Okland is building 222 South Main Street, a 22-story office building with an attached nine-story parking garage in Salt Lake City.

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Okland Construction is building a new high-rise on a tight space in its hometown of Salt Lake City. The project, 222 South Main Street, is a 22-story office building with an attached nine-story parking garage. As the general contractor, Okland’s contract is worth $87.5 million.

The downtown location and confined site have posed challenges for Okland, Project Engineer Steve Powell says. “That’s probably one of our biggest challenges – coordinating and scheduling all the deliveries and finding space for all of our materials,” he says.

Okland is responsible for the core-in-shell construction, but no tenant finishes. Its portion of the work is scheduled to be completed in Nov­ember 2009.

The company is self-performing all concrete and layout work and has 35 em­ployees on site. It is working with an additional 115 subcontracted workers, as well.

Powell says the unitized curtain wall system the company is using is somewhat unique. “We’re using CoreBrace’s [buckling-restrained braces] system, which I think is fairly unique to this area,” he says. “CoreBrace started locally in Salt Lake and is actually associated with SME Steel, which is one of our subcontractors. It’s fairly new, but we’ve used them on the IMC Hospital here in Salt Lake, as well. It’s fairly cost-effective and it works well.”

The IMC Hospital project consisted of eight buildings and 1.3 million square feet. At that time, the hospital was the largest project to date constructed in the United States with BRB technology, Powell says.

The 222 South Main project, developed by Hamilton Partners, was designed by architects Skidmore, Owings and Merrill.

The company will include 350,000 square feet of office space and feature a double-height entry lobby and adjoining retail space.

The building will also include energy-efficient features such as high-transparency, low-reflectivity exterior glazing. It will have fiber-optic capability on all floors for voice/­data, as well as redundant power supplies.

“Considering the four-star hotel located next door, and the Gallivan Plaza with its amphitheater, public open space and ice-­skating rink right across the street, this is the perfect location in the heart of this great city,” de­veloper Hamilton Part­ners says. “Hotels, fine restaurants and shopping are all within walking distance.”

Full-Service Firm
Founded in 1918 by carpenter and Nor­wegian immigrant John Okland, Okland Construction has grown to become a full-service commercial contractor.

The company completes institutional, office, retail and condominium projects. It also does quite a bit of government work in the local market.

The company operates three offices: its headquarters in Salt Lake City and regional offices in Phoenix and Durango, Colo. Most of its work is located in Utah, Arizona and Colorado, but it completes work throughout the western United States and occasionally east of Colorado at a client’s request. The company says it still maintains the values established by its founder. These are:

• Integrity – Okland Construction backs up its claims of integrity, the company states. “John Okland always worked based on a handshake – his word was his bond,” it says. “Today, we honor our commitments in the same way. We keep our word to our clients and associates; and we are accountable for our actions.”
• Quality – The company says it demands and expects quality work from its employ­ees, associates and the company as a whole. “Our quality is a higher standard of which other firms can only aspire,” it asserts. “The dedicated practice of this value separates us from the rest of the local and national construction industry.”
• Vision – “Okland is innovative; we search for new ideas, procedures, materials and processes to give our customers higher quality, shorter schedules, longer asset life and lower cost,” the company says. “We are proactive in our relationships. We have the vision to intercept issues before they become problems. We are constantly looking ahead to improve our overall performance.”
• Success – Okland Construction says it creates success for its employees, firm, associates and clients by living its values. “This is done by always doing what is right,” the company states. “This is not always easy; but we will continually ask ourselves if we are taking the correct, fair and just course for those involved,” it adds.

LEED Accredited
“With appropriately growing attention toward environmental, climate, and energy issues, the construction industry must acknowledge the need to support sustainable-minded design and development,” the company says.

“Okland Construction has recognized this moral obligation, and has encouraged our own employees to become more aware of what it means to be green,” it adds.

The company has implemented internal LEED accreditation preparation courses, and has increased the number of LEED-accredited professionals within the company – there are now more than 25.     

“We have also developed our own waste management programs to implement recycling on all of our projects re­gardless of whether the project is pursuing LEED certification,” it states.

We understand and appreciate the in­creasing importance of sustainable building practices, and have strived to promote consideration on the part of all our clients to respond to this socially and environmentally ethical responsibility.”