Plumbing & HVAC Installation At St. Joseph Millstream Park Pavilion

Our team at Finken was lucky enough to be able to work with the City of St. Joseph on the new Millstream Park Pavilion! City of St. Joseph Public Works Director Terry Thene said the city needed plumbing and HVAC installation expertise, and turned naturally to Finken for help.Finken Companies’ Plumbing & HVAC Manager, Mike Blaskowski gave his insights for this article. Finken partnered with R.A. Morton Construction Managers on this project.The City of St. Joseph was in need of a new Millstream Park Pavilion. The building needed a serious update, noted Terry. The previous shelter was built years ago and maintained partially by donations from the St. Joseph Lions Club.Millstream Park sits on the northwestern edge of the city limits and provides a multitude of recreational activities, including disc golf and other recreation for all ages. The area features a wooded walking trail nestled among the Watab River, parking and a brand new park pavilion! The new park pavilion is more centrally located, whereas the older shelter was located closer to the camping spots, which are no longer present.Millstream Park, located a short 3 mile drive from Finken Companies’ St. Joseph headquarters, was a great project to partner with the city on.EquipmentWith this project, the team needed to do a full plumbing workup on two new bathrooms, a kitchen, a drinking fountain and bottle filler. On the HVAC side, they ran new duct work, installed a furnace and air conditioner.For the furnace and air conditioner, Finken turned to trusted equipment partner Bryant. In the bathrooms, our team installed Gerber toilets and American Standard faucets. And we utilized an Elkay water cooler.TeamBesides Mike, Finken Companies utilize a team of four installers and technicians: Steve Schwagel, Travis Schwagel, Aaron Goebel and Pete Reber.ChallengesThe biggest challenge facing the team was the space.“We had quite large equipment to fit into a smaller footprint than we would’ve preferred,” Mike noted. “But we were able to handle it and meet all code requirements.”“Finken really did their homework,” Terry said. “Yes, they came in as the low bidder, and they’re a local business which we always prefer, but they are in general great to work with as well and the system as a whole is working great.”