president, The Redmond Company
Company: The Redmond Company
Title: President
Education: B.S. in architectural engineering, Milwaukee School of Engineering
City of Residence: Town of Spring Prairie
Hobbies and Interests: Downhill skiing, mountain biking, skeet shooting, and construction.
What are you working on? "We have been spending considerable time studying our strategic position in the marketplace and applying resources to leverage the benefits that we bring our clients early in the project to reduce their development risk. While maintaining our known presence in design and construction of retail and financial projects, we are promoting the lesser known projects in our portfolio; hospitality and industrial projects."
How does the market look to you? "There is no question that there are fewer opportunities in the marketplace today than there was this time last year, but we are confident that our product diversity and our ability to create opportunities will help us weather this economic phase."
What was the best deal you’ve ever been involved in? "For me, and for a good number of The Redmond Company employees, the best deals are the ones that present the most challenge, the ones that require us to overcome multiple obstacles. In recent memory, the best deal was the Staybridge Suites project in Franklin. The owner involved us in the project early while he was working to acquire the property. We were involved in completing the due diligence on the property, obtaining municipal and DNR approvals which included floodplain, wetland mitigation and grading activity near a navigable stream. We managed the pre-construction schedule to include design reviews at 30 percent, 70 percent and 100 percent design completion to identify deviation from budget and manage the deviation in accordance with the owner’s direction. We helped coordinate the project plans with DOT plans for the right-of-way. Working with a team to handle all of these variables in a fashion resulting in a viable project is very rewarding."
What was the funniest moment of your career? "It’s interesting. As we age, the most humiliating moments become the most humorous in retrospect. Fifteen years ago, I was flying to Pittsburgh with the general manager of our office to pitch a development, design and construction proposal to a national account. While speaking of the project using mostly my hands, I hit the edge of the unsteady table and my full glass of Pepsi rocked from side to side, but didn’t appear as if it would topple over. Nonetheless, I reached for it as fast as I could for fear it would spill on the general manager. Of course, I failed to grab the glass but instead knocked it squarely in my boss’ lap! He was well-tempered about the whole catastrophe, but I was mortified. Luckily, we closed the deal."
