Land that used to be an airfield builds differently from a raw pasture, and Bar Nunn is a town laid out on exactly that. It grew up around the runways of Wardwell Field, Casper's original airport, which served the region until 1952, and the old runways now form the town's street pattern. For an owner buying a lot there, the useful question is what the previous use left behind: old paving, compacted base, buried lines and odd lot shapes that follow a runway instead of a section line.
We build for small businesses, developers and contractors who want room, highway frontage along US Highway 20-26 and a lot that has already been platted. Typical projects are shops, storage, contractor yards, small offices and service buildings. The ground is level and open, which makes layout and equipment access easy, and the elevation is 5,285 feet, so wind, snow and a long frost season are part of every plan.
Our project teams approach a Bar Nunn lot the way they approach any site with history: look first, probe where the drawings are thin and price what we find.
Bar Nunn is a growth town in the Casper metropolitan area. It went from 2,213 residents in 2010 to 2,981 in the 2020 census, about 35 percent in ten years. Growth like that brings steady small-scale commercial demand: trades that need yards, storage, fabrication space and offices within a few minutes of Casper and the airport business park.
The town's own history explains the layout. The Army Air Corps bought land along US Highway 20-26 in 1952 and moved the airport to Casper. A rancher bought back the 640 acre Wardwell Field property in 1954, subdivided it in 1958, and the town incorporated in 1982. For a builder, that means platted lots with consistent streets and a community that has grown in stages, and it also means older infrastructure of different ages under different streets. We ask the town for as-builts before we draw a trench line.
Four things deserve attention on a former airfield. First, old pavement and base material. Where a lot sits on or near a retired runway or apron, we probe before design is final, because a thick slab of aged asphalt or concrete can be a benefit as a base or an expense to remove.
Second, drainage. Flat open ground with hard compacted layers can pond water in spring. We design grading and mass grading to move runoff off the building pad and away from neighbors. Third, wind. Open ground means exposed buildings, so we review roof attachment, overhead door ratings and rooftop equipment tie-downs with your engineer. The region's flying moved to the present Natrona County airport in 1952, and owners who want airport-side space can compare that business park with a Bar Nunn lot on the same budget basis.
Fourth, utilities. A town platted in stages has water, sewer and power lines of different ages, and a tap that looks simple on a map can mean a long run across the lot. We ask the town and the utilities for locates and as-builts, walk the lot with the locator and carry a clear allowance for tie-ins rather than a hopeful lump sum.
Bar Nunn projects are usually the kind where planning the early work closely keeps costs honest. We schedule and supervise excavation, utilities, forming and placing concrete and erecting light-gauge or pre-engineered metal buildings. Those scopes decide how fast an owner can occupy.
We keep specialty work with specialty trades: roofing, electrical, plumbing and mechanical, overhead doors and glazing. But we schedule them as one package and handle the inspections. On a small-business job the owner is often also the manager, the buyer and the tenant, and the last thing that person needs is five contractors calling five different days. We give one phone number, one schedule and one punch list.
A typical Bar Nunn shop or yard building is a single construction season. Site work and utilities start when the frost is out. Slab and foundations follow, then the building package arrives and goes up, and the interior finishes through winter if it needs to. Metal building packages have lead times, so we recommend ordering them early.
We schedule around the wind. High-wind days stop steel erection and roof panel work, and the highway frontage means deliveries and equipment moves are visible. For businesses that need to relocate on a date, we work backward from the move-in and tell you when the building package must be ordered to make it.
Owners in Bar Nunn often add related work to the main building. A paved yard or customer lot calls for parking lot construction with proper subgrade. A new utility service may need site development and utilities work across the lot. A trucking or supply tenant may want to compare Bar Nunn with Mills or with space tied to logistics and distribution activity near the airport.
We give you the same type of estimate for each option so you can compare apples to apples. If one lot saves money on land but costs more in grading or utilities, the number shows it.
Send the address and what you plan to build. We will look at what the lot was used for before, check drainage and utilities and give you a number you can plan around.
It can. The town grew up around the runways of Wardwell Field, so a lot may include old paving, compacted base or buried lines. We probe before design is final and price what we find. That is cheaper than a change order in the middle of excavation.
Bar Nunn grew about 35 percent between 2010 and 2020, from 2,213 to 2,981 residents. That kind of growth supports small commercial and light industrial demand. We still advise owners to build for the tenants they can actually sign today and keep the building easy to adapt.
Mostly trades and service operators that need a yard, a shop and an office near Casper: fabricators, equipment companies, contractors and storage users. We size the building to the equipment and the yard to the truck, and we leave room on the lot for a second building when the business grows.
Land and approvals can be easier, but the building itself costs about the same, and utilities can be a swing item. We price the lot as well as the building and show you both numbers side by side so the comparison is honest.
Ask the town and the county. The International Code Council reports that Wyoming has no single statewide building code and that localities adopt and enforce their own. We confirm the edition and local amendments before design is final.