The ENR regional editors have selected two companies for 2017 Contractor of the Year honors in the Mountain States region: Engineered Structures Inc., Meridian, Idaho, for the Intermountain area; and GE Johnson Construction Co., Colorado Springs and Denver, for Colorado, Wyoming and the Dakotas.

Engineered Structures Inc.

Engineered Structures Inc. is a privately owned construction management firm headquartered in Meridian, Idaho. ESI’s key market sectors include K-12 and higher education, industrial and distribution, commercial office, housing and health care, retail, restaurants and more. The 44-year-old company’s projects range in size from $1 million to $90 million.

ESI has more than 400 employees spread across its offices in Portland, Salt Lake City, Amarillo, Texas, and Chantilly, Va. It works across the U.S., in Australia and Japan. ESI won the ENR Mountain States Safety Award for the LaPointe Student Housing project in Boise in 2015.

Other recent ESI projects include:

  • Idaho College of Osteopathic Medicine, Meridian, Idaho. The new 94,000-sq-ft higher education building includes patient and simulation labs, an OMM lab, library, study spaces, open lobby, a student lounge, plus administration and faculty offices and building-support areas.
  • City Center Plaza, Boise. This key civic project includes two new buildings, an expansion to an existing building and construction of a below-ground multimodal transportation center, all in the space of one city block in downtown Boise.
  • Rock Creek and Pillar Falls Elementary Schools, Twin Falls, Idaho. ESI was the CM/GC for two Twin Falls elementary school projects, including full buildout with sitework. Each facility includes classrooms, a library and media center, gymnasium, student commons, computer labs, a severe-needs classroom, and an administrative area, and will house 650 students in grades K-5.
  • Boise State University Fine Arts Building, Boise
  • Scentsy Office Tower, Meridian, Idaho
  • The Inn at 500, Boise

GE Johnson Construction Co.

GE Johnson Construction Co. says that nearly 90% of its business comes from repeat clients. The Colorado Springs-based firm builds health care facilities, museums, hotels and resorts, higher-ed and research buildings, offices, multifamily and mixed-use projects, among its other specialties.

GE Johnson has grown an in-house specialty team – the Systems Integration Group – led by three architects, a former structural consultant and a team of construction professionals. Teams within the firm’s special projects divisions in Denver, Colorado Springs, Vail and Wyoming tackle schedule-driven projects for a diverse set of clients. The firm also has a facilities services division to aid clients in the ongoing maintenance and management of their facilities.

GE Johnson was named one of the Denver Post’s 2015 Top 100 Workplaces in Colorado, and in 2015 opened its fifth regional office – in Casper, Wyo., to serve the central Wyoming area.

The firm’s current and recently completed projects include:

  • The Coloradan, Denver. This 19-story luxury for-sale residential building will house 334 units, offers retail space at ground level, parking, a rooftop swimming pool, and multiple landscaped decks on the roof.
  • UCHealth Memorial Hospital North Expansion and Renovation, Colorado Springs. The project, being built concurrently with the Children’s Hospital Colorado facility on the same campus, will realign hospital spaces and programs to serve both the needs of adult and pediatric patients.
  • Yellowstone Club – The Village, Big Sky, Mont. The 550,000-sq-ft base village project will add several new residences and amenities to Yellowstone Club, a world-class private resort in Montana.
  • Children’s Hospital Colorado—Colorado Springs. The 294,000-sq-ft facility will be a freestanding hospital with five levels, plus a lower level, that will include a neonatal intensive care unit, a pediatric intensive care unit, a sleep study lab, a designated space for behavioral health treatment and the Center for Cancer and Blood Disorders.
  • Born Hotel and Block A Office Building, Denver. The mixed-use development at 16th and Wewatta streets includes a 180-plus-room boutique hotel, 20,000 sq ft of retail, 54,000 sq ft of Class A office space and a multi-level underground parking garage.
  • 100 Saint Paul, Denver. The eight-story, Class A+ office tower with three levels of below-grade parking provides premium commercial office space in the Cherry Creek area.
  • St. Anthony North Medical Campus, Westminster, Colo. This hospital project provides new ambulatory, acute and wellness care facilities designed and built in a 21st Century health care model.
  • University of Wyoming Engineering II, Laramie, Wyo. The Engineering Building expansion and renovation is the focal point of the university’s push to become a National Tier 1 College of Engineering, The project includes more than 227,000 sq ft of new construction.
  • U.S. Olympic Museum, Colorado Springs. The museum will feature artifacts and interactive exhibits tracing the history of the Olympic and Paralympic Games and capture the spirit of the Olympic movement.

Both firms are ranked in the top 10 of this year’s regional Top Contractors lists, which will be published in the August issue of ENR Mountain States. Feature-length profiles of ESI and GE Johnson also will appear in that issue.