Ben Hur Construction has partnered with Ideal Contracting on the new $150 million Amazon fulfillment center in Gaines Township near Grand Rapids, Mich. General contractor Ryan Construction Company subcontracted Ben Hur Construction for the structural steel fabrication and erection work on the project. They are on a fast-paced, 22-week schedule to start construction in September and complete the 2,225,000 square foot project in February next year.  

“We have completed one Amazon project thus far in the Midwest and this will be our second,” said Ben Hur Construction Company CEO Bill Brown. “We have an excellent relationship with Amazon and enjoy working with the team. We find it to be a fair client.” 

The Ideal Contracting and Ben Hur Construction partnership has proven to be a perfect match over the years. “We are very impressed with Ideal’s warrior mentality, quality of work and efficiency in getting the job done safe and fast,” added Bill Brown.

Ideal Contracting will be self-performing structural steel and miscellaneous work on the project with Iron Workers Local 25 in Detroit. Approximately 70 ironworkers will be on the project at any given time.

“We are eager to team up with Ben Hur again on the Amazon project in Grand Rapids to further our successful working partnership,” says Nick Luxon, vice president of construction, Ideal Contracting, LLC. “This is our first project with general contractor Ryan Companies and we are excited about the possibilities of developing a new relationship. Collaboration with our partners at Iron Workers Local 25 was instrumental in winning this project.”

The massive 880,000-square foot warehouse, which will contain 8,100 tons of structural steel and 2900 tons of joists, is no match for the scale and complexity the skilled ironworkers from local 25 are used to.

The new state-of-the-art, $1 million Iron Workers Local 25 training center in Hudsonville, Mich. is well equipped to prepare a highly skilled workforce. The Iron Workers’ 157 training centers across the U.S. and Canada collectively spend $80 -$90 million a year in training a skilled construction workforce and average nearly 50,000 applications every year for its apprenticeship program.

“We welcome Amazon to West Michigan and look forward to the opportunity to showcase what our Local 25 ironworkers can do,” said President of Iron Workers Local 25 Dennis Aguirre.

The Grand Rapids project will be Amazon's fifth warehouse in Michigan and first in the western part of the state.