For 65 years, B&I Contractors has worked behind the scenes on some of Southwest Florida\u2019s biggest development projects, its craftsmanship hidden in plumbing, electrical lines and HVAC systems.<\/p>\n
But the company recently took center stage, breaking ground on a nearly 94,440-square-foot expansion and renovation of its Fort Myers headquarters. The project off Canal Street on a 30-acre site zoned for heavy industrial construction will more than double the size of the company\u2019s campus.<\/p>\n
The current two-building, 50,517-square-foot campus will expand to four buildings totaling 131,517 square feet. The $28 million project is expected to be completed in 2027, said Jason Grabowski, who became CEO in January 2023.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt expands our manufacturing capabilities,\u201d Grabowski said. \u201cIt helps us battle the shortage of skilled labor and reduces the need for labor in the field significantly.\u201d<\/p>\n
The expansion also will help B&I grow its workforce, which currently ranges from 1,200 to 1,400 employees. Grabowski expects to add at least 100 more positions once construction is complete. B&I also operates offices in Fort Lauderdale, Sarasota and Tampa.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt allows us to fabricate more efficiently,\u201d he said. \u201cWe can be more cost-efficient on the install. It triples our manufacturing capacity.\u201d<\/p>\n
B&I selected longtime partner Stevens Construction to manage the project, which will add three new buildings over the next two years on land previously owned by a concrete company.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo, now the pressure is on me to reciprocate what they\u2019ve done for us for over 30 years and perform for them,\u201d said Stevens Construction President Mark Stevens. \u201cAnd it\u2019s really, truly an honor for us to be selected by them to be their contractors.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a massive project. It\u2019s one of the largest \u2014 it is the largest industrial type project that we at Stevens Construction have ever executed.\u201d<\/p>\n
The site, near Canal and Ford streets in Fort Myers, sits south of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and north of Hanson Street.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur corporate headquarters has always been here in Fort Myers,\u201d Grabowski said. \u201cAnd when we had the opportunity to expand here on our footprint \u2014 our current footprint \u2014 we took advantage of it by getting this property.\u201d<\/p>\n
Plans call for a 29,326-square-foot building to have its 4,000-square-foot office and mezzanine demolished and rebuilt, connecting to a new 32,000-square-foot manufacturing facility. An existing 21,191-square-foot industrial building will remain, joined by a new 12,000-square-foot office building and a 37,000-square-foot structure on the eastern side of the property.<\/p>\n
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B&I Contractors and Stevens Construction team members break ground on the company\u2019s expanded Fort Myers headquarters. The $28 million project will double the campus size.<\/p>\n
David Dorsey<\/p>\n
Construction will require 3,200 cubic yards of concrete \u2014 about 355 truckloads \u2014 and 300,000 pounds of steel, along with more than 140,000 nuts, bolts, washers and fasteners.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur teams will hang 2,000 sheets of drywall secured by 60,000 screws,\u201d Stevens said. \u201cWe\u2019ll have 2,500 feet of roof gutters that will keep things dry, and 2,701 new trees and bushes will bring beauty and shade to the site.\u201d<\/p>\n
Canal Street also will be extended by about 1,200 feet to accommodate the expansion, along with 391,000 square feet of new pavement and 260 new parking spaces.<\/p>\n
\u201cEvery one of these numbers tells a story of growth \u2014 not just in buildings, but in people, partnerships and community impact,\u201d Stevens said.<\/p>\n
Founded in 1960 by the late Gordon \u201cBuck\u201d Harbuck, B&I Contractors began when Harbuck moved from Georgia to work on Naples High School. Arriving with a pickup truck and a station wagon, he built a company that would last decades. Harbuck died in 2010 at age 85.<\/p>\n
Gary Griffin joined B&I as an intern in 1984 and rose to CEO, serving from 1995 to 2023 before retiring.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was always a mechanical and plumbing company, and he added electrical,\u201d Griffin said of Harbuck. In the mid-1980s, Harbuck transitioned the company to an Employee Stock Ownership Plan, which Griffin said fueled its success.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt allowed us to be more successful,\u201d Griffin said, as will the new headquarters, which will consolidate leadership into one place. \u201cIt\u2019s exciting.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"For 65 years, B&I Contractors has worked behind the scenes on some of Southwest Florida\u2019s biggest development projects,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":24905,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[18974,209,211,210,1127,897,18975,18650],"class_list":["post-24904","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cape-coral","tag-bi-contractors","tag-cape-coral","tag-cape-coral-headlines","tag-cape-coral-news","tag-construction","tag-fort-myers","tag-headquarters-expansion","tag-stevens-construction"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24904","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24904"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24904\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24905"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24904"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24904"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24904"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}