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(Left
to right): Bruce Holland, president and David Birk,
executive vice president of Holland Construction Services
pictured in the new Edwardsville YMCA. |
SOUTHERN ILLINOIS
IS SHAPING UP
The New Construction Boom in Metro East
Includes First-Rate Recreation Facilities
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By Jim Baer
On any given day, the Meyer YMCA on Goshen Road in Glen Carbon,
Ill. is a beehive of activity. Pre-school tots chase balls in the
daycare center, while their moms eagerly watch. Meanwhile, some
of these same moms are sweating profusely on the stair masters in
the cardio vascular center. Seniors lob shots on the indoor tennis
courts, while 20ish athletes shoot hoops in the Manny Jackson Globetrotter
Basketball Center, and eager pre-teen girls are bouncing on the
mats in the gymnastics center. The activity is frenetic.
One-thousand visitors pass through the turn styles daily; more than
100,000 members, guests and visitors have utilized this majestic
pre-cast steel-engineered open span building since opening in August
2005. Visitors can’t help but notice the 24-foot free-standing rock
climbing structure in the towering two-story atrium.
The 119,000-square-foot, $10 million dollar structure is one of
the largest and most unique independently-owned YMCA’s in the country.
A team of volunteers, dedicated board members and local business
owners helped Executive Director Gary Niebur guide this project
through a four-year process. It took one full year to complete the
construction and add a second Y to Edwardsville’s landscape.
Holland Construction Services, Swansea, Ill. served as general contractor
on the Meyer project as well as the newly constructed YMCA’s in
downtown Belleville and Columbia, Ill. Holland previously led construction
management services for the YMCA across the street from Southwestern
Illinois College in Belleville.
It didn’t take an eagle eye to spot Holland’s high level of achievement.
The firm had just completed Patriot Middle School on Goshen Road
($20 million project) across the street in Glen Carbon and YMCA
planners paid attention.
The construction boom is rampant in Metro East and the need for
recreation and community centers grows with each spurt. “We wanted
a unique facility, different than the one we have on Esic Drive
in Edwardsville,” reasoned Niebur who also serves as mayor of the
city of Edwardsville.
The Edwardsville Y programs have come a very long way since occupying
a store front downtown on Main Street in 1949.
“Foremost, our mission is to provide recreational facilities to
our members and secondly, we are a community center,” reminded Niebur
who rents space for meetings, trivia nights, birthday parties and
the like. This center fills a void in Edwardsville’s need for community
meeting space.
Taking this building through construction was a unique challenge
for Holland CS and the chief architects Mackey Mitchell Associates
of St. Louis. They had to construct open spans, lower the roof 15
feet while maintaining a tight budget. The final product included
two pre-fabricated Star-Robertson metal buildings on either side
of the center Meyer Center atrium. The layout is unique. The far
right side of the building holds five tennis courts and the gymnastics
center. The center portion houses an indoor track and basketball
gymnasium; free and Nautilus weights and the far left building houses
the epoxy-finished regulation-sized roller skating rink and food
service area.
“We have a separate entrance for each part of the building,” said
Karen Marshall, Meyer Center Site Director. “That way we can have
lock-ins in the hockey area and close off the rest of the facilities
for the evening,” she explained.
Niebur is proud of the work done by the planners and architects
and subcontractors. “They (the builders) had quite a challenge and
they did exceptional work. The end product is something we are very
proud of. Our ESIC Center was busting at the seams and we needed
a new building to compliment that one,” said Niebur. “This is not
the traditional center. We decided to think outside the box and
to open the envelope. We have created new and exciting opportunities
for our members and their guests,” said the executive director.
This summer, a new $450,000 outdoor pool, primarily for the camping
program will be opened.
The Meyer project earned four national awards for Holland Construction
Services.
Niebur tips his hat to the 700 plus donors. “None of them had to
do that. They made it possible so that our members can make this
center part of their daily lives. The two Edwardsville centers have
more than 6,000 units of membership (a unit is a family) or 17,000
members at the two facilities. That’s quite a feat, drawing from
the combined communities of Edwardsville, Glen Carbon, Maryville
and surrounding locations with a population of roughly 36,000.
“I’m glad we worked with (Bruce) Holland, (Dave) Schlueter and their
company. They are very well respected in this region and they pay
a lot of attention to detail and we got great results,” said Niebur.
Holland CS was up to the challenge. Holland won the bid through
an RFP process and pulled together a large list of subcontractors
to build this facility and the same for the Y’s in Belleville and
Columbia.
“I think we had a great plan and they (Meyer Center) had an architect
on their board and that was a great help. They (center directors)
realized we need a team to put this together,” said Bruce Holland,
president of Holland Construction Services.
Holland, a company that has grown to 45 employees and does out-of-state
work, are the stewards, not the builders of these projects. “We
are good as managers. The pre-construction work will take up 40
percent of our time. We work on site selection, cost development
and analysis and we bring together the architects and the engineers.
We are committed to what we do. We will do everything from fundraising
to dealing with zoning issues,” said Holland.
“Its all about relationships,” said Schlueter. I’d estimate that
about 85 percent of our business comes from present clients and
referrals.”
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Belleville’s
new YMCA |
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Steve Ira, Executive Director of the YMCA of Southern Illinois supervises
both the newly completed Robert L. and Elsie A. Kern Center in downtown
Belleville, and the Monroe County-Harrisonville Telephone Co (HTC)
center.
The downtown Belleville project, built on a postage-stamp piece
of property, a little more than a city square block in size replaced
the old Y in Belleville, dedicated in 1959 six blocks away. The
new center at 200 South Illinois is just two blocks from Belleville’s
downtown landmark fountain and services families, St. Elizabeth
Hospital and government workers alike.
The new $5.1 million, 32,779-square-foot facility has 120 parking
spaces, a premium in downtown Belleville.
“We worked with Holland and they were great to work with. We had
a great relationship and we are very pleased with their work,” said
Ira. EWS & Associates, Fairview Heights were the architects in Belleville
and Columbia. The Belleville Center has racquetball courts, a cardio-vascular
center with weights and an indoor pool, indoor track, family and
individual locker rooms. The facility has expansion space for future
growth.
The Belleville Y opened in January and the response has been overwhelming.
They have increased membership to 2,500 units or nearly 8,000 total
members. The building’s exterior is formed of brick and glass and
is one of three Y’s within the Belleville city limits.
The $6.7 million, 40,000-square-foot Monroe County Y is situated
in a field just outside the city limits of Columbia and serves patrons
from the entire county.
Construction in Monroe County was unique. Because the Y is located
on an 11-acre tract, the building method was tilt up construction,
meaning a much lower labor cost. Monroe County has 2,500 units or
8,500-9,000 members. They feature all the same amenities as downtown
Belleville less racquetball courts.
What Monroe County has are a number of meeting rooms. “We serve
the community needs anywhere from trivia night to scouting groups,”
said Ira who oversees the YMCA operations in five Illinois counties.
Brand new state-of-the-art YMCA’s are dominating the Southern Illinois
landscape and thousands of members are taking advantage of these
welcome additions to the community. |
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