A definitive agreement with Aggregate Industries US, centered on ready mixed production and fleet assets at 14 Meyer Material Co. sites, has netted Ozinga Bros. Inc. an expanded footprint across seven northern Illinois counties. The deal transfers concrete plant operation and delivery to Ozinga Ready Mix Concrete, while Aggregate Industries/Meyer Material maintains six aligned sand & gravel properties.
Read MoreDay: August 5, 2014
Sizing up nano-scale materials
For the third year in a row, we visit a pavement project VCNA Prairie Material helped convert from all asphalt to partial (base slab) or 100-percent roller compacted concrete. More than a routine switch, the Maryhill Cemetery maintenance shop (pages 28-31) marks the commercial debut of RCC Surface Pro, a silica agent emanating from the field of nanotechnology, where particles are measured in billionths of a meter.
Read MoreConstruction economists bullish on commercial, industrial market
Sources: Associated Builders and Contractors, Washington, D.C.
“A combination of low interest rates; wealth effects stemming from a booming stock market and rising home prices; surging energy production; and expanding industrial output has helped position the U.S. economy for more rapid growth during the next several quarters,” says ABC Chief Economist Anirban Basu. “This will lead to more robust recovery in the U.S. nonresidential construction industry, which has also been aided by stable materials prices and improving commercial real estate fundamentals.”
Read MoreHardscape North America Awards call for entries
Source: Interlocking Concrete Pavement Institute, Chantilly, Va.
Entries are being accepted through September 17 for the 7th annual HNA Hardscape Project Awards, which recognize outstanding hardscape projects such as residential and commercial walkways, patios, driveways, and commercial plazas and parking lots. Award winners will be announced during a breakfast banquet on October 24 in conjunction with the 2014 Hardscape North America tradeshow, October 23-24 at the Kentucky Exposition Center in Louisville.
Read MoreCrown Hill deal nets Coronado Stone gateway to Mid-Atlantic and Northeast
Sources: Coronado Stone Products, Fontana, Calif.; CP staff
Coronado Stone is adding a sixth stone veneer and thin brick operation after closing on the equipment and property assets of Crown Hill Stone Inc. The producer is converting Crown Hill’s Westfield, N.Y., plant for production of a full line of Coronado units, aiming for shipments to begin the fourth quarter.
Read MoreCalStar begins production at two-line, Mississippi masonry plant
Sources: CalStar Products, Caledonia, Wis.; CP staff
CalStar Products has begun delivering building and landscape units from a 100,000-sq.-ft., Columbus, Miss., operation—an ambitious satellite to a Racine, Wis., flagship plant opened in 2010. With dry- and wet-cast lines for brick, trim and paver products using proprietary binders and high fly ash content, the facility sits on 23 acres in the Golden Triangle Industrial Park.
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