City Garden Honored by Aon as One of Nation’s Best Projects

BSI Constructors completed one of 2009's top construction projects for its work on the new Citygarden Complex in downtown St. Louis, the Associated General Contractors of America announced March 19 at the association's convention in Orlando, FL. BSI was among 15 companies to receive an Aon Build America Award, an annual ranking of the nation's most significant construction projects.

"These are the projects that redefine communities, reinvent neighborhoods and remind us that anything is possible given the right mix of craft, skill and commitment," said J. Doug Pruitt, the association's president. "Despite the toughest conditions in decades, these companies found ways to awe and amaze."

Pruitt said BSI received the award for best environmental renovation project for construction of the new Citygarden complex. The nearly three-acre park and sculpture garden in downtown St. Louis features world-class sculpture, extensive landscaping and a dramatic 550-foot long limestone video wall. The complex also covers a complex maze of pumps, piping, electrical feeds, vaults and wall footings needed to support the garden.

Top prize, the Grand Award, went to Houston, Texas-based Linbeck Group for construction of the new Winspear Opera House in Dallas. Other winners were Indianapolis-based Bowen Engineering for construction of Indiana's Meadow Lake Wind Farm; Texas Division of McCarthy Building Companies for construction of that Dallas' AT&T Performance Arts Center Wyly Theatre; Chicago's Pepper Construction Group for converting Chicago's Power House building into the Charles H. Shaw Technology & Learning Center; and Sioux Falls, South Dakota-based Jans Corporation for building the Sioux Falls Seminary.

Additional companies awarded for their work included: Anderson Construction Company of Fort Gaines, Georgia for renovating Alabama's Lakepoint State Park Lodge & Guest Wings; New Orleans' Boh Bros. Construction for building that city's Harvey Canal Sector Gate Complex; Walsh Brothers Incorporated of Boston for renovating the Grand Dome of MIT's Building 10; Orlando's Hensel Phelps Construction Co. for converting a 40-year old NASA Kennedy Space Center structure into the new Orion Space Capsule Operations and Checkout Building; and Slayden Construction Group of Stayton, Oregon for replacing five bridges along Oregon Highway 38.

These companies also were awarded: Pittsfield, Maine-headquartered Cianbro Corporation for renovating Amtrak's Thames River Bridge in Connecticut; Secaucus, New Jersey-based Schiavone Construction Co., Inc & Granite Halmar Construction Company, Inc. for building the new South Ferry Terminal Subway Structural Box; Atlanta, Georgia's Ruby-Collins, Inc. for completing that city's Greensferry Basin Sewer Separation Project; and Tetra Tech of Alexandria, Virginia for construction and renovation work at 29 police stations in war-torn Iraq.

In addition to this year's winners, the association singled out several other nominated projects for its Merit Awards. Those were Pepper Construction Group's Harrah's Horseshoe Casino in Hammond, Indiana; Appleton, Wisconsin-based Hoffman LLC's Holy Wisdom Monastery in Madison; Milford, Massachusetts-based Consigli Construction's Cambridge Public Library expansion and restoration; and Chantilly, Virginia's Hensel Phelps for the renovation of, and addition to, the D.C. Court of Appeals.

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