Buxton Kubik Dodd Creative principal Jon Dodd speaks on behalf of The Design Team of the Year.
Emily Letterman via SBJ
Projects multiple years in the making garnered top awards during last night’s 2016 Salute to Design and Construction banquet at the Ramada Plaza Hotel & Oasis Convention Center.
City Utilities took home the night’s top honor as Developer of the Year from the Springfield Contractors Association for the new bus transfer station on Main Street. The crews behind Phase II of Springfield Public Schools’ $10.2 million Kickapoo High School renovation received the night’s other top honor as Project Team of the Year.
The Salute to Construction council also presented five inaugural lifetime achievement honors to longstanding members of the design and construction industry. Awards were presented to Bill Adams, Elise Crain, Jack Hood, Ralph Manley and Windsor Warren.
“Thank you for remembering me. People think I’m dead,” said Warren, president of Warren & Goodin PC, to great laughter and applause.
CU’s downtown transit facility was designed to accommodate a larger fleet of buses and eliminate pedestrian crossings in front of drivers. H Design Group LLC designed and DeWitt & Associates Inc. constructed the 5,859-square-foot center at the 2.7-acre site at 211 N. Main Ave., which was built at a cost of $4.4 million.
“This really was a team effort, from the (Federal Transit Administration) to the city’s streetscape work,” said Chris Haller, manager of facilities management for City Utilities.
The former McDaniel Street and Patton Avenue center had been in use for nearly 30 years and the FTA contributed $3.6 million to the project since a replacement site was sought, beginning in 2006, according to Springfield Business Journal archives.
The team of DeWitt & Associates, Buxton Kubik Dodd Creative, Toth and Associates Inc. and Malone Finkle Eckhardt & Collins Inc. were behind the Kickapoo project, which added an east entrance and 900-plus seat auditorium.
“I like to joke that I got to play the ultimate senior prank,” said Jon Dodd, principal with Buxton Kubik Dodd Creative. “I got to tear down half of my own high school.”
Other honorees of the night were A & M Crete Inc. co-owners Kevin Scheer and Micah Stowe, who were named Craftsmen of the Year from the American Institute of Architects for Kickapoo floor installation. AIA Superintendent of the Year honors went to Dewitt & Associates’ J.D. Anthony and Alan Essary for the O’Reilly Clinical Health Science Center at Missouri State University.
The Southwest Missouri Chapter of the National Association of Women in Construction also honored a female in the trade. Debi Murray with Murney Associates, Realtors took home the Vesta honor, given to a woman with over 10 years of construction experience.
The 2016 ceremony was organized by the Salute to Design and Construction Council, which represents 23 organizations including the Springfield Contractors Association, Home Builders Association of Greater Springfield, the Springfield Area Chamber of Commerce, the AIA, NAWIC and several unions.
Reporter Jana Bounds contributed to this story.