Bozeman Build Report #5

Howdy builders and shifters of Bozeman and surrounding areas! Happy early mud season to you. Today we’re talking about MSU leeding wellness, railroad Bridgers, USA construction updates, and Montana tonky town names. Enjoy the next 3-5 minutes of some blue collar rumors and reports.

Quick summary of when, what, and who the Bozeman Build is. The BB is a once a week free newsletter sent out every Monday morning focused on mountain West trades with an emphasis on Montana. The author is Daniel who has a passion for the local building scene, he has a small construction information business called Block Biome

Thanks for reading with all sincerity,

Daniel - Not your professional builder, finance advisor, or writer.

Table of Contents

• Todays 3/25 Historical Significance

• Space and back with Space X’s Falcon 9

• Montana Trade Pulse

  • SWMBIA Home Exposition

  • MSU Wellness Center RIP March 2019 resurrected Fal …

• Overheard from the jobsite

  • Pet wash booth

  • Last minute bridge inspections

  • All Service Tire hardware artifacts

• National Construction Updates

  • February new ground breaks

  • Infrastructure academy approved for Austin

  • $8.5B awarded to Intel to advance its AZ plants

• Regional History - Tonky Town Names

• Quotes

Todays 3/25 Historical Significance

• Holi - is the Hindu festival colors that celebrates the triumph of good over evil, good harvest, and fertility. It usually falls in the later part of February or March.

• Maryland Day - A day where Maryland can bask in its own greatness

• Seward’s Day - is a holiday in Alaska, the United States, to commemorate the US purchase of Alaska from Russia in 1867. This state holiday is annually held on the last Monday of March. It should not be confused with Alaska Day.

• Easter this week celebrated in Christian and Catholic tradition

Time and Date

Space and back with Space X’s Falcon 9

No big deal for Mr. Musk. On March 21st 4:55 PM EDT Elon on behalf of Space X launched the Falcon 9 into space accomplishing the 286th recovery of an orbital class rocket on its 30th cargo mission. Watch the landing, this never gets old.

Montana Trade Pulse

SWMBIA Home Exposition

Awesome event with many reputable vendors took place over the weekend Saturday and Sunday (03/23-03/24) at MSU’s Brick Breeden Fieldhouse. I learned Owenhouse Bozeman launched a handyman service within the last year performing general handyman services and according to L&L site services the FWP captured 3 dozen bears in town last year (they enjoy trashcan smorgasbords with no manners).

MSU Wellness Center RIP March 2019 resurrected Fall 2024

March 2019, a historic snow accumulation caused the roof collapse of the North and South gyms of the Marga Hosaeus Fitness Center and impacted the roof over the pool.

In response, MSU is building/built a $60M Student Wellness Center which will include expanded climbing facilities, a multi-purpose activity court (MAC), innovative functional training options, traditional wood courts, an outdoor recreation service desk and a contemporary aquatics space.  It is also targeting LEED Gold level. Currently, MSU has eight buildings on campus that are LEED certified.

“We anticipate opening this Summer 2024, followed by a Grand Opening celebration on August 22nd at 3 p.m. in the Student Wellness Center Commons.”

MSU - Wellness Center

Overheard from the jobsite

Pet wash booth

This is really silly but driving to Livingston, two (2) of these “All Pet Wash” Units were spotted heading West bound. Not a bad idea to park one of these outside of a Bozeman or Portland apartment complex, dog park, or car wash.

Last minute bridge inspections

Also while just West of Livingston, I watched two railroad workers walking the BNSF (formally Montana Rail Link) Yellowstone bridge appearing like they were inspecting something. Hopefully it doesn’t lead to another one of these incidents (see photo below). I’m sure BNSF has been sinking some serious $ into its new line since it took control in January 2024.

Railway Age

All Service Tire hardware artifacts

Last summer, I did some dump truck driving around Park Country/Paradise Valley where we often got flats thus spent many hours at the tire service outfit patching and buying new tires (A typical dump truck has 12 tires including tag axles (what can go wrong)) . Next to the register desk at All Service in Livingston, there are two hardware jars filled to the bring and a handful of spikes all artifacts of what was pulled from tires over the years! The railroad spikes came mostly from Cokedale Road West of town which was originally a railroad when early Montanans mined low grade coal called coke around Bozeman Pass. Road graders occasionally unearth these railroad relics finding themselves lodged in peoples tires. Thanks to All Service Tire Alignment Inc in Livingston for always being there and for providing over the top service.

National Construction Updates

February new ground breaks

The largest nonbuilding projects to break ground in February were:

• The $1.1 billion Bull Run Filtration Facility in Gresham, Oregon.

• The $1.0 billion, 270-mile oil pipeline in North Slope County, Alaska.

• The $500 million Scatter Wash Battery Energy Storage System in Phoenix.

The largest nonresidential building projects to break ground in February were:

• The $1.8 billion Redwood Materials Battery Recycling Facility in Ridgeville, South Carolina.

• The $1.6 billion LG Chemical Battery Plant in Clarksville, Tennessee.

• The $1.2 billion Hollywood Burbank Airport replacement project in Los Angeles.

The largest multifamily structures to break ground in February were:

• The $500 million 400 Lake Shore Drive North Tower in Chicago, Illinois.

• The $400 million Alia at 888 Ala Moana building in Honolulu, Hawaii.

• A $200 million mixed-use development in Gowanus, New York.

- You notice how 3 of the 6 noncommercial projects below are related to either battery manufacturing or recycling? Welcome to the digital age!

Construction Dive - Fed toes line on rates

Infrastructure academy approved for Austin

Always great to see City level support for trade education both at a high school level and at a higher education level. It all funnels back as property tax revenue!

• The Austin, Texas, City Council approved the launch of an “infrastructure academy” to help develop workers for the over $25 billion in civil work underway in the region.

• The resolution approved earlier this month calls on the city manager to develop and implement an academy program that includes training, childcare and other wraparound services, job placement and recruiting to remove barriers to entry for careers in infrastructure. 

Construction Dive

Also in Texas, if you aren’t looking to enroll in the Academy you should consider admission at Dig World! An amusement park for both kids and adults to play around with heavy equipment (this is for amusement - not an advertisement). Always thought this was a cool business model or at least this is something I would pay for! If someone wants to teach me how to grade a road, sign me up.

Dig World

$8.5B awarded to Intel to advance its AZ plants

• The Biden administration granted Intel an $8.5 billion funding award on Wednesday as part of the CHIPS and Science Act, the largest given so far under the law.

• The preliminary agreement also includes up to $11 billion in loans provided by the funding law. The money will be used for Intel’s semiconductor projects in Arizona, New Mexico, Ohio and Oregon, the company said in an announcement.

• The chip giant also plans to claim the Department of Treasury’s investment tax credit equal up to 25% on more than Intel’s $100 billion U.S. investments.

Construction Dive - Commercial

Regional History - Tonky Town Names

Quotes

Long Hot Summer Day -Turnpike Troubadours

Contractor learning lesson #35 - Trying to get ahold of somebody? Call follow up, follow up, follow up, show up at their business, show up at their house

See you next Monday,

Daniel

PI - Professional Idiot

Ps. The Bozeman Build loves visiting jobsites and spreading gossip - respond to this email if you’re working on something interesting around Gallatin/Park Co.