Cultivating Leaders: Doug Bender’s 37-Year Journey with Ancon Construction. Meet Doug Bender, a 37-year employee-owner of Ancon Construction. “I always knew I wanted to be in construction. My grandma called me “Noah” – Because I always messed with my grandpa’s...
La Casa De Amistad
Overview
Ancon Construction was tasked with the renovation of a 48,000 square-foot, two-story facility, which was previously a charter school. As the Architect of Record and General Contractor, Ancon was responsible for updating the existing programmatic spaces such as classrooms, offices, and a café. The renovation involved adding additional offices, flexible classrooms, and a fresh interior design palette, as well as installing interior windows to increase transparency and bring in natural light.
The end result was a transformed community center that provides educational, cultural, and advocacy services in a versatile and functional space. The updated interior design and added spaces enhance the building’s functionality and create a warm and inviting atmosphere for users. The involvement of La Casa de Amistad volunteers was significant, as they participated in both the demolition process and the final finishes phase.
“Working with Ancon Construction was a great experience. As an organization that serves the Latino community, they took the time to understand the needs for our building and our culture. Our architectural firm out of Detroit is very diverse, and the Ancon team partnered with them perfectly. They were involved early in the design phase, helped navigate a challenging renovation, and provided great value engineering options. Once construction began, they took the time to create a schedule that worked around our volunteers who painted areas while Ancon was finishing out others. Knowing that they have diversity within their organization and that everyone at Ancon is an Owner of the company was a strong consideration when selecting Ancon Construction for the El Sueno project. I would highly recommend them.”
