The first, failed attempt to implode the Pontiac Silverdome on Dec. 3, 2017, produced little but smoke and dust at the demolition site — but there was plenty of mirth in the Southfield headquarters of Barton Malow Co.
Completed 42 years earlier, the Silverdome was Barton Malow’s first foray into stadium construction. With incentives and penalties to guarantee performance, the contract was a risky undertaking.
“The Silverdome was noteworthy because it was one of the first stadiums in years, if not decades, that had been done on time and within budget,” says Ryan Maibach, president and CEO of Barton Malow.
Moving from that “tremendous success,” the company followed up with domes in Minneapolis and Atlanta. Then, in 1992, came Oriole Park at Camden Yards. This new home of the Baltimore Orioles Major League Baseball franchise set an example of adaptive reuse by incorporating existing buildings, thereby creating a new standard for urban stadiums. An award-winning example of the same principle followed 12 years later with the completion of the renovated Soldier Field in Chicago.
“Today, a continued trend is how to meaningfully incorporate technology and experiences into stadiums,” Maibach says. “Stadiums are coming up with creative ways to enhance the fan experience.”
Barton Malow recorded $4.8 billion in revenue in 2022 and has 3,500 employees, including trades and professional staff. Located for years at 2631 Woodward Ave., the company moved to Southfield in 1986 and built an elegant four-story headquarters there in 2001. They also operate a storage yard in Oak Park.
The company’s other offices are in eight states and Ontario, Canada. Its ongoing projects in Michigan include the Hudson’s tower and neighboring mid-rise in downtown Detroit, the Ford HUB in Dearborn, and General Motors’ Ultium Cells Lansing battery plant, known as Ultium 3.
About half of Barton Malow’s business is in industrial and manufacturing facilities, and the other half is commercial and institutional work. The Barton Malow Family of Companies includes Barton Malow Co., Barton Malow Builders, and Barton Malow Holdings. Subsidiaries are LIFTbuild, an innovative system for building multi-level structures; Alltrade Industrial Contractors Inc., a specialized contracting subsidiary; and Flypaper Technologies, a construction software enterprise.
Starting as the C.O. Barton Co. in Detroit in 1924, the general contractor’s first job was making interior renovations for Michigan Bell Telephone Co. Ryan Maibach’s great-grandfather, Ben Sr., joined the company as a carpenter the next year, and in 1927 Arnold Malow became vice president and treasurer.
The company’s name changed to Barton Malow in 1932. Ben Maibach Jr. joined in 1938 and was appointed president in 1960. Ben III, Ryan’s father, was from a family of eight children, seven of whom worked for the company. Ben III became president in 1981. Ryan, who earned a degree in construction management from Purdue University, joined in 1997; he became president and CEO in 2011.
Among the company’s notable projects are the massive United States Post Office in Detroit, built in 1959, and the 27-story Jefferson Apartment Building, the state’s tallest reinforced-concrete structure, which opened in 1962. Besides its prodigious building accomplishments, Barton Malow also distinguished itself as a progressive employer, introducing employee profit-sharing and a pension plan in 1952. Two years later the Barton Malow Foundation was launched, with the goal of donating 5 percent of earnings to community causes.
“One of the most impactful things was to broaden it (so that) the whole organization could participate in supporting charities,” says COO Chuck Binkowski, who started with Barton Malow as a laborer 42 years ago. A program of matching grants was established so employees could pick their own charities. “If I wanted to give, the foundation would match my giving,” he notes.
Binkowski’s father worked for the company for more than 40 years, his own two brothers have worked there, and his son is at the Hudson’s site. “When you can have multiple families that have had two, three, four generations of builders that come up through the company, you don’t want to take that for granted,” he says.
To keep from getting stagnant, Maibach says the company’s analysis over the last decade led executives to ask, “What ways are we pushing ourselves to think differently about how we do what we do in order to ensure our long-term relevance?”
One example of pushing the boundaries of construction is the company’s investment in LIFTbuild technology, where modules, or whole floors, are built off-site. When the units are completed, they’re shipped to the job site and ratcheted into position, starting at the top. The concept was first used in Detroit for the 15-story Exchange building near Greektown.
“It’s our hope and intention that you’ll be seeing more of LIFTbuild,” Maibach says. “It really proves itself out. It’s more cost-effective and significantly reduces the time it takes to build multistory buildings.”
As an analogy, Maibach points to the racing teams fielded by Detroit’s auto manufacturers. “They race because it really pushes the envelope of mechanical engineering. For us, LIFTbuild is that racing team, that innovation engine that’s helping us find ways to build all that we do better.”
