Watts / Weitz Breaks Ground on $67 Million Project
Email News Release
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 24, 2008
For more information, contact:
Greg Shannon, Business Development Manager
WATTS / WEITZ BREAKS GROUND ON $67 MILLION CONSTRUCTION PROJECT AT
FORT LEONARD WOOD
Overland Park, KS – Work has begun on the new Trainee Barracks Complex III project at Fort Leonard Wood, MO. The design-build contract will cost approximately $67,675,000 to build and was awarded by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in February 2008 to joint venture partners WATTS Constructors, LLC, Honolulu, HI, and general contractor The Weitz Company, Des Moines, IA.
The project includes four barracks buildings, each at approximately 59,300 square feet, and a battalion headquarters building at close to 23,300 square feet. “We are very excited about this opportunity and look forward to working with many local subcontractors, suppliers and individuals with prior military or government construction experience,” said Radd Way, president of the Weitz Missouri Valley Unit located in Overland Park, KS.
FortLeonard Wood is situated in the heart of the Ozarks, adjacent to the towns of St. Robert and Waynesville, MO in PulaskiCounty. St. Louis is 130 miles to the East and Springfield is 80 miles to the west on I-44. FortLeonard Wood was established in 1940 as a basic training center. To date, over three million men and women have launched their military careers at the base.
PHOTO OPPORTUNITY -
July/August 2008: Site grading, select demolition, concrete foundations to be poured, and steel erection. For site access contact: Julie Sturm at The Weitz Company, phone: 913-469-7042; email: julie.sturm@weitz.com.
ABOUT WATTS-WEITZ - EMPLOYEE OWNED CONSTRUCTION COMPANIES
Headquartered in Honolulu, WATTS has offices in California, Washington, Florida, and Guam. In 2006, WATTS merged with The Weitz Company, a general contractor based in
Des Moines, IA.
WATTS, an employee owned general contractor, is an established provider of construction services for the U.S. Government, the Department of the Interior and National Park Service, state governments and the U.S. military. The company’s project portfolio includes national park improvements, military design-build projects, historical renovations, airport renovations, marine waterfront construction, seismic upgrades, vertical construction and utility projects of all types.
The Weitz Company, founded in Des Moines, Iowa in 1855, is the second oldest commercial general contractor in the United States and consistently ranks among the top 50 contractors nationwide in Engineering News-Record magazine’s Top 400 Contractors survey. Weitz has annual revenues in excess of $1.4 billion and 15 business units nationwide. The employee owned company has reported 276 straight months of profitability, a benchmark rarely accomplished in the construction industry.