BY MICHAEL BURKE
Journal Times | Posted: Saturday, January 5, 2008 12:00 am
MOUNT PLEASANT - Patrick Christensen unrolls a wide organizational chart on his wide desk to show how Horizon Retail Construction is set up. In the center portion are the existing positions in the company that was founded in 1993. And off to the sides are many dozens more jobs that Christensen, president and majority owner, plans to add to the company within the next five years.
Horizon, in perpetual growth mode, is a national general contractor that builds retail and commercial spaces. Its approximately 100 clients include some big names including the Gap, Wachovia, Supercuts, JoS. A. Bank and Victoria's Secret.
"Victoria's Secret is a big one right now," Christensen said. The lingerie purveyor has been doubling the floor space of existing stores and opening new ones, which means Horizon has been "building like crazy" for the retailer.
Christensen doesn't like to talk about revenues; he says that's not how he measures the privately held company's success. But when pressed, he said revenues grew by more than 25 percent last year alone.
Building for growth
Because most of Horizon's work is done elsewhere, its success has gone largely unnoticed here.
But, low profile or not, Horizon is seeing rampaging success - and busting at the seams after only eight years in its current headquarters at 1458 Horizon Blvd. Office space inside that three-story building is nearly elbow to elbow, and the parking lot is overflowing.
As a result, Horizon has a special construction project that began Wednesday: a new headquarters building here which will dwarf the existing one and allow for phenomenal
expansion.
The new building will be constructed on 10 acres between the JohnsonDiversey and Racine Federated headquarters buildings just south of Highway 20.
The site lies within Mount Pleasant's Tax Incremental Finance District No. 2. Christensen said the TIF District will cover about 10 percent of the overall construction cost by paying for the infrastructure and helping with the land purchase.
At 74,000 square feet, the new headquarters will be nearly five times larger than the current Horizon building.
And it is being built to house triple the present number of employees: up to 250, compared with 85 now.
Happy growing
The approximately $8 million building will be a physical testament to Christensen's employment philosophy: Hire the best people, treat and train them well, and promote from within.
He believes happy staff members make for good client relations and more business for Horizon. "If we're exceptional to our staff … their client awards them more work."
Christensen, 41, himself is Horizon's premier example of someone who rose through the ranks. He earned a construction management degree at Minnesota's State University, Mankato. Horizon hired him as a construction project manager, and he climbed upward from there.
About eight or nine years ago, he said, he began buying out the partners and now owns almost the entire company.
Christensen has specific projections for employee growth from the present 85: reaching 100 by the end of 2008; 130 the next year; and 240 people by the end of 2012.
And he's confident he'll find the bright workers Horizon wants. "We do get great support people in this marketplace," he said.
Great amenities
Christensen said the new building will exemplify how Horizon is "exceptional" to its staff. Amenities will include:
* A coffee bar/lounge on each floor, with espresso machines.
* A 2,700-square-foot fitness center.
* Indoor bike parking.
* Full locker rooms with showers.
* Walking paths to loop around the nearby bodies of water and connect with existing walking paths.
* A full-size kitchen so Horizon can continue its weekly catered lunches for the staff.
* An all-glass building to give employees access to sunlight. Christensen said, "There won't be an employee more than 36 feet from an exterior window. People like sunlight."
Collaborative spaces
Horizon will truly have mobile offices to foster collaboration, Christensen said. "All desking will be on wheels. Every single component piece will be on wheels" including desks, filing cabinets, computer stations, partitions, shelves and personal wardrobes.
"It's a very fast-paced business," he said, and Horizon employees must be ready to respond rapidly to a client's wishes. Christensen said typically the firm has two weeks to bid a project, one week to mobilize, nine weeks to build and then four weeks to turn in all paperwork and close out the job.
He said a job can begin with a "white box" interior, demolition of an existing store or a "cold, dark box. There's just nothing in there."
The amenities were designed, he said, "to attract the best employees. I promise my staff I will continue to hire people we're proud to work with."
Reflecting on Horizon's surging growth, Christensen downplays his role. He said, "We hired the coolest, funnest, brightest people, and I just watched them go."