Endres Manufacturing Wins Project of the Year Award

Endres Manufacturing Company was presented with the prestigious Project of the Year Award in May for their work on The Cosmos project in Madison, Wisconsin. The award was given by the Steel Plus Network in the “Medium Project” category. Endres is one of Wisconsin’s largest and most highly respected structural steel fabricators. Endres won the highly sought-after award over other nominees including Pittsburgh Steel, Lainco, Beauce Atlas, Rampart Steel, and Benson Steel.

One of the most complicated and largest projects ever taken on by Endres, The Cosmos is a magnificent highrise, eight-story building located in the Capitol East District on the 800 block of East Washington Avenue in downtown Madison, Wisconsin. The Cosmos, which is also referred to as the Gebhardt Building, is a 148,000 square foot state-of-the-art facility that houses both office and retail space and the three-story Sylvee, a 2,500 person capacity concert venue and the location of Endres’ 2018 rocking holiday party. Endres supplied all of the structural steel as well as the stairs, railings, and other miscellaneous metals. The project consisted of 1,000 tons of steel and 5,400 labor hours.

Endres was extremely excited to be given this opportunity because being the supplier of choice for their customers is something they take great pride in. The general contractor on the project, Miron Construction, sought out Endres due to their long work history together and their confidence in Endres to get the job done right and on time. The job included a pair of 75 foot long girder trusses, one of which ended up weighing close to 40 tons. To add to the complexity, the building includes three separate tenants and all materials and labor needed to be separated by area. The concert venue, The Sylvee, is the largest tenant and uses space from the first to the third floor. Frank Productions, one of the largest concert promoters in the US, located their new offices there. Lastly, Gebhardt Development owns and leases a bank of offices at the top level of the structure. There were a variety of miscellaneous metals required such as catwalk and chain-link fence framing, and internally lit handrails around the darkened concert venue. The concert venue included unique challenges such as sound isolation connections requiring special materials and design. While it was a very challenging project, it provided a great sense of satisfaction and pride upon completion.

The Steel Plus Network Awards Ceremony has been a tradition for the last 25 years. Steel Plus Network is a business network bringing together the most dynamic fabricators and suppliers of structural steel from all across North America.