Digging Detroit

BY BRIAN MULHERIN

DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

When you watch the RedWings in 2018, thank Hardman Construction.

Hardman stabilized the earth under the new Detroit Events Center that will be the home of the Red Wings after its June 2017 opening.

The job was the kind of job that only a few companies can do, Hardman being one of them. They weren't about to allow it to slip past them.

“It’s kind of like finding a ‘67 Shelby Cobra,” Marty Gamble, Hardman's vice president of geotechnical services, said.

Hardman was invited to bid on the job last December and was awarded the bid March 26. On April 6, they started moving earth.

The job involved building up a retaining wall that will serve as the base of the structure. The wall is 2,450 feet long and ranges in height from 38 to 40 feet. It holds back the earth that will support the building.

This isn’t just a simple wall. It has “tiebacks” that go deep into the earth and connect with drilled-in piers outside of the crater where the building will take shape.

The wall passed its first test earlier this year when an 18-story building that was encroaching on the site was imploded. The demolition went off without a hitch and the area under the building was subsequently excavated and tied back to complete the foundation of the DEC.

UNIQUE CONDITIONS

Gamble said Hardman landing the job was predicated upon them employing at least 51 percent of their labor from the city of Detroit.

They hired a city contractor, Detroit Dismantling, for part of that, but also hired 18 directly into their company through Ecto Human Resources of Brighton.

“We interviewed and got resumes from 400 craft workers,” Gamble said. That includes equipment operators, carpenters and laborers.

The company also used outreach programs in local churches that put people previously in trouble with the law back to work.

SEE HARDMAN, A8

A 2,450-foot long wall encircles the excavation for the new Detroit Events Center. Hardman crews built the wall that stabilizes the earth for the project.

Hardman Construction workers stand in front of the 40-foot wall built around the excavation of the new Detroit Events Center. The Hardman crew finished the wall last week.

COURTESY PHOTOS

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outreach programs in local churches that put people previously in trouble with the law back to work.

“They had to have lived in the city for six months, pay city taxes and have a city address,' Gamble said.

Many of the workers remain with Hardman today. Gamble said 10 of the 18 workers they employed are still with the company and many are on a job with the company in another state already.

Jeff Loeser supervised the crew that included as many as 34 workers from Hardman, while Chris Porter was brought in as a tieback drill operator.

“Up until last March, he was working in the oil fields,” Gamble said of Porter. “He came to work for us. He knows several of our guys and he worked on a job we had on 1-69 to learn how we worked.”

The tiebacks were as deep as 74 feet long and averaged 5 5 feet into the earth.

Daniel Cerminaro served as an on-site engineering inspector. Also on the site from Mason County were Scott Samuels, Michael Mc- Cann, Doug Soberalski, Jim Chapman, Ryan Sarnocki and Herschel Smith.

UNIQUE WORK

Gamble said he’s been in this business for 19 1/2 years and Hardman is in its 36th year of doing big jobs. They’ve done several other projects, including work on Notre Dame’s stadium expansion and two buildings for the University of Michigan.

“In Ann Arbor, we did holes as deep as 71 feet,” Gamble said.

Gamble also worked on Lambeau Field’s expansion prior to his joining the Hardman team.

But the DEC is special to the Hardman crew, who are all huge Red Wings fans.

None more than Gamble, though, who has a wall of his office dedicated to one of the Stanley Cup teams.

“It was a great opportunity to get down there,” Marty Gamble

Hardman’s vice president of geotechnical services

Gamble said.

He said the people they want to impress are the construction management firms who run these large jobs around the country.

“Our core market is taking care of developers,” Gamble said.

But it's also nice to get a feather in the cap that they can tell their friends and neighbors about.

“For us, it's nice,” Gamble said. “You get a little recognition.”

bmulherin@ludingtondailynews.com 843-1122 x348

A panoramic view of the Detroit Events Center excavation. The wall at right was constructed by Hardman Construction and eventually ringed the entire crater.

COURTESY PHOTOS

The Hardman Construction tieback drill bored holes in the earth as far as 71 feet so that tiebacks could be connected to pilings drilled into the perimeter of the project.