Kiewit Corporation

Kiewit Corporation

Company type	Private, Employee-owned
Industry	Construction, mining, engineering
Founded	1884 (Kiewit Brothers)
Headquarters	Kiewit Plaza Omaha, Nebraska, U.S.
Key people	Rick Lanoha (CEO)
Revenue	US$10.3 billion (2020)
Net income	US$419 million (2020)
Number of employees	22,000  (2017)
Website	www.kiewit.com

Kiewit Corporation is an American privately held construction company based in Omaha, Nebraska founded in 1884. It ranked 243th place in Fortune 500 for United States. Privately held, it is one of the largest construction and engineering organizations in North America. It is an employee-owned company.

History

The company was founded in 1884 as Kiewit Brothers Masonry Contractors by Peter and Andrew Kiewit, who were of Dutch descent. Their father, John Kiewit, emigrated from The Hague in 1857, where he learned the trade of brickmaking. John Kiewit established a brickyard in Omaha, Nebraska where his sons worked and learned the skills for their masonry business. Early projects included the seven-story Lincoln Hotel in Lincoln as stone masons and the Bekins warehouse as general contractor. It is an employee-owned company.

The original brothers dissolved their partnership in 1904 and the founding Peter Kiewit continued as a sole proprietorship. In 1912, two of his sons, Ralph and George Kiewit, joined their father as partners in the firm. One of their constructions was the Omaha Fire Department Hose Company No. 4 building, erected in 1913. When the founding Peter Kiewit died in 1914, his son Ralph led the company. George and Ralph Kiewit left the company.

The founder's youngest son, Peter Kiewit Jr., joined the firm in 1919. He led the firm from 1924 until his death in 1979. Peter Jr. turned the firm into one of the largest construction companies in the world. He was also very active in the Omaha area, including leadership of the Knights of Ak-Sar-Ben.

In 1931, Peter Kiewit incorporated the company as Peter Kiewit Sons’ Co. The firm began building transportation projects during the Great Depression.

Walter Scott, was also a key figure in the growth of Kiewit. Scott was initially hired to work on the tower project at the Nebraska State Capitol and spent the remainder of his career at Kiewit becoming chief engineer.

Notable projects

• Throughout the 1920s the company built several historic buildings around Nebraska including the Livestock Exchange Building (1926), the Lincoln station (Nebraska, 1926–2012), the Nebraska State Capitol Tower (1927), Joslyn Art Museum (1928), and Union Station (Omaha)(1929).

Inside Union Station (Omaha)

• Between 1951-1966, Kiewit built Thule Air Base for the U.S. military in Thule, Greenland. Located on the northwest coast of Greenland, the base features a 10,000 foot runway.
• In 1969, Kiewit began construction of the 63rd Street tunnel between Manhattan and Queens. The initial project was part of a $2 billion dollar program to improve the New York City Transit Authority and Long Island Railroad facilities in New York City.

A tunnel cavern deep under Park Avenue, which will house a switch to the north of the new LIRR station

• Between 1980 and 1985, the company built the mile-long $750 million dollar Fort McHenry Tunnel in Baltimore Harbor.
• In the 1990’s, Kiewit was part of a joint venture to build the $517 million dollars T-Mobile Park in Seattle, home of the Seattle Mariners baseball team. The project was completed in 1999.
• Kiewit Infrastructure South is part of the team constructing the 11.5 mile and six-station extension of Washington Metro in Washington D.C. Phase one opened in July 2014 with five stations opening in Virginia.

Leadership

Rick Lanoha is the current chief executive officer of Kiewit Corporation. His predecessors include Peter Kiewit, Bob Wilson, Walter Scott Jr. Ken Stinson and Bruce E. Grewcock. Prior to Grewcock’s retirement, on January 1st 2020, Lanoha had served as president and chief operating officer since 2016 and was elected to Kiewit’s board of directors in 2009.

Walter Scott, Jr. was first elected to the Peter Kiewit Sons' Incorporated board in 1964. In 1979, he was elected president. When Peter Kiewit died later that same year, Scott was selected to succeed him as chairman.

Expansions

In 1963, Peter Kiewit bought the Omaha World-Herald to keep it locally owned. Under the terms of his will, the employees bought the paper in 1979.

Starting in 1985 (Kiewit built MFS in the early 1990s; Level 3 was built in the 1997 to 1999 circa), Kiewit also constructed a nationwide fiber optic network. This network was later spun off as Level 3 Communications, which became the formal successor corporation to the original Peter Kiewit Sons'.

They have a training facility called Kiewit University in its new Omaha, Nebraska campus that trains employees from throughout the US.

Other companies

• Continental Fire Sprinkler of Omaha, Nebraska
• Aero Automatic Sprinkler Company of Phoenix, Arizona
• Jet Pipe Industries of Phoenix, Arizona
• General Construction Company (Now a part of Kiewit Bridge and Marine) of Poulsbo, Washington
• InEight, Inc (formerly Hard Dollar Corporation) of Scottsdale, Arizona
• Mass. Electric Construction Co. – Industrial Group (MEC) of Boston, Massachusetts
• Mass. Electric Construction Co. – Transportation Group (MEC) of Dallas, Texas
• The Industrial Co. (TIC) of Englewood, Colorado
• Cherne Contracting Corporation of Minneapolis, Minnesota

Controversies

According to CBC News: Prosecution collapses on eve of high-profile criminal trial for workplace death, Kiewit Corp has been accused to be responsible for a worker's death on Feb 22th, 2009, 24-year-old Sam Fitzpatrick, because of its unsafe workplace. However, the prosecution has been collapsed, as the "death of an expert and the shifting stories of witnesses" during the trial.

External links

• Official website