Ground broken on Destin Water Users $19.5 million building projct

DESTIN, Fla. – Destin Water Users, Inc. (DWU) on Monday celebrated the groundbreaking of its new office building, warehouses, and parking garage located at the George French Water Reclamation Facility at 14 Industrial Park Lane.

The cost of construction is $19.5 million, including architectural and engineering fees, furniture, fixtures, and equipment.

After suffering a near miss from Hurricane Michael, the new structures will replace old buildings that predate current hurricane building codes. The new office building will also consolidate offices and personnel working on the plant and will serve as a command center post-hurricane.

“We were concerned that the current building would not withstand the strong storms we’ve seen in recent years and it would hinder our ability to recover,” said Lockwood Wernet, DWU General Manager.

“We were also concerned about our ability to keep staff safe in buildings that are not rated to withstand the strong hurricanes.”

DWU has been working on the plans since 2019 with architect Michael Baker International. The new office building will be a 12,855 square-foot, two-story split face block construction. The warehouse will be a 6,268 square-foot, pre-engineered metal building to house inventory.

There will also be a new 7,396 square-foot, pre-engineered departmental storage building that will serve as a work and storage area for different departments working on the plant and in the field.

The parking garage will be a three-story, 26,400 square-foot precast concrete structure with 67 parking spaces.

Working with Walbridge Construction, DWU has contracted with them as a Construction Manager at Risk (CMAR) to assist with the Plant Facilities Redevelopment.  The CMAR will assist DWU with completing design of the project and then help with construction management and the close-out of the project.

“As we begin construction, we are confident that we are doing our part to ensure that we continue to provide essential services to our members and that we can respond immediately after any natural disaster thereby living up to our mission statement that we are intent on doing our part to preserve this paradise we call home,” said DWU President Tom Weidenhamer.

PHOTO (Top, from left to right): Paul Reese, Facilities Manager DWU; Monica Wallis, Operations Manager DWU; Doug Thomason, Architect – Michael Baker International; Sandy Trammell, Director DWU; Jim Wood, Secretary/Treasurer DWU; Ken Wampler, Director DWU; Jim Foreman, Director DWU; Tom Weidenhamer, President DWU; Jimmy Neilson, Vice-President DWU; Lockwood Wernet, General Manager DWU; Tiffany Castricone, Architect – Michael Baker International; Jose Acosta, Project Engineer Walbridge; and Rick Watson, Superintendent Walbridge.