Whether constructing new schools, renovating buildings or upgrading power systems, developing educational facilities requires specialized skills. That's why construction managers, general contractors, and educational owners and managers have relied on Roman Electric since 1929 for skilled design and construction.
Roman electrical engineers and designers can provide customized electrical power, production and lighting systems to fit your need and desires. Then Roman's highly trained industrial electricians install the new or renovated systems.
Electrical construction by Roman includes the most effective distribution of power, maximum safety, use of highly efficient materials and tooling, compliance with all local codes, and complete customer satisfaction.
Major Expansion and Renovation for Muskego High School
Muskego High School’s expanded facility includes a 150,000 sq. ft. addition and remodeling of the existing 300,000 sq. ft. building. The addition includes a large gymnasium, multi-level cafeteria, large auditorium and science rooms. Hunzinger Construction was the general contractor and Roman Electric installed the electrical systems.
Gary Rosploch, Supervisor of Buildings and Grounds, Muskego Norway School District, was very happy with Roman’s work. “Roman redid the entire electrical infrastructure, including replacing distribution,” he said. “They put in two new transformers with a larger service. We’ve got all new electrical panels, each properly identified and labeled, so we know where to go now if we have an electrical need. That’s a big plus for building operations.
“One transformer serves the majority of the building while the smaller second transformer powers the theater and the arts area which have extensive sound and lighting systems.
“Roman did very well. It was wonderful working with Roman foreman Tom Hall and later project manager Tony Tiedemann. Roman not only did good work, they also cleaned up after finishing their jobs, and even did a lot of work off hours for us. They had second shift crews working, especially when we were in mid-construction during the Winter.
“Roman crews installed power, lighting and fire alarm system lines on a room-by-room basis to reduce disturbances to school activities. They’d complete one room each night and then move on to the next.
“Roman did a very nice job on our project.”
Large Addition for South Milwaukee Schools
A 290,000 sq. ft. addition to South Milwaukee High School will house the new high school. The existing 204,000 sq. ft. building will now be a middle school. The combined 494,000 sq. ft. schools will include some shared facilities like the auditorium, new lighted outdoor tennis courts, and the new lighted athletic field.
Construction manager is J.P. Cullen and Sons with project management by Doug Wait. Larry Savage is South Milwaukee facilities manager. Roman electric is installing the electrical systems. Bob Cjaika is project manager, Dave Broz is general foreman, and Don Yetka is foreman.
The new school is being constructed with an almost college-like atmosphere. It features open concepts like a long corridor from one end of the building to the other ultimately opening into the athletic field. The second story balcony level looks down into the commons area and the library. The new gym features a mezzanine-level running track.
The sizable job for Roman included installation of 121,000 ft of conduit – about 23 miles, 522,000 ft of wiring and cable – around 99 miles, 5100 light fixtures, 13,182 lamps and light bulbs, and 4,650 switches and receptacles.
Doug Wait, senior superintendent for JP Cullen and Sons, said, “One of the largest challenges was working on an existing campus with 1000 students going to their old high school. So we had to close areas, set up temporary facilities and co-ordinate many issues to accommodate the school staff and students.
“Our philosophy,” he said, “is to partner with subcontractors, treating them as business associates to foster a win-win relationship. I have high regard for Roman Electric’s leadership. Roman did a really good job.”
Kenilworth Building Renovated Into UWM Arts and Housing
With the creative investment of $68 million, the moribund Kenilworth Building has been transformed into UWM housing and art studios, revitalizing the area. The huge structure, one of the largest buildings on the east side, covers an entire city block from Prospect Ave. to Farwell Ave. at Kenilworth Place.
The original conjoined buildings, constructed in 1914 and 1943, were rebuilt into two facilities, each with 250,000 sq. ft. of space. Kenilworth Square Apartments on Farwell Ave. has 174 units with housing for up to 374 UWM graduate and upper level students. The ground floor has about 13,000 sq. ft. of retail space.
Splitting Kenilworth into two buildings gave each more natural light and created green space between them. They are connected by a 220 space parking garage below.
Weas Development Co. developed the complex project for the UW system and the Redevelopment Authority of the City of Milwaukee. RACM is the owner from whom UWM leases the buildings. KBS Construction was the general contractor. Roman Electric was the design/build electrical and voice/data/security cabling contractor.
Scott Weas, one of the developer’s partners, said, “The job was unusual in many ways, both in the public/private development structure for the UW System, and the architectural solution implemented. We cut a huge monolithic building in half to construct two attractive buildings. And we did it all in a short time frame to make the housing available for UWM’s fall semester. Our team certainly exceeded all of our expectations.”
Weas was pleased with Roman’s work. “Roman Electric did a fantastic job,” he said. “We put a lot of trust into a contractor under a design/build model. We get married early and if they can’t deliver we’re kind of stuck. Roman performed from beginning design, early budgeting and preconstruction services through managing and designing the overall project.
“Too often what we hear from our partners is, ‘we’ve got a problem, how are you going to solve it?’ Roman would say ‘here’s the problem, here are your available solutions, help us choose the best option.’ They did very well at meeting overall performance specs and quality standards.” Roman project managers were Bob Czajka and Greg Blaney.
KBS Construction project manager Dave Rhoda said the project was a difficult job requiring structural demolition to separate the existing building into two, then design and construct each to fit its respective function.
“Roman did an excellent job,” he said. “The buildings were designed with unique exposed features including conduit, bus duct and cable trays. Roman did a great job working with the architect to make all the exposed fixtures and infrastructure fit esthetically. I can’t say enough about the work of president Phil Rose and foremen Kevin Schlax and Dave Broz.”
High End Cabling Work
Roman TechNet, working on a $750,000 design/build project – one of its largest, installed an elaborate and lengthy voice/data/security cabling system. The network included top-of-the-line Category 6 data cable for the voice and data systems in both buildings. The high end cable gives UWM expanded bandwidth for higher speed networks, assuring them of extensive capacity for later expansion.
TechNet built 18 telecommunications closets with state-of-the-art laser optimized fiber optic cable that allows a 10 gigabyte bandwidth, again accommodating future expansion. They installed 1800 data connection drops.
The security system includes 27 CCTV cameras inside and outside, a Code Blue emergency call system with 22 call stations, and bio-readers – three-dimensional hand scanning devices – controlling access to 67 secure doors and the elevators. Cable networks were connected to both the city fiber and UWM systems so the buildings and campus can communicate with each other. Students can even go online to see which washers and dryers are available in the laundry room.
Roman TechNet project managers were Scott Archie and Jerry Trinkl.
Night Games Now for UWM Soccer
UWM Panthers soccer teams have been playing home games since 1973 at Engelmann Field, 2000 E. Hartford Ave. This season, for the first time, they played attendance-boosting night games at home thanks to a lighting system installed by Roman Electric.
Just in time for the start of the soccer season, Roman completed the state-of-the-art four-pole Musco field lighting system. Compared to standard lighting, the new system cuts operating costs in half and significantly reduces the amount of light pollution spilling into nearby neighborhoods.
The 100 ft. tall steel, pre-wired light poles were affixed to bases positioned 28 ft. below ground and encased in concrete for maximum support. The poles were engineered with lighting coordinates to provide perfect alignment. During installation, Roman electricians used lasers atop the poles to rotate each pole into position to precisely match the lighting coordinates. Each pole is equipped with thirteen 1500 watt metal halide lamps.
The $200,000 design/build Roman job was directed by account manager Dick Sujecki and project manager Bob Czajka. Dave Broz was Roman foreman on the job.
Two Schools Constructed in Very Tight Time Frames
Roman Electric installed the electrical systems for two new schools where timely construction was critical. One was renovating an old warehouse for Corinthian College. The other was converting another old building into an unusual high school for Seeds of Health.
Everest College
Corinthian Colleges, Inc., one of the largest for-profit post-secondary education companies in North America with three different schools, opened a Milwaukee campus for Everest College. Located at 1311 N. 6th St. in Haymarket Square, Everest offers diploma and/or degree programs for Dental Assistant, Medical Assistant, Medical Insurance Billing/Coding and Pharmacy Technician careers.
Greg Golick, Senior Director of Construction Management for Corinthian Colleges, Inc. said he wasn't much involved with Roman Electric because Corinthian hired a construction manager, Jones Lang LaSalle, which hired general contractor VJS Construction Services, which in turn hired Roman Electric.
But Greg became aware of them later. "At crunch time at the end of the job," he said, "we had a crisis. We couldn't get our occupancy permit because the city inspector added new electrical requirements at the last hour. Within 24 hours Roman had procured and installed several new exit signs and additional lighting even though they were not responsible for it. I was so impressed with their responsiveness in coming to our aid at my request that I look forward to working with them again as soon as possible."
Scott Henricks, project manager for VJS, said, “Roman did an outstanding job. We had to work through an array of changes and had a lot of different hoops to jump through. For a job that ran like a fire drill, there was little of the yelling that sometimes happens on rush jobs. Roman did a bang up job.”
Mark Sullivan, Everest president, said, “Roman was awesome. They took the time to walk me through the entire electrical system, show me how it worked and explain all the bells and whistles. It was above and beyond what I expected of them.”
MC2 School
MC2, a public charter high school at 131 South 1st St., is the first blended virtual school for 7th through 12th grade students in Milwaukee. Its unique style of learning combines online curriculum, self-paced work and face-to-face teacher support to re-envision, re-create and re-engage students. The school is operated by Seeds of Health, Inc., founded in 1983, a forward-thinking education system dedicated to serving the educational needs of urban children in Milwaukee.
Tiffany May, project manager for Berghammer, general contractor for the high school conversion, said, “We started in early July and turned it over the end of August. We basically had six weeks to convert a 12,000 sq ft space former retail store into a school. Roman did great. They performed the job on a design/build basis.
“Roman provided appropriate manpower to meet the demanding schedule. Phil Rose understood the job from the start, and designed it accordingly. Roman played a major role in the project team because, as a virtual school, significant electrical work was required to install 100 computer stations into the space.”
Marcia Spector, Seeds of Health executive director, said, “After a lot of evaluation, we decided to buy an old third ward building and rehab it for a new school. Much electrical work was required to rebuild the old building into MC2. Roman did a great job installing the new technology needed for the school. We’re very pleased with Roman’s work.“
Unique New Schlitz Audubon Center Building One of Most Environmentally Friendly in US
Schlitz Audubon Nature Center’s (SANC) very unique, very “Green” new Education and Visitor’s Building may reach Platinum level LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification. There are only two other Platinum-certified buildings in the country.
SANC wanted a “sustainable” building with limited reliance on energy and technology, and constructed using recycled and recyclable materials. The recently completed $5.5 million building features an array of unique construction concepts ranging from geothermal heat pumps for heating and cooling, to site-harvested lumber for timber framing, to photovoltaic generation of electricity.
The Center, located at 1111 E. Brown Deer Road, teaches 37,000 students each year. Roman Electric was the electrical contractor for the 35,000 sq. ft. building.
Sustainable construction features include a fully automated HVAC system, R-35 insulation in the walls and R-60 in the ceilings, natural and heat-recovery ventilation, building materials with low levels of volatile organics, and building design elements like thicker wall mass, functional overhangs and roof pitches, and site grading to help reduce energy demands.
Roman Electric installed a 10-kilowatt solar photovoltaic system which uses semiconductor technology to convert sunlight directly into electricity. The system is simple, quiet, requires no moving parts, lies flat on the roof, and has solid state inverters which convert the direct current produced into alternating current used by the building.
Roman installed an 800 amp service and a state-of-the-art lighting system to work in concert with the natural lighting. Features like time-of-day controls, ambient light sensors, and occupancy sensors limit and override hands-on control of lighting.
Joel Krueger, project architect and manager for building designer Kubala Washatko Architects, said, “Because so much documentation is needed, we probably won’t know until six months after completion whether the building qualified for Platinum level LEEDs Certification.” Joel added, “Roman was very helpful in researching, understanding and installing the photovoltaic system. There’s a lot of electrical wiring hidden under the roof ridge cap and running into the meter that delivers power to the building. Roman did a nice job.”
General contractor on the job was The Jansen Group with project manager Monique Charlier. John Perse was Roman project manager and John Johnson was foreman.
A Crew of Highly Skilled Electricians
Continuous Training with an Emphasis on Safety
A fleet of 50 Service and Bucket Trucks
A staff of Professional Engineers, Designers and Technicians
Full Service Design/Build Capability
Wisconsin's Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Experts
Muskego High School’s expanded facility includes a 150,000 sq. ft. addition and remodeling of the existing 300,000 sq. ft. building. The addition includes a large gymnasium, multi-level cafeteria, large auditorium and science rooms. Hunzinger Construction was the general contractor and Roman Electric installed the electrical systems. 
A 290,000 sq. ft. addition to South Milwaukee High School will house the new high school. The existing 204,000 sq. ft. building will now be a middle school. The combined 494,000 sq. ft. schools will include some shared facilities like the auditorium, new lighted outdoor tennis courts, and the new lighted athletic field. 
The sizable job for Roman included installation of 121,000 ft of conduit – about 23 miles, 522,000 ft of wiring and cable – around 99 miles, 5100 light fixtures, 13,182 lamps and light bulbs, and 4,650 switches and receptacles. 
With the creative investment of $68 million, the moribund Kenilworth Building has been transformed into UWM housing and art studios, revitalizing the area. The huge structure, one of the largest buildings on the east side, covers an entire city block from Prospect Ave. to Farwell Ave. at Kenilworth Place. 
Roman TechNet, working on a $750,000 design/build project – one of its largest, installed an elaborate and lengthy voice/data/security cabling system. The network included top-of-the-line Category 6 data cable for the voice and data systems in both buildings. The high end cable gives UWM expanded bandwidth for higher speed networks, assuring them of extensive capacity for later expansion. 
UWM Panthers soccer teams have been playing home games since 1973 at Engelmann Field, 2000 E. Hartford Ave. This season, for the first time, they played attendance-boosting night games at home thanks to a lighting system installed by Roman Electric. 
Roman Electric installed the electrical systems for two new schools where timely construction was critical. One was renovating an old warehouse for Corinthian College. The other was converting another old building into an unusual high school for Seeds of Health. 
But Greg became aware of them later. "At crunch time at the end of the job," he said, "we had a crisis. We couldn't get our occupancy permit because the city inspector added new electrical requirements at the last hour. Within 24 hours Roman had procured and installed several new exit signs and additional lighting even though they were not responsible for it. I was so impressed with their responsiveness in coming to our aid at my request that I look forward to working with them again as soon as possible." 
Mark Sullivan, Everest president, said, “Roman was awesome. They took the time to walk me through the entire electrical system, show me how it worked and explain all the bells and whistles. It was above and beyond what I expected of them.” 
“Roman provided appropriate manpower to meet the demanding schedule. Phil Rose understood the job from the start, and designed it accordingly. Roman played a major role in the project team because, as a virtual school, significant electrical work was required to install 100 computer stations into the space.” 
Schlitz Audubon Nature Center’s (SANC) very unique, very “Green” new Education and Visitor’s Building may reach Platinum level LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification. There are only two other Platinum-certified buildings in the country. 
The Center, located at 1111 E. Brown Deer Road, teaches 37,000 students each year. Roman Electric was the electrical contractor for the 35,000 sq. ft. building. 
Roman installed an 800 amp service and a state-of-the-art lighting system to work in concert with the natural lighting. Features like time-of-day controls, ambient light sensors, and occupancy sensors limit and override hands-on control of lighting. 
