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Blink and you might miss NMU's Magers Hall renovation

Date Posted: April 29 2005

MARQUETTE - The Magers Hall renovation at Northern Michigan University isn't the largest, most complex, or architecturally significant renovation to take place on campus.

But it is the fastest.

Three prime contractors and the building trades are in the process of renovating the 50-year-old office building into a modern dormitory. Northern Michigan wants the job done in three months - in what amounts to a construction experiment to determine if residence halls in the future can be renovated quickly enough not to impact students during a major portion of the academic year.

"That is a very aggressive approach to a project of this magnitude, but we wanted to finish it over the summer so that we wouldn't have to take a building off line for a whole year," said Art Gischia, NMU's director of purchasing.

Hardhats, along with prime contractors Clossner Construction, Gressler Mechanical and S & T Electric, are working two shifts to renovate the 60,000-square-foot residence hall. The university is also employing the three different prime contractors "In order to have better control of the scheduling," Gischia said. This $6.1 million project is the first of eight residence hall renovation jobs that are planned on campus.

There are currently about 50 trades workers on the project during the day shift, and 10 at night - but those numbers fluctuate," said Mike Hebert, project superintendent for Clossner.

"There's a lot going on and the pace is extremely difficult," he said. "There are two different foremen for two different crews, and the trades are kind of stacked up right behind each other. But all in all I have to say, things are going pretty well."

THE ONGOING Magers Hall dorm renovation project at Northern Michigan University highlights is an example an accelerated state-sponsored construction project.
OPERATING ENGINEERS Local 324 member Jerry Bell works at the NMU Magers Hall job.
Photos by Jerry Bielicki