Monthly InsidAR - June 2025

On June 12, 2025, staff from AR Engineering attended the annual ASCE Awards Luncheon, an event hosted by the Southwest Branch of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) to celebrate excellence in Civil Engineering. The luncheon highlights achievements through honors such as the Quality-of-Life Award and Outstanding Civil Engineering Achievement Award.

In addition to recognizing outstanding projects, the event offers valuable networking opportunities and insights into innovative, efficient engineering practices. This year’s recipient of the Outstanding Civil Engineering Award delivered an engaging presentation on the Mill Race Dam Removal Project. Attendees learned how a deteriorating dam – posing both public safety hazard and contributing to issues in the city’s sewer system – was successfully removed, and the surrounding areas restored.

Riverwalk Lofts Groundbreaking

On July 1st, Riverwalk Lofts officially broke ground along the scenic Thornapple River in Hastings, Michigan. 135 modern apartments, a farmers’ market, and day care facility, set to open by June 2026. Just steps from the Riverwalk Trail and downtown, this new community will blend natural beauty with urban convenience. AR Engineering is proud to partner with CopperRock Construction to help bring this exciting project to life!

Kalamazoo Country Club Tour

On June 12, 2025 Jason Raleigh, Carolyn Kurtz, and Luke Macleay had the opportunity to attend the MSPE tour of the Kalamazoo Country Club. This new facility will feature a 6-lane bowling alley, indoor movie theater, indoor tennis and pickleball courts, indoor gym, multiple dining options, several pools, and a parking garage with tree wells on the upper floor. The existing clubhouse will be torn down to expand the golf course. An 11 hole short course is currently under construction, with plans for an 18 hole championship course to begin later in 2025. The large project has included over 100 different trades onsite contributing their skills, in order for the clubhouse to open in Spring 2026, with the golf course being completed in Spring 2027.

Monthly InsidAR - May 2025

AR Tours Kalamazoo Water Reclamation Plant

On May 22, 2025 staff from AR Engineering joined the Southwest Michigan Branch of ASCE for an insightful tour of the City of Kalamazoo Water Reclamation Plant (KWRP). The KWRP serves Kalamazoo and over 20 neighboring communities, providing essential wastewater treatment services. During the tour, our team explored the plant’s collection and treatment processes, from the primary to tertiary states, and learned about recent upgrades aimed at boosting efficiency at the plant. Big thanks to ASCE for organizing this educational experience!

AR Garden

The AR garden is back up for 2025! This year we are growing tomatoes, sweet peppers, jalapenos, cucumbers, pumpkins, and squash. We even had some of our pumpkins from last year seed again. Thank you to all the hard work our team put into this by cleaning the beds, purchasing the new plants, donating some from their personal greenhouse, planting, laying down the straw, making sure everything is properly watered, and of course the never-ending weeding.

Ford Blue Oval Plant Tour

On May 22nd Jason Raleigh and Erik Dingemans had the opportunity to attend a tour of the new Ford Battery Plant in Marshall, Michigan. The tour was organized by the MSPE SW Branch. The Blue Oval Battery Park consists of several buildings totaling over 1.5 million square feet in size. While onsite for the tour, there were over 1,300 trades people working throughout the property. Construction started in 2023 and after all work is complete, the project will have a total cost of around $3 billion. The plant is planning to be up and running in early 2026.

Monthly InsidAR - April 2025

2025 STEM Expo - Growlers Education Day

A team from AR Engineering participated in 2025 STEM Expo - Growlers Education Day at Homer Stryker Field, with Erik Dingemans, Thom Carpenter , and Jason Raleigh arriving early to set-up for the day! Students from local school districts arrived eager to explore various hands-on exhibits and were excited about building sandcastles, which demonstrated mechanically stabilized earth (MSE). Students were encouraged to build a non-MSE sandcastle and an MSE sandcastle, and then drop the hammer on both to see the difference in strength provided by the fabric reinforcement.  The morning activities wrapped up at 11 AM with everyone invited to attend the Growler’s game.

WMU Engineering Senior Design Conference (Capstone Projects)

Jason Raleigh participated as a judge in the 2025 WMU Civil Engineering Spring Senior Design Conference. The students wrap up their senior year by working on a two-semester long project completing several different design topics of a real world project within the Civil Engineering discipline. The juror panel reviews each of the presentations and asks the students specific questions about details within their presentation. There was a total of 7 presentations from the 2025 Spring Civil/Construction Engineering graduating class. 

🎉 Milestone Achievement: Congrats to Andrew Woloszyk, P.E.

ARE is thrilled to celebrate a major professional milestone for one of our own—Andrew Woloszyk has officially earned his Professional Engineer (P.E.) license! 🏅

This achievement reflects Andrew’s hard work and commitment to the field of civil engineering. To mark the occasion, the ARE team gathered for a fun afternoon ice cream social—to celebrate his success!  Please join us in congratulating Andrew on this well-deserved accomplishment.

Monthly InsidAR - March 2025

Volunteer Spotlight: TheProject2025 – WMPMI Collegiate Competition

ARE is proud to celebrate Whitney Pizzala for returning as a mentor at TheProject2025, a dynamic collegiate project management competition hosted by the Project Management Institute – Western Michigan Chapter (WMPMI).

This annual event challenges university students to apply real-world project management principles by developing and presenting comprehensive project plans. Whitney had the honor of mentoring a talented team from Western Michigan University, who showcased their skills and teamwork during their presentation.

Congratulations to the WMU team—and a big shoutout to Whitney for her continued dedication to mentoring the next generation of project leaders.  Go Broncos!

Project Spotlight – UniFirst Corporation Expansion 📍Owensboro, Kentucky

ARE is proud to work with UniFirst Corporation on another project for the expansion of their distribution and fulfillment center in Owensboro, KY. This exciting project adds 109,000 square feet to the existing facility—bringing the total footprint to nearly 469,000 square feet to support UniFirst’s growing customer base. Working alongside Robert Brown Architects, ARE provided comprehensive civil engineering services, including:

  • Site grading and drainage design

  • Stormwater management

  • Utility design and coordination

  • Permitting with local and state agencies

🚧 The official groundbreaking ceremony took place on March 27, 2025, marking the start of construction. Whitney Pizzala, the civil engineer for the project, proudly represented ARE at the event. Construction is now underway and is expected to be completed by the end of the year. We are excited to be part of a project that supports growth for the local community!

AR Engineering had the privilege of attending the 60th Engineering & Surveying Excellence Awards Gala in March at the Air Zoo Aerospace & Science Experience in Kalamazoo. The Engineering and Surveying Excellence Awards Gala, an ACEC/Michigan hallmark celebrating it’s 60th year, is the A/E Industry’s chance to honor member firms for design achievements of superior skill and ingenuity. Outstanding projects and industry leaders were recognized, along with the presentation of the annual scholarships to the next generation of engineering talent.

The ASCE-WMU Student Roundtable Event is an event AR Engineering looks forward to attending every year.  Students are invited to engage with local businesses in the construction and engineering industries and companies set up informational tables and share insights into their work with students.  This year’s event was a great success and while the free pizza may have attracted attendees, it was the engaging conversations and valuable networking opportunities that kept them there. 

AR Engineering participated in the Consumers’ Concrete New Block Production Facility Tour, an event that was hosted by the local ASCE branch.  This event began with a brief presentation of the, followed by a guided tour of the new 37,000 sq. ft. state-of-the-art facility, showing the processes in which concrete masonry units, segmental retaining wall units and paver are produced.

The team at AR Engineering participated in the first annual spring ASCE Southwestern Michigan Branch / WMU Student Chapter golf outing to provide valuable financial resources to support WMU Civil Engineering. The proceeds fund the WMU scholarship program and the Concrete Canoe, Steel Bridge and Timber Strong Teams.  The team golfed at Angles Crossing Golf Club.  After a short rain it turned into a beautiful day for the event. The AR team held their own and finished third for the event!  Besides supporting a great cause, this outing was a great opportunity to connect with clients, colleagues and future civil engineers.