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Contractor Says Delays on Gurley Bridge and Marshalls Unavoidable

From left: Rob Brower and Steve Callahan, with S&S, speak with Justin Strong with Apex Mechanics in the shell that will be the new Marshalls store in Gillette.

(From left: Rob Brower and Steve Callahan, with S&S, speak with Justin Strong, with
Apex Mechanics, in the shell that will be the new Marshalls store in Gillette.)

The closure of Gurley Bridge was a huge inconvenience to most people in Gillette. Generating as much anticipation as its reopening is the Marshalls store in the old Hastings location.

Unfortunately, neither project went quite as planned, and fingers started pointing at the primary contractor on the projects, S&S Builders.

Steven Callahan, building division manager for S&S, said they’ve taken a beating on social media, and he wants to set the record straight on what caused the delays.

Callahan didn’t work on the Gurley Bridge project, but he said there were a number of unknowns that came up, as is sometimes the case with large projects.

Geno Palazzari, spokesperson for the city of Gillette, said staff reviewed the cause of the delays on the Gurley Bridge project and were comfortable with the contractor’s explanation. The reopening happened a month later than planned.

“They were amazing to work with,” Palazzari said.

Now they’re again facing unavoidable delays with the Marshalls project. The renovation of the old Hastings location will make room for the heavily anticipated new Marshalls store.

In June 2018, when S&S began working on the building, it was expected to be a straight-forward project. Early on, Callahan said it turned out to be much more complicated.

“We had to literally tear off the top of the building,” he explained.

A welder works on the roof of what will be the new Marshalls store. The renovation has faced delays due to structural issues.

The building was originally built in 1979, and back in the days before “big box” stores, the structure held multiple companies. Prior to Hastings, it was an Ace Hardware.

“It was built at a time when Gillette had no building department to speak of,” Callahan said.

Without code enforcement for what few building codes were on the books at the time, the construction wasn’t very solid. S&S was putting up drywall on the 20,000 square-foot building, expecting to be done by October, when things started to go south. Callahan got a call from engineers telling him the structure was incapable of handling the load that was put on it.

At that point, S&S had to call in structural engineers and come up with a plan to address the issues. With the economy improving and the energy industry humming along, it’s hard to find qualified people to do the job you need done.

“Just getting people on the phone is difficult these days,” Callahan said.

Despite the short notice, Callahan said Structural Dynamics came through.

“They really stepped up,” Callahan praised.

He said a number of their subcontractors have demonstrated an impressive commitment and competence. Gillette Steel, for example, delivered their steel reinforcing materials in a week, when usually there’s a six to eight week turnaround on such orders.

As sparks flew from the torches of welders standing on scissor lifts, Callahan showed how they had to do an extensive rebuild of the entire roof and remove pieces of drywall to reinforce the walls.

Steven Callahan, building division manager, with S&S looks over the loading dock that had to be rebuilt as per the customer’s specs.

They’ve spent the past six weeks doing nothing but structural and roofing reinforcement.

Fire Wire Industries, a local company, came in to do the welding. It’s required teams of welders working six days a week, 12 hours a day. After tearing off the roof, they also had to contend with a lot of rainy weather.

“It was something to come in every morning and have to vacuum out the water before we could start working,” Callahan recalled.

Add to that a change Marshalls made to the original plan. The loading dock was originally going to be level with the back lot, but then Marshalls requested the bay be lowered so trucks backing in would be flush with the dock.

Callahan said the store will look really nice when it’s complete, and the structure will be up to modern building codes. S&S is scrambling to get it done, Callahan said.

“We’re going to do everything we can to get her ready. It’s going to be a Herculean effort to get it done. And with all of our subcontractors’ amazing efforts, along with our in-house staff, we will.”

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