New Contractors, Big and Small by Joe Itri

Boston’s iconic One Post Office Square is getting a makeover! First completed in 1981, this massive project’s 41-story structure redesign will feature 775,000 square feet of available office space and multiple roof decks. The redesign and all the upgrades are estimated to be completed in 2021.

Benson Industries, Inc. out of Portland, Oregon, will be fabricating and installing the unitized curtain wall, expecting to be on site by February 1, 2020. Benson has subbed out the labor portion to local signatory contractor Cheviot. Benson has found that subbing out their first project in a new area helps them to get past the local jurisdictional politics. Benson also will be installing the curtain wall at One Congress Street in July 2020 and they will be self-performing on that. Both projects look to have between 40 to 50 workers and both will be under international agreement with the IUPAT.

As anyone who is in the business knows, the ability to fabricate these massive towers is key, and Benson has that covered. Benson has 300,000 square feet of under roof fabrication space and another 115,000 square feet of outside yard space at their Otay Mesa, Mexico plant. There are over 600 metal fabricators and they can produce up to six major projects at one time. That’s immense. 

We recently had a meeting with Benson’s leadership team for Boston as well as Tim Stricker, Executive Assistant to the General President. We discussed manpower needs, scheduling, and training. I thought it was a great first meeting and look forward to having Benson on the Boston scene.

We also signed a “new” company, Cardinal Window Systems, LLC. Owner and operator Peter Bissonnette has retired and has sold his equipment to his sister-in-law, and Peter’s brother Paul will be the glazing supervisor. Under Peter’s leadership, Cardinal Window Systems was primarily a service company, but Paul is leading it into becoming a new construction company. Right now, there are two glaziers but the hope is to grow and become a player in the storefront, mid-rise market.