Archives: Projects

Since their beginning in 1876, Central Mutual Insurance Company has grown into one of the nation’s prominent insurance firms, providing insurance to more than 300,000 policyholders in 18 states and boasting combined assets of over $1 billion. Central’s Van Wert, OH home office, built in 1931, has tremendous character and historic image.  It was important as Central renovated and expanded the facility that the new construction be compatible with the architecture of the original building. It was also important to invest in company operations, increasing efficiency and productivity using interior design and technology.

The expansion added many versatile areas for employees. Large meeting rooms can be subdivided into smaller meeting rooms by operable wall partitions. The offices are designed with modular furniture that can be arranged in a variety of configurations to accommodate different types of meetings. Break rooms, in addition to providing vending and seating, can also be used for large, all-staff meeting. Spaces now incorporate technology to accommodate computer training, video and teleconferencing, data projection, and voice enhancement.

Sweetwater Sound is the No. 1 online retailer of music instruments and audio gear in the U.S., serving musicians, recording studios, broadcast, education and houses of worship nationwide. The company has experienced tremendous growth in the last decade, and as a result has embarked on several significant expansion projects. They have looked to Weigand Construction for numerous small jobs as well as all of their major expansions, as well as the Purdue Fort Wayne School of Music Technology building, which opened on the Sweetwater campus in 2018.

Office & Warehouse Expansion

In May of 2013, Sweetwater Sound was looking to add space to their existing warehouse and office space within their corporate headquarters in Fort Wayne, IN. Weigand Construction was awarded the 132,013sf project, which included 55,074sf of warehouse space along with a 2-story, 76,939sf addition to their office area. The new office area offers 17 lesson rooms and 2 large training rooms for their Training Academy.

In-House Marketing Expansion & Retail Storefront

In 2016, Weigand was chosen to construct a 17,000sf in-house marketing department expansion complete with a state-of-the-art video studio. This expansion also included a new retail store front and separate showroom for each major category of equipment that they sell.

2020 New Distribution Center & Office Expansion

In early 2020, production began in Sweetwater’s new $52.5 million-dollar state-of-the-art distribution center. The facility has 480,000 square feet of usable space – nearly quadrupling the size of the previous warehouse – and has a footprint of more than 7 acres. In addition to more space for increased inventory, new technology that was custom-built by Sweetwater’s IT team will allow orders to be processed and filled faster, resulting in shorter delivery times.

Weigand is happy to be a continued partner with Sweetwater as their campus grows by leaps and bounds, and older buildings on the campus are refreshed for different uses. The new distribution center is now also home to Sweetwater’s Guitar Gallery and Guitar Shop as well as electronics repair, installations, product photography, and more.

Vera Bradley, a Fort Wayne-based manufacturer of quilted handbags and accessories, called on Weigand Construction to craft a facility to house their creative team. The design objective was to promote an environment of inspiration, creativity, and open communication between the various departments, which included design, marketing and retail—all of which serve the worldwide operations of Vera Bradley.

With an ever growing business model and continued diversification, it became a necessity for Vera Bradley to centralize their corporate headquarters onto one campus. In order to accommodate over 700 employees, Weigand was chosen as the Construction Manager for two building additions at their Roanoke campus. The Design Center added 149,000sf along with 10,000sf to the Distribution Center.

This unique building incorporates elements of sustainability, including the reuse of an existing facility, day lighting concepts via clerestory windows, task lighting, open office space planning for efficient work space, low wattage electrical lighting, storm water management, and recycled materials including carpet, steel, and furniture products.