True Grit

For half a century Gerber Construction has forged a reputation of getting the job done—while taking on some of the most challenging heavy-civil construction projects one could imagine. 
By: Brad Fullmer

Founded by brothers (left to right: Scott Gerber, Max Gerber, and Preston Gerber) in 1974, Gerber Construction has grown from doing residential work to taking on some of the toughest heavy civil projects in Utah. 

Firmly into its third generation of leadership, Lehi-based Gerber Construction has long hung its hat as a heavy/civil contractor on a reputation of taking on some of the dirtiest, nastiest, most challenging construction projects one could imagine.


"One of our niches is we excel at some of the most difficult projects that other people just don't want to be involved with," said Jason Woffinden, President of Gerber Construction since 2019 and a nephew of the founders. "Projects that are challenging, dirty, you have to get in and work hard. That's where Gerber excels."


As the company celebrates its 50th Anniversary this year, Woffinden and current employees have been taking time to look back at the roots of the company, and the Gerber family members that founded and ran it for decades before turning it over the next generation.

"The founders got it to a really great place and we're trying to take it to the next level," said Woffinden. 

 

Father's Can-Do Attitude Set the Tone 

Gerber Construction was founded in 1974 by Preston Gerber, who brought along brothers Max, and then Scott, creating a formidable trio whose various skill sets and personalities worked well together.


The Gerber family, headed by parents Clinton and Ruby Gerber, was raised in Wellington in hardscrabble Carbon County. Clinton worked a variety of jobs to make ends meet and feed his family of nine children, including working in the mines, ranching, farming, and construction. The family moved to Lehi in the late 1950s, in part because he didn't want any of six sons (or three daughters) working in the coal mines.


"In Carbon County, if you had a problem you couldn't figure out, you'd call Clinton; he'll figure it out," recalled Preston, who turned 82 in August, about his father's work ethic and can-do attitude. "Us kids are a lot that same way."


Preston spent 15 years working in construction, with time at heavy/highway contractors, general builders, and a supply company, before striking out and founding Gerber Construction after an encounter with a boss who treated him poorly in front of a client. Initially, pickings were slim, but they landed enough work to keep going.


"Back in the mid-70s there wasn't a lot of work, we did whatever I could find," said Preston, "Reed Workman gave me jobs, and I learned the long process of being more efficient than the next guy. We did hard jobs, ones that maybe other people didn't want to do, or couldn't do—that was a big reason for a lot of our success. If we had a job, we made sure to finish it on time or before. If you leave an unsatisfied customer, you'll lose them. Make sure things are done according to the agreement, or better." 


Preston was the ringleader who landed jobs, Max ran the books/administration tasks, Scott made sure projects got done right and on time. It was a near ideal relationship. They worked long, hard hours, burning the candle at both ends to keep the fledgling business alive.


"Preston was the visionary; Max was more business-minded, the finance guy; Scott was the lead superintendent, and he was assigned to all the tough projects," said Woffinden. "In the early days they were all out together building the projects, and then at night doing whatever else needed to be done behind the scenes, whether it was Scott fixing a truck in the garage or Preston going out of town to bid another project."


The first five years the firm did a lot of residential concrete work, but by 1979 they had moved out of single-family housing and into the public sector, bidding on more complex public works projects. Scott bought in as a full-time partner in 1977.


"The best move we made was getting out of residential and doing public works projects," said Max, 81. "Public works funding is always there. Preston was good at sizing up a job and knowing where to start. He wasn't afraid to bid a tough job."


Sometimes, that meant working consecutive shifts on different projects. Max recalled pouring concrete on one job and having Preston show up at 11:00 am announcing "cancel the rest of your pours; we have a warehouse floor to pour right now" on a second job.


"We got to the warehouse by noon and didn't get off it until (10:00 pm)," Max laughed. "Preston sometimes was a little more aggressive than he should have been, but that develops an attitude that you can do anything."


As the company grew, Preston eased his way out of field work so he could pursue business development work and land jobs, Max kept the office humming, and Scott kept the workforce in line and on point.


"We all knew our parts; we have complete faith in each other," said Scott, 68, who retired December 31 last year after nearly 50 full years. "Preston had a nose for money jobs. A money job is the job with the most potential for disaster. The harder it is to do, the bigger the reward. He'd go out of his way to find them, and he'd stick me on them. It took some time to adjust to the technical jobs and also working in the elements. We worked year-round—there were no winters off."

The company gradually grew its portfolio and expanded its capabilities to construct water projects, bridges, and other heavy/civil structure work. They were willing to take on projects of all sizes and scopes, not just the massive, behemoth jobs.


"We figured out that you can make more [profit] off three $5 million jobs than one $20 million job," said Preston. "It suited us to get in, get the job done, and get out. If you have a bad job, you've got a two-year hurt."


He praised his brothers for their ability to do their jobs at a consistently high level, which also led to greater profitability.


"We would not have been as successful if Max hadn't managed the money," said Preston. "I can make the money, but I spend the money. Max accounts for everything and he's really good at it."



He added that Scott "can take complicated things and make them simple" and can "find solutions that would take weeks, and have it solved overnight."

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Building Up Employees Key to a Stable Company

The Gerbers took great satisfaction in the people they hired, trained, and developed over the years. They were conscious about helping steer people along, realizing that the type of construction they did required a tougher-than-normal work mentality. Often times, workers had to be coached up, encouraged, and genuinely praised for their efforts.


"If you give them a reason to get up in the morning, you give them a job with dignity, you'll get more years out of that person and he can support his family and make money, it's not just a gift to him," said Preston. "Scott was really good about bringing people up. Scott will take less qualified people and fewer of them and make the company more money on a job."


"I always had the youngest crew," said Scott. "I was the end of the line—you either sink or swim on my jobs. I've taken a lot of young men who had problems and found out who they were. When it's all said and done, it's what you taught other people; I wished I'd known that sooner. But I still have guys calling me for advice—that always makes you feel like you accomplished something."


Woffinden proved his worth in the field starting in high school during summer, then full-time after a two-year church mission to Scotland from 1988-1990. Woffinden long revered the Gerber work ethic and penchant for hard jobs, and eagerly accepted working difficult projects as well.


One such job occurred in the mid-90s at a soda ash mine outside Little America, Wyoming, he recalled. While the cozy confines of the famed Little America Hotel—excellent food and the hotel's signature gold or blue shag carpeted rooms—were a welcome respite to workers after a tough day on the job, being tasked with adding a 40-ft-long concrete shaft with a flume at the end to an existing 200-ft.-plus mineshaft offered untold challenges, compounded by brutally-cold weather.


"It was 25-below zero in January and they were drilling the shaft as we're forming [concrete]," Woffinden said. "When they punched through, the temperature of the air coming out of the ground was much warmer—you could see this column of mist from miles away. We had to wear rain gear in there, it was so wet. They're mining [soda ash], a white powder that gets in the mist...you'd go outside and it would just freeze on you. It was a tough, nasty job."


In addition to Woffinden, two other family members have more than 60 combined years at the company: Preston's son, Brandon Gerber is a General Superintendent with 36 years of experience; Max's son, Lance Gerber, is a Superintendent with 28 years at Gerber. Preston said he's proud to have family members in key roles. He's long been impressed with Jason's leadership and passion to grow the company and continue the Gerber legacy.


"He's always had a fire in him," said Preston about Woffinden. "It takes a good combination of people to have a successful company. If you're cutthroat about it, it's the wrong way of doing things. If one of your guys is in trouble, you step up and take care of it, make sure he has what he needs. I'm proud of Brandon and Max is proud of Lance—they're doing responsible work. Gerber Construction has been a support for a lot of people and families and we're proud of that."

 

Consciously Taking the Firm to the Next Level

A fourth Gerber brother, Allen, also spent 20-plus years at the firm, including a dozen years as top executive, before Woffinden took over in 2018. He said he realized several years before being named President that "if we're going to continue to progress [the firm] we have to develop our structure, our processes, and our systems better, and get the right people in the right positions. We have to be more intentional on the markets we're going to work in, and we need to be more goal oriented."


So difficult changes were made, processes are continuously tweaked and improved upon, and new technologies/techniques are implemented regularly—all in the name of building a stronger company. Woffinden is highly motivated to keep the ship moving forward another 50 years. Giving others an opportunity to buy into the firm as shareholders is also critical to future growth and success, he said.


"We're more united as an ownership group about the direction we're going," said Woffinden. "We have more trust in department leaders, we rely on executives to make good decisions so we can expand the ability of more people. I only have so much capacity, so the biggest challenge is finding qualified personnel to do the job. That has been overwhelmingly difficult."


In the last five years, Gerber has grown from 130 to 180 employees, an average of 10 people annually—no small feat with today's labor pool challenges. In June, the firm finished a renovation/expansion of its 20-year-old headquarters in Lehi, adding a more open layout to the office with modern design elements and optimal functionality—including more offices, conference rooms, training rooms, and a sizeable breakroom.


To maintain a strong employee base, Woffinden said leaders are expected to mentor and help retain personnel.


"Our retention piece is equally shared among executives, supers, and foremen," he said. It's about building good relationships." The firm shuts down twice a year for conferences in the summer and winter, and they have a 14-week, in-house training program for crew leaders.


"Our mission statement is to be a company of choice, while still maintaining our core values and principles," he said.


Woffinden is proud to lead a firm with such a strong reputation and grateful for what he learned over the years from the Gerber brothers.


"The founders, the way they were raised, I idolize that," he said of his uncles. "They were forced to do things that were tremendously difficult. They had to make a go of things on their own. When Preston started the business, he had the mentality of 'you don't give up, you don't quit'."


Woffinden said many jobs required 90-hour weeks at times, depending on a project's schedule and how much more needed to be done.


"In the early years, whatever it took is whatever it took to get a job done," he said. "You had to be part of the project, buy into it [...] work nights and weekends. We went out of town a lot. Our motto at one time was 'We travel for hard projects'."



"I'm definitely motivated to grow the company and provide opportunities for our employees," he added. "The market is there—somebody is going to do it, why not us? We have the teams to do it. That motivates me and excites me. I'm all about constant improvement."

 

Notable Gerber Projects

Project Name                                   Location                    Year    Cost

Nutrient Removal (BNR Basins)         Salt Lake City             Active $123 M

Silver Creek WRF Expansion             Park City                     2019   $43 M

SR-270/900 South Connector            Salt Lake City              2018   $4 M

Green River Tusher Project                Green River                2016   $6 M

Echo Dam Spillway                             Weber Canyon            2014   $9 M

Murdock Canal Trail & Expansion      Utah County               2014   $12 M

CWP North Shore Reservoir              Saratoga Springs        2014   $16 M

Central Utah Upper Diamond Fork    Spanish Fork              2004   $4.9 M

Olmstead Flowline Reach A               Provo Canyon             2004   $2.2 M

I-80 Bridge Rehab Parley's to I-15     Salt Lake City              2001   $4 M

 

Black Desert Oasis

By Brad Fullmer • October 15, 2025
When Lehi-based Reef Capital Partners (Reef) initially announced plans in 2018 to build a sprawling, estimated $2 billion mega-resort with a championship-caliber golf course on 600 acres covering parts of Ivins and Santa Clara—small towns with just over 15,000 combined residents at the time—it was difficult to fathom what a project of that magnitude might look like. Fast forward seven years, and Black Desert Resort is indeed a shining oasis amidst Southern Utah's famed red rock cliffs, sitting atop an ancient lava field, with buildings strategically carved into the land to produce a resort unlike anything else. "This is the biggest project we've ever done—we feel really good where we are," said Brett Boren, President of Real Estate for Reef, acknowledging the general completion of the $290 million, 806,000-SF resort center, along with significant ongoing work—including a 1,298-stall parking garage, condominiums, and a private water park. As of September, all aspects of the main resort center were open and fully complete, with the hotel celebrating its first official year in business after partially opening in September 2024 as it hosted the inaugural PGA Black Desert Championship October 10-13. The second installment of the tournament—now dubbed the Bank of Utah Championship—is slated for October 23-26, with a third tournament signed for 2026.

Calder Richards Celebrates 20 Years of Sustainable Evolution

By UC&D • October 1, 2025
In 2005, Calder Richards Consulting Engineers formed after the merger of two smaller structural consulting firms who, interestingly enough, both started in 1986. Calder Richards has provided a steady structural support for Utah’s built environment ever since. As the firm celebrates its 20th anniversary, UC+D spoke with Managing Principals Shaun Packer and Nolan Balls to look back over the company’s history and celebrate what has helped their firm stand out to deliver solid projects in Utah and beyond. Their responses were edited for clarity and brevity. UC+D: What have been some catalytic moments for Calder Richards since that initial merger? SP: Winning the Talking Stick Resort in Scottsdale, Arizona is the first one. The big reason for the merger between Richards Consulting Group and Calder Consulting was to build a large enough company to go after bigger projects like that.” NB: That was my first project when I was hired straight out of college. We helped design the 17-story hotel and casino, a conference center, as well as parking structures, a central mechanical building, and a pool building. Talking Stick helped get us through the downturn a few years later. UC+D: What have been your key market sectors you all have targeted over the last 20 years? NB: We were breaking into K-12 along the Wasatch Front soon after the Talking Stick Resort and it’s been our bread and butter since then. SP: Absolutely, but I credit our firm for always adapting to the current environment. We’ve been fortunate to do so much K-12, but we used to do a lot of office work, and now we are working on conversions like the Ebay Headquarters to CTE/Innovation Center for Canyons School District as the market has shifted away from commercial office. UC+D: Schools have certainly evolved over the last 20 years, how has your work as structural engineers evolved? SP: We are seeing more creative design on the architectural side, certainly. We see many more two-story designs; more windows and daylighting. But we’re utilizing more powerful tools and continually building our understanding of the structural materials that are in use more than ever—tilt-up concrete, steel columns and beams, especially—to be the architect’s trusted partner. NB: Schools have definitely changed, and we’ve had better experience in helping projects move forward successfully when we are involved earlier in the design process. As we got involved early on in West High School’s schematic design, we were able to provide structural solutions and options to accommodate the architects’ design intent. UC+D: How has company growth changed Calder Richards? SP: It’s certainly changed the number of people in our office. We started with around 10 people when we merged, and today we have 27. But we often say that we don’t want to grow just to grow—we want to grow sustainably. We don’t lay people off when works slows down, and we have an expectation that sometimes there will be overtime work, and other times you may be waiting for our next project to begin.

The (Epi)Center of it All

By By Taylor Larsen • October 1, 2025
Nested in the middle of the University of Utah (U of U) campus sits the aptly-named Impact & Prosperity Epicenter, the second living learning community (LLC) project designed on campus by Los Angeles-based Yazdani Studio of CannonDesign. After nearly a decade since their first LLC project, the award-winning Lassonde Studios (UC+D’s 2016 Most Outstanding Public Building over $10 million), Mehrdad Yazdani, the design firm’s Principal and Studio Director, said their work on a sequel was an exciting prospect for the firm, and enlisted Salt Lake-based MHTN Architects and Okland Construction to serve as the respective local architect and general contractor. Today, the Epicenter serves as a striking piece of architecture and construction, one whose curvilinear shape asks users and visitors plenty of questions. But moving from idea to execution has been a work in progress. One query from Yazdani stood out as it relates to students and the built environment, and helped begin the journey to create the Epicenter: “How does your living environment as a student impact your success as a student and as a changemaker?” A Project for an Evolving Campus Katie Macc, CEO of the Sorenson Impact Institute, said LLCs like the Epicenter and Lassonde Studios next door have been massive steps forward in advancing entrepreneurship and social impact. But both play a major role in creating “college town magic”—a phrase coined by University President Taylor Randall that invokes a vibrant campus where students can find community and have one-of-a-kind experiences. With more on-campus student housing in the works, the state’s flagship university is hoping to shed the “commuter school” label and deliver a level of desirability that matches the resources students commit to higher education. “There is some soul searching going on across university campuses,” said Macc of the challenge at hand. “We have to be convincing that going to college matters.” She said overall university enrollments across the nation are decreasing as students grapple with tuition costs, COVID and its isolating aftershocks, and a different perspective on higher education. Universities are no longer a place where students come to learn what they couldn’t learn elsewhere—remote learning and the internet have opened a fissure in that idea that will never close. Instead of that educational transaction, being at a university must include building community and creating in-person experiences only available on campus. Macc said that the Epicenter helps steer the campus experience toward the future, with design goals to create a base of operations for two changemaking organizations and a living and learning home for 778 students. The three-story commercial portion of the building, known as the “Changemaker Pavilion”, includes office space for The Center for Business, Health, and Prosperity (second floor) and the Sorenson Impact Institute (third floor). While each organization has a different focus, both are firmly invested in helping students access and create the resources needed to change the world. Each entity works hand-in-hand as owners of the Epicenter to host events and “create a full spectrum of ways for students to get involved,” said Chad Salvadore, Chief Financial Officer for the Sorenson Impact Institute. “We’re dialing in the programming to energize the student body,” said Salvadore of the work done at the Epicenter. With over 60 majors represented among the 778 students who live there, he said that the diversity of students is less a reflection of their chosen major and more a desire to reside in a space built for students to work their entrepreneurial muscles. “Living here is a mindset—you can engage across many different paths you choose.”

Goal!

By Brad Fullmer • October 1, 2025
Front view of the bleachers, press box, and suites. (photos courtesy SIRQ Construction)

Four Decades of Transformation

By Brad Fullmer • October 1, 2025
Over the course of its 40-year history in Utah, WSP's Salt Lake office—originally founded as Parsons Brinckerhoff in 1985—has morphed from primarily a transportation design firm to one that successfully operates in multiple civil engineering markets. The results of WSP's transformation the past decade into a more diverse outfit speak for themselves, with the 128-person Salt Lake office (with locations in Cottonwood Heights and South Jordan) posting three consecutive years of revenues over $50 million, including a record $70.1 million in 2023, and a robust $59.9 million in 2024—good for the No. 2 ranking in UC+D's 2025 Top Utah Engineering Firms rankings.

Good Career? Start Here

By Taylor Larsen • October 1, 2025
Lucio Gallegos vividly remembers the workforce development meetings he attended during his time at Ogden-Weber Tech. These career and technical education (CTE) discussions consistently focused on one thing: young people were not entering construction, and the industry needed a new approach to attract them. Gallegos recalled one member of the workforce development team, a training director with a prominent general contractor, saying, “We have been trying this for over 10 years, screw it, we’re just gonna hire them.” The Long Road Those conversations occurred nearly 10 years ago, and workforce development concerns continue to permeate the industry. The National Center for Construction Education & Research estimates that 41% of the construction workforce will retire by 2031, leading to potential gaps in skill and safety and decreases in productivity and project quality. While stakeholders have aligned on the overall goal of providing students a foundation for future success through career development, the means to achieve the ends were seemingly at odds. High schools, trade schools, colleges, and private industry took different paths to achieve their goals, with some moving in opposite directions. “I’m gonna be honest with you,” Gallegos recalled one school administrator saying, “If I promote what you’re telling me to get them over to the tech college, I lose head count. And then I lose teachers. I can’t have a school without teachers.” Jobs that took away student learning experiences, according to federal guidelines and child labor laws, made the idea a non-starter. However, after years of lobbying the Utah Legislature for a compromise between industry and education, H.B. 055, passed in 2023, provided a catalytic change in how younger people can engage with construction and other industries. High school students could participate if they were involved in a school-sponsored work experience and career exploration program. Private industry finally had the compromise it wanted. It was time to act. Big-D Charts New Path Gallegos, now the Workforce Development Manager from Big-D, joined the company in 2023 with the express purpose of creating a program that fit within the new guidelines. Gallegos said he sees career development through the lens of the immigrant experience, one he knows personally as a Mexican immigrant with a father who worked in commercial construction. “I was 9 years old and busting pins out of concrete forms with a hammer that was as big as I was,” he laughed. “I’ve got the cliché immigrant story.” That story has a theme familiar to many immigrant families, he said, one where parents say, “I want my kids not to have to work as hard as I do. I want them in school.” Add to that, it’s a law—children must attend school. Gallegos was unfazed by those obstacles. As he began planning how Big-D’s internship program would operate, he knew that engagement had to start at the elementary school level and build on personal relationships between private industry, school administrators, students, and their families to succeed. “We want to be the solution, not the obstacle to get into this industry,” said Gallegos. So Big-D removed the barriers. Students can still attend school, work towards graduation, and be available in the afternoon for sports, extracurricular activities, and the high school experience. But working was another significant part of the immigrant experience, Gallegos said, and internships needed to be paid to alleviate the family concerns. “We asked what we would pay somebody fresh out of high school who worked at Big-D,” Gallegos said. Interns have earned those same wages ever since.

It's A Knockout

By Brad Fullmer • October 1, 2025
On January 2, 1957, Gene Fullmer, a scrappy, underdog fighter from West Jordan stunned the boxing world with a 15-round unanimous decision over the legendary Sugar Ray Robinson at New York’s fabled Madison Square Garden. Fullmer captured the world middleweight championship and established himself as one of the best pound-for-pound boxers during the late 50s and early 60s. Since then, the Fullmer name has been synonymous with boxing in Utah, with brothers Gene, Jay, and Don establishing the Fullmer Brothers Boxing Gym in 1978, and offering free boxing instruction and life mentoring to thousands of youths—carrying on a tradition they learned from their trainer, Marv Jenson. Their legacy of community giving will live on in the new Fullmer Legacy Center in South Jordan, a 16,500-SF facility that will serve as a permanent home to the boxing gym—after years of bouncing around to various temporary facilities—along with a museum, snack bar, and gift shop. “The Fullmers are the first family of boxing in the state of Utah—that’s well understood,” said Dave Butterfield, a founding board member of the Fullmer Legacy Foundation. Butterfield served as Chairman of the Board from June 2016 to early 2025 and was influential in helping raise money—nearly $6 million via donations to date, which includes $2 million from the Utah Legislature. Project Driven by Vision to Find a Permanent Home for Fullmer Brothers Gym It was Jay Fullmer who led the charge to teach boxing in the community. By 1978, the Fullmer Brothers Boxing Gym had formally opened at the Butterfield farm chicken coop in South Jordan, recalled Larry Fullmer, Don’s oldest son and the man who spearheaded the efforts for the Fullmer Legacy Center. From there, Larry said the facility moved to Riverton Elementary, an old church house in West Jordan, a sugar factory, a former fire station, and the Salt Lake County Equestrian Park in South Jordan, where it had resided since 2011. When they got word that Salt Lake County planned to transfer ownership of the park to Utah State University, Fullmer knew they needed to find a long-term home for the boxing gym. Fullmer met with Butterfield and Robert Behunin—who at the time was a Vice President with Utah State University—in 2016 and told them he just wanted a “tin shed of our own” for boxing. Behunin countered by saying, “If you want people to donate money, you need something better than a tin shed!” They quickly formed the Fullmer Legacy Foundation (FLF), and by 2018, the wheels were in motion on a building. Doc Murdock, a long-time trainer at the gym, connected Larry with his former roommate at Brigham Young University, Vern Latham, who is a Principal at Salt Lake-based VCBO Architecture. VCBO offered pro-bono services initially while helping FLF put together an RFP, while North Salt-based Gramoll Construction provided value engineering and other services in an effort to get the project launched. Larry expressed sheer gratitude for the contributions of both firms in helping make the project a reality, especially for many generous donations from various foundations and individuals. “[VCBO] believed in us early on and did our first phase of planning at no charge—they have been amazing and so professional to work with,” said Larry. “Gramoll helped us get the budget done as tight as it could be. This project had the absolute tightest budget. We met weekly with architects and the general contractor to see the progress—I’ve never seen such an amazing process. Construction started in November ’23, and every time I would come to the jobsite in the first six months, I’d get emotional.” “We leaned on our relationships with contractors for flooring, ceiling, tiles, donated furniture and got deep discounts and a lot of in-kind donations,” said Phil Haderlie, Principal-in-Charge for VCBO. “To me, the story of this project is the grassroots effort of people seeing the value—this is something that came from their heart. It will have a long-lasting impact on the community.”

Significant Buzz

By Brad Fullmer • October 1, 2025
The first season is in the books for the Salt Lake Bees in its spectacular new home—the Ballpark at America First Square, the exciting new heart of Downtown Daybreak and certainly one of the premier Triple-A stadiums in the country. "It's a really cool stadium—the field looks so good!" gushed Eric Barton, Project Director for Salt Lake-based Okland Construction, while surveying the spacious 280,000 SF, 6,500-seat (8,000 capacity) ballpark. Barton said his team faced an extremely difficult construction schedule with the mandate the project had to be sufficiently ready for Opening Day 2025 on April 8, less than 18 months after the formal October 20, 2023, groundbreaking. Barton said Okland knew it was going to be a grind, with long hours and tight windows to get various milestones accomplished. "When we bid this to our trade partners, we had them bid it with the expectation of it being six days a week," he said. "We want not only your best guys, but you have to be adaptable to the plan. It was gangbusters from the start.” Up to 300 workers were onsite during peak construction activity, requiring meticulous coordination throughout. Okland even brought in Fred Strasser, a legendary project director who came out of retirement to shepherd the project through. "Fred is the genius behind getting this whole thing done," said Barton. The project was designed by Salt Lake-based HOK, who worked closely with the owner, Sandy-based Larry H. Miller Real Estate (LHMRE) and Miller Sports + Entertainment (MSE) to bring about a project that would add even more buzz to its wildly popular, 4,000-acre master planned Daybreak development in South Jordan, making it a true entertainment destination. The design weaves together best-in-class baseball experiences with year-round public amenities, including a recently opened Megaplex theater, a performing arts center, a large amphitheater, along with retail, restaurants, and apartments, with buildout continuing through 2027. Walking paths and open spaces create natural connections between The Ballpark and the surrounding neighborhood, making the area an iconic community asset and a true sports and entertainment district. Downtown Daybreak is slated to host more than 200 annual events—including the Bees’ 75-game regular season. Supporting this entertainment destination, the venue’s prominent location just off the Mountain View Corridor freeway makes it highly visible to passing traffic while providing easy access. The stadium is also connected to multiple transportation options, easily reached by walking, biking or light rail across the Wasatch Front, and by car from the new freeway corridor. The Ballpark site drops 20 feet from the loading dock to the plaza, managed through terraced spaces that echo the region’s mining heritage. Though the slope stays gentle at under 5%, carefully placed stairs and planters make walking comfortable while honoring the industrial past. The center field main entrance connects to light rail, while a formal plaza at home plate serves as a second entrance, primarily for VIP access. The street design follows Daybreak’s established standards for lighting and tree spacing. Bike racks at the light rail station and plaza make cycling to games convenient. Utah’s Landscape Shapes Design The Wasatch Mountains, visible from every angle of the ballpark, directly influenced the ballpark's design. Throughout the venue, carefully planned viewpoints frame these mountain vistas. The structure resembles this mountainous setting in its form, transitioning from solid brick and concrete at its base to lighter materials—metal and expansive glass—as it ascends. Working with Kansas City-based architectural metal fabricator Zahner, HOK and MSE created a distinctive facade using perforated metal panels that suggest Utah mountain peak silhouettes from Ben Lomond Peak in Weber County to Mt. Nebo, the southernmost and highest mountain in the Wasatch Range of Utah. These panels transform into a glowing display at night, serving as a lantern on The Ballpark’s ‘front porch’ and welcoming visitors. This connection to Utah’s landscape flows throughout the site. Angular planters guide visitors along pathways, while public spaces are arranged in terraces that echo the mountainside. The copper colors and stepped surfaces of the nearby Kennecott Mine inspired the ballpark’s materials and layout. Inside, the decor features warm copper, gold and honey tones, with textured materials that blend the natural landscape with the Salt Lake Bees’ team colors.

Firms Making Moves

By Brad Fullmer • October 1, 2025
Horrocks CEO Bryan Foote (left) shakes hands with Matt Hirst, former President/CEO of CRS Engineering & Survey. Horrocks acquired CRS a year ago in a move that has proven to be a seamless fit for more than 60 CRS employees.

Q&A with Nathan Goodrich

By UC&D • August 1, 2025
Nathan Goodrich