Immel Construction to move into new headquarters May 6

Heather Graves

Staff

April 18, 2024

GREEN BAY – Immel Construction is set to move into its new headquarters in a matter of weeks.

It’s a move Company President Paul Martzke said he sees as a reflection of the company’s success and the hard work of its employees.

“This move represents our commitment to that growth and providing an excellent work environment for our people,” he said.

Since becoming an employee-owned company in 2019, Martzke said Immel has experienced significant growth – prompting the need for an updated facility and additional space.

“Our new location will allow us to better serve the greater Green Bay community and our client and customer base throughout the Midwest,” he said.

A construction legacy
The Green Bay-based construction services company specializes in general construction, project management, estimating and skilled craftsmanship – as it meets the needs of the commercial, healthcare, industrial and institutional markets.

Immel’s involvement in the industry dates back as far as the 1800s, decades before the company was officially established in 1961.

Howard Immel founded the company with his wife Gail, running it out of their home in the beginning.

Company ownership changed hands a couple of times over the years before becoming an ESOP (employee stock ownership plan) in 2019.

Over the last 60-plus years, Martzke said Immel Construction has advanced, expanded and proven the Immel Difference by instilling its core values (craftsmanship, safety, transparency, integrity, community and reliability) and mission into everything the company does.

Long time coming
Opening the doors to its new headquarters, Martzke said, is an exclamation point on the company’s steady growth, especially over the past two years.

“Immel has been in our current location since 1982 and, realistically, we’ve been aware we needed more room to grow,” he said. “It’s within the last two years we’ve seen some nice growth for the company overall, which created a situation where we knew we’d need to do something to allow for our future projected growth as a company.”

Immel Construction’s new office headquarters is located at 2601 Development Drive. Submitted Photo

The primary driver for the new headquarter’s location, Martzke said, was “did it have what Immel needed to be successful?”

Some of those criteria – whether it was done in the renovation of an existing building or a new build – he said, included ample space to create workstations with natural lighting, support a collaborative environment for staff, being easily visible to clients, convenience for staff, etc.

“As a construction company, quite frankly, we had no qualms about finding an existing building and being able to retrofit it to suit our needs, or building our own building,” he said. “Meeting the criteria of what the space needed to provide was the deciding factor.”

In the end, Martzke said Immel decided on an existing building it renovated at 2601 Development Drive, which checked off many boxes.

“It is centrally located in Green Bay and Brown County, so no matter where people are coming from, it is easy to get to,” he said. “It also has great visibility from Highway 172. It was a good fit.”

Collaboration amongst staff, Martzke said, is key to the work Immel does – something that will be easier to accomplish in the new space.

“(The new space) allows us to group people by either the functions or the departments – being able to get all those people together to create better communication,” he said. “In our existing facility, we were somewhat separated because of the architecture of the building. Now being able to have people who are working on similar types of projects together, people who have similar functions can be together. We’re excited because that makes communication a lot easier.”

Martzke said the new space also provides opportunities for further growth.

Right on schedule
With an expected move-in date of May 6, Martzke said “we are absolutely on schedule.”

“Of course, we’re on schedule,” Martzke laughed. “All of our employees are excited about the move.”

With that said, Martzke said it is about much more than just moving into a new building.

“We (are using it as an) opportunity to examine how we operate and how we do things,” he said. “We’re looking at our processes and can we wean out those procedures and become more efficient. The move to this new facility is what has accelerated that activity. It’s creating a positive energy around the company.”

Updated purpose
Martzke said the existing 1820 Radisson St. location will now serve as the company’s operation center – which includes warehouse, prefabrication and equipment functions.

“It’s still an extremely functional facility,” he said.

The building’s location, Martzke said, provides a convenient hub for Immel’s field personnel.

“A lot of our tradespeople who are needed stopped by the warehouse to pick up building materials or equipment – it’s a convenient location for that,” he said. “And, it’s only 10 minutes away from our new office.”

‘More than figures on paper’
When looking at the success Immel has had over the years, Martzke said, to him it’s more than “figures on a piece of paper.”

“The growth of the company shows we have a healthy business, a successful organization and most importantly, it gives opportunities for all of our people,” he said. “That’s what we see here. It isn’t about the size of the building we have, and it’s not about facts and numbers on a piece of paper – it’s about providing a great place of employment for Immel employees.”

Paul Martzke

As an ESOP, Martzke said Immel aligns its company goals with those of its employees – therein, providing opportunities for equal growth.

“As we continue to grow and become a larger company, that gives all of the people who work for us the chance to work on a variety of projects, larger projects – there’s more opportunity for people to expand their talents and feel personal growth,” he said.

Green Bay proud
Martzke said there are a lot of good things about being a Wisconsin-based, and more specifically, a Green Bay-based company.

“We travel throughout the country and on the side of our trucks it says, ‘Immel Construction Green Bay, Wisconsin,'” he said. “It’s amazing how many people identify with Green Bay as a community. You don’t even have to say Wisconsin. You just say you’re from Green Bay and people know where that is.”

Being based in Green Bay, Martzke said, is something Immel is proud of.

“It’s a good place to be headquartered, it’s a great place to work and it’s a great place to live,” he said.