Small Town, Big Projects:
Making an Impact in Ada, Minnesota
For the past several years, Great States Construction Superintendent Wayne McLean has spent much of his time in the smaller communities of the Red River Valley, including Ada, Minnesota.
Spend an afternoon with Wayne and you’ll notice everyone in Ada greets him by his first name. He’s quick to ask them how their day is going and let them know what’s next on the projects that are most important to him.
He knows the impact that a construction project has on a smaller community because he lives in Climax, Minnesota, a town of a few hundred people about 30 minutes from Ada.
Wayne joked, he’s pretty sure he knows more people in Ada than he does in his own town.
“The smaller communities are so grateful for each project,” Wayne said.
Inspiring More
It makes sense that Wayne has become somewhat of a local celebrity. He’s spent the past several years working on some of the most visible projects in Ada, including transformative projects for Inspire, Inc and the City of Ada.
Inspire, Inc. is a nonprofit provides training, employment, and residential care for adults with developmental disabilities. Its main building serves two purposes: office space for staff and a center for day activities for its residents and clients.
The organization has seen growth that stretched their facilities to the brink, including its residential houses and their main location. It was important that every update was made to remove barriers and make life easier for its clients.
The main building required a major overhaul inside and out, but it needed to be completed without disrupting the services that Inspire, Inc. continued to deliver to their clientele. The project was a multi-year endeavor completed in 3-month phases to keep disruption to a minimum.
In the main dining room located off the newly rebuilt accessible kitchen, an oversized low-height, zero-barrier sink sits beneath a mosaic tile mural made by the residents themselves. For visitors to the center, it’s one of the first things that they see and underscores that this place was imagined for the people who spend the most time here.
Even the garage additions were designed and built to help Inspire’s mission.
An addition to the existing building added two separate garages with a total of five commercial bays. The oversized garages were outfitted with ADA-compliant ramps so residents can board transportation, be it van or bus, without going outside. On Minnesota’s cold winter days, that’s big for comfort and safety.
No-pull automatic doors with hand-wave sensors were installed to make exiting the garage more accessible, too.
Inspire, Inc. relies on community support to help further their mission. The organization needed a place to host large-scale gatherings. The oversized picnic shelter is perfect for both small and large gatherings especially during warmer months.
Nearby, the team added a permanent basketball hoop and adaptable swing set with a wheelchair swing were added recently to give clients a safe and accessible area to spend time outside.
With the concrete still curing under the basketball hoop and swing set, Wayne was quick to point out that the work wasn’t quite done yet. “We’re going to paint lines for the basketball court soon,” he added.
The Projects That Stay With You
While the space at the Inspire Inc. headquarters enables the organization’s work, the space where residents call home is even more important.
When Inspire Inc. came to Great States with an idea for a new home built specifically for adults with developmental disabilities, the team went to work. Every detail was considered for the people who would live there. The goal was not to build a house, but to build a home designed to accommodate the residents.
That meant incorporating features like zero-entry showers, a wheelchair-accessible kitchen, wide hallways with protective paneling, and a deep soaking walk-in bathtub.
Even the front entry door was modified to easily allow wheelchair access. The oversized door had its threshold modified by the onsite team to allow for an easy transition without causing moisture issues. While this took significantly longer to install, it makes a real different for residents.
“It was easy to go above and beyond for a project like that,” Wayne said. “Being completely honest, Inspire (House) was one of the most rewarding projects I’ve worked on.”
When the home was finished, Inspire Inc. surprised the residents with a tour. Inspire Inc. Executive Director Hiliary Chisholm said the moment brought screams of joy, hugs, and tears from caregivers.
“This build wasn’t just another project,” Chisholm said. “It is truly a life-changing home.”
Small Community, Big Project
While Inspire has had plenty going on the past few years, the rest of Ada has stayed just as active.
Ada’s motto is “alive and thriving” and with the level of construction going on in the city, it’d be easy to assume the town has a population well beyond 1,700 people.
Perhaps the most visible project in town is the new Ada Municipal Complex that will bring City Hall, Public Works, and City Police under one roof. Today, these three departments are spread across multiple buildings across town making to harder to share resources.
The 18,400-square-foot building is the city’s largest construction project in recent memory, coming less than a year after a damaging derecho struck the community with winds over 100 mph. The storm caused damage throughout the region, hitting the Ada Public Works building particularly hard.
“This complex represents an investment in the city’s future,” Ada Mayor John Hintz said. “It will improve the accessibility, efficiency, and safety of our community. It’s not just about constructing a new building. It’s about delivering on the promise to our citizens to create a stronger city for the future and the generations that follow.”
Building Great Communities
Wayne brings the same level of care to every project. But in Ada, where he has spent years and knows everyone by name, these projects hit a little closer to home.
“Attention to detail is everything to me. I am looking at everything on the plans, the little things where we can tweak it and make it even better,” Wayne said. “These projects are rewarding because you are helping out the community. I want them to be smiling when we are done.”
Not just the projects that make headlines, but the ones that make a difference in places like Ada, where a new municipal complex creates opportunity for generations, a renovated care facility changes lives, and a wheelchair swing set outside means someone gets to feel the wind.
We’re proud to help Build Great Communities, one small town at a time.
