• Posted: September 16, 2020
• better construction, JMS Electric, Taylor Electric

Powering Chicago contractors deliver better construction throughout the City of Chicago and suburban Cook County day in and day out, 365 days per year. Several recent projects and one ongoing one, each of which was possible because of skilled union electricians from IBEW Local 134, were showcased in the September 2020 issue of Electrical Contractor magazine in a story by Susan Casey.

This included the redevelopment and renovations at Chicago’s iconic Navy Pier, with JMS Electric and Taylor Electric both contributing. Read the story below for more details.

Navy Pier

Navy Pier, Chicago’s most popular tourist site, opened to the public in 1916 and was designated a Chicago Landmark in 1977. The “Centennial Vision” to redevelop the iconic 34-acre landmark destination was launched in 2016. Working with general contractor McHugh Construction, JMS Electric, Schaumburg, Ill., the electrical maintenance contractor for the pier, assisted with the electrical assembly of the Centennial Wheel, a 196-foot-high Ferris wheel.

In 2018, JMS Electric participated in the construction of the pier’s Family Pavilion, a more than 200,000-square-foot dining, shopping and entertainment area. Still, on the pier, JMS started construction of Offshore, a 36,000-square-foot bar with a 20,000-square-foot terrace replete with seven fire pits, and multiple large event spaces. The project, completed in 2019, was recognized by the Guinness Book of World Records as the world’s largest rooftop bar. The company’s crew worked on the construction of the seven-story, 223-room Navy Pier Hotel, which overlooks Lake Michigan in 2018 and 2019.

“Landmark status of Navy Pier makes coordination and planning essential,” said Nick Santoro, president, JMS Electric. “To assist with that, we utilized Virtual Design and Construction to efficiently collaborate and communicate with all the construction trades to identify design conflicts and system clashes before construction began. Additional challenges our electricians face in working at Navy Pier include maintaining barriers between construction zones and the public areas and ensuring that downline systems remain operational during the brutal Chicago winters.”

Taylor Electric provides electrical maintenance of the retail and meeting spaces and works on various Navy Pier events and shows as a subcontractor to JMS Electric.

To read about the other projects featured in the September issue of Electrical Contractor, read the blog posts about Countryside’s Municipal Complex and the Chicago Fire Department’s Firehouse 115.