Designed to stand the test of time

The Quin Apartments is located at the northeast corner of Florida Street and South 2nd Street in Walker’s Point of Milwaukee, Wisc. In addition to apartments, The Quin has a 1,200 square foot retail space on the ground floor. Precast on this project includes about 20,000 square feet of hollow core and solid slabs, 47 beams and 37 columns.

Precast concrete buildings are designed for durability, robustness, and continuity.

As 100-year lifecycles become the rule, rather than the exception, precast concrete structures can accommodate change easily and economically with the appropriate choice of interior systems and access floors for connectivity. An open floor plate allows a flexible interior that can accommodate a variety of tenant scenarios. Column-free space allows additional flexibility in floor plans and layouts. Shallow floor thicknesses with fewer beams provide unobstructed ceiling cavities for mechanical and electrical systems.

Precast concrete can incorporate a variety of colors, textures, and finishes, making every project a custom design. Precast concrete can be adapted to a wide variety of project designs, types, and needs. It can also provide the continuous insulation, continuous air barrier, and vapor barrier all in the same system. In addition to a beautiful structure, a precast concrete building is resilient, able to withstand even the worst weather conditions, like hurricanes, tornadoes, blizzards, wildfires, and earthquakes. It also meets all FEMA P-361 criteria for safe rooms, which must provide a near-absolute protection from wind and wind-blown objects in the most serious windstorms, like tornados.

Precast concrete is ideal for offices, schools for all ages, student housing, retail, prisons, government buildings, sports arenas and stadiums, warehouses, senior housing, and more. As all these types of buildings receive daily wear and tear, and many can house thousands of people at any given time, these structures must last through years of constant use. Precast concrete buildings can be designed for 100-year service life with minimal upkeep.

Precast concrete buildings are designed to stand the test of time.

Precast Chalk Talk: Episode 23

Seventy-five years ago, on Monday, May 13, 1946, Mid-States Concrete Products Co. was founded by Charles V. Harker.

Harry S. Truman was president. Perry Como’s Prisoner of Love was the number one song in the United States and A Night in Casablanca was one of the most viewed movies released that year. Minimum wage was $0.40 and you could buy a gallon of gas for $0.21. A visit to the grocery store for a gallon of milk, a dozen eggs, and a loaf of bread would cost you less than $1.50. The economy was strong, interest rates were good, and the business had a new precast concrete floor and roof slab that would revolutionize commercial construction.

Mid-States began with production of Flexicore™, a hollow core floor and roof slab that has expanded and changed many times over the years.  Initially a 12” wide mildly reinforced precast element, it became a 24” wide product in the 60s with the advent of prestressing technology and steel strand reinforcing. Today the company manufactures 48” wide hollow core floor and roof slabs in multiple thicknesses – 8”, 10”, 12”, and 16” – capable of clear spanning more than 55 feet.

While the hollow core slab was the beginning, today the company engineers, manufactures, and constructs complex precast building systems combining architectural and structural prestressed/precast insulated wall panels (1960, 1965, 2005), precast beams, columns (1986), and other structural commercial building system components.

In January 2007, the company rebranded under the name Mid-States Concrete Industries and in 2013, in response to changing energy codes, Mid-States joined the AltusGroup now offering CarbonCast™ continuously insulated wall panels. As it has over its lifetime, Mid-States in 2017 innovatively began offering Graphic Concrete™, a technology which provides owners and architects the ability to impart durable patterns and images onto any precast concrete surface using patented technology from Finland.

Now in its third generation of family ownership, Harker’s son, Charles H. Harker is CEO, and has been with Mid-States since graduating college, and his grandson, C. Hagen Harker is president. The company is a leader in safety, not only in the precast industry but across all industries achieving OSHA Sharp status in 2017.

“I just remember, we’d have family dinner every night and we didn’t talk a lot of business, but I was interested in what he (Charles V. Harker) had to say and I grew up liking it; it was second nature,” said Charles.

Like every company that has been around this long, Mid-States Concrete Industries has seen its share of ups and downs. During the last 75 years, with the nature of this business being cyclical and seasonal, Mid-States had some rough times, but it’s been a good business overall.

“[Charles V. Harker] started the business with no money and he talked a couple local businessmen into investing,” Charles said. “Everyone loved Charlie Harker. He just was trustworthy. He was a man of his word. That was number one - his word was good as gold, so people trusted him. They invested with him and subsequently as business grew, he bought out the initial investors.”

The Harkers attribute this good business to the people that have been part of this team, as well as longstanding customers. Decisions have always been made based on what’s good for our people, and what’s good for our customers.

“We recognize we have to be there for our customers,” Hagen said. “Seventy-five years don’t really mean a hill of beans without all the great people that work here at Mid-States that make it a family, make it the kind of place we have today, plus, most importantly, all the work we do for our customers.”

The leadership of Mid-States also makes sure to focus on planning ahead. While having a plan for today is great and all, it is even more important to focus on managing the business for five years, 10 years, 20 years, and beyond.

“We don’t get too high when things are great, and we don’t get too low when things are bad, but we’re consistently optimistic that things will go well,” Charles said. “We try to find the right people at the right place, and we make it work.”

Watch the Precast Chalk Talk >>

Mid-States Featured in careerTALK

Mid-States Concrete's work with the ABC Supply Stadium Project was recently featured in careerTALK - a partnership between students at CareerTek and Peer Canvas.

The series features conversations with professionals about their careers and how interested students might prepare themselves. Foreman Patrick Yates, Production Manager Chris Olson, and CIO Michael McNett were interviewed for this video.

Visit us at the Virtual 2021 AIA Wisconsin Conference on Architecture and Expo

Members of the Mid-States Concrete Team look forward to connecting with you virtually at this year's AIA Wisconsin Conference on Architecture and Expo slated for Tuesday, April 27 from 12 pm - 2 pm and Thursday, April 29 from 11 am - 1 pm.

While we will miss seeing all of you in person, we are happy to share a wealth of information about precast concrete through our virtual booth. And team members will be on hand to chat with you throughout the expo. Your projects are a big deal and we are grateful every time you choose to partner with us.

Learn more about our latest technology Graphic Concrete® (pictured above) during four 15-minute presentations led by our very own Colin Jones, preconstruction. Creating Distinctive and Attractive Designs on Precast Concrete Faces is scheduled at 12:30 pm and 1:15 pm on Tuesday, April 27 and at 11:15 am and 12:15 pm on Thursday, April 29.

Learn more here.

Sustainability and Precast Concrete

808 on 5th is a five-story multi-family/mixed use building located in the heart of Coralville. Precast beams, columns, and hollowcore were used to form the underground parking structure.

Precast concrete contributes to green building practices in significant ways.

The primary ingredients of concrete – sand, gravel, and cement – are mineral based. When mixed with water, the cement chemically reacts to create a crystalline matrix with a high compressive strength. The matrix binds the sand and gravel together, creating concrete. The low water-cement ratios possible with precast concrete (in the range of 0.36 to 0.38) mean it can be extremely durable. Unlike other construction materials that can rust, rot, or otherwise degrade when in the presence of moisture, concrete can actually get stronger if there are unhydrated cement particles available to react with the water.

Because precast concrete is factory-made, there is little waste created in the plant, and it reduces construction waste and debris on site, reducing construction indoor air quality concerns. Components are made by highly experienced personnel who apply stringent quality-control measures. In the factory environment, precast producers are able to achieve consistency in temperature and moisture and low water-cement ratios that are not possible in field-fabricated concrete. Precast concrete can easily attain strengths of 5000 psi to 7000 psi or more, with densities that minimize permeability.

Precast concrete’s fresh and in-place performance can improve when several common industrial by-products are added. Fly ash, slag, and silica fume, which would otherwise go to landfills, can be incorporated into concrete as supplementary materials. These by-products can also reduce the amount of cement that is used in concrete. Reinforcement is typically made from recycled steel. Insulation and connections within the precast concrete also contain recycled content.

The thermal mass of precast concrete absorbs and releases heat slowly, shifting air conditioning and heating loads to allow smaller, more efficient heating, ventilating, and air conditioning systems. Insulation is often used in architectural panels to increase the thermal efficiency, with continuous insulation in walls being possible. The resulting savings are significant – up to 25% on heating and cooling costs.

The load-carrying capacities, optimized cross sections, and long spans possible with precast concrete components help eliminate redundant components. Precast concrete is also friendly to downcycling, in which building materials are broken down, because it comes apart with a minimum amount of energy and retains its original qualities. An example of downcycling would be the use of crushed precast concrete as aggregate in new concrete or as base materials for roads, sidewalks, or concrete slabs.