Lake of the Ozarks, Mo.
Submitted by MC Industrial, a McCarthy Holdings Company
Sports/Entertainment
Best Project: Fiserv Forum, Milwaukee, Wis.
Submitted by Populous
Award of Merit: Hy-Vee Arena, Kansas City, Mo.
Submitted by McCownGordon Construction
Water/Environment
Best Project: ORI Structural Rehabilitation Project, Louisville, Ky.
Submitted by Brown and Caldwell
ENR Midwest Safety Award
Best Project: Ottumwa Generating Station Selective Catalytic Reduction, Ottumwa, Iowa
Submitted by Stanley Consultants
Award of Merit: Ameren Bagnell Dam Stabilization Project, Lake of the Ozarks, Mo.
Submitted by MC Industrial, a McCarthy Holdings Company
Award of Merit: Kentucky 152 Bridge Replacement Over Herrington Lake, Harrodsburg, Ky.
Submitted by Walsh Construction Co. II, LLC
