The old refinery tank farm is now the Salt Creek Heights Business Center. That sentence says a lot about Casper: land and buildings here have had more than one life, and the next owner usually inherits the previous one's decisions. We renovate and repurpose existing buildings for owners who want to use what is already there, and we begin by finding out what that actually is.
Renovation covers a wide range, from updating an aging office or clinic to converting a warehouse into a different use, upgrading a school or civic building, or repositioning a retail space. Adaptive reuse is the larger change, where the building's purpose shifts and the code treats it as a new use in an old shell. The work is detective work first and construction second, since every old building holds surprises.
We treat the first few weeks as discovery. Drawings, if they exist, are checked against the building. Structure, utilities, roof, envelope and hazardous materials are surveyed. Only then can we put a number and a schedule in front of an owner and expect them to hold.
Platte River Commons is the former Amoco (now BP) refinery property. The refinery opened in 1895 and ran until the last barrel was refined in 1991, a 1998 agreement created a joint powers board to oversee redevelopment, and BP pledged more than $28 million toward replacing lost jobs. A 2002 remedy agreement followed a citizen pollution lawsuit, and the site is still recovering from contamination. Reuse of that Platte River Commons ground demands environmental awareness on top of ordinary building skill.
Other places reuse their past more quietly. Bar Nunn was built around the runways of Wardwell Field, Casper's original airport, and the old runways now form the town's street pattern. The Casper Events Center opened in April 1982 at a cost of $22 million and has been the city's big-room venue ever since. Buildings of that age have outlived their original systems, and renovation keeps them working.
Every renovation starts with a hard question: keep it or replace it? We help owners answer by looking at structure, roof, envelope, mechanical and electrical systems, accessibility and code compliance, and pricing what it takes to bring each up to the new use. Sometimes the answer is to keep the frame and replace everything else. Sometimes the answer is that a new building is cheaper, and we say so. That conversation is easier before the owner has fallen for the building, so we have it early, with numbers on the table and a list of what each choice would leave unresolved.
Hazardous materials are the usual wild card. Older buildings can contain asbestos, lead paint or other regulated materials, and a survey before work begins is standard practice. Contaminated ground, like the history at Platte River Commons, adds another layer. Owners planning conversions into multifamily and mixed-use buildings or municipal buildings should budget for surveys and testing before design is final.
The State of Wyoming adopted the 2024 International Codes on June 28, 2024, including the 2024 International Existing Building Code, and the City of Casper lists the Existing Building Code among the 2024 codes it applies, with amendments in Title 15. A change of use or a major alteration can trigger upgrades to egress, fire protection, accessibility, energy and structure. The extent depends on the scope, and we ask the building department early.
City of Casper commercial permits often require a life-safety plan, engineered drawings and Planning and Zoning approval, and plan review covers structural calculations and engineering reports. Downtown projects in the Old Yellowstone District add form-based code review. A change in use needs a clear explanation of what the building is becoming, and our permitting and entitlements work puts that in front of the reviewer.
Renovation rewards a contractor who can open a wall, assess it and fix it without a week of subcontractor scheduling. We coordinate selective demolition, carpentry, concrete patching and repair, framing, drywall and finishing, along with the specialty trades for roofing, mechanical and electrical. That control matters when the plan changes on a Tuesday. Old buildings rarely match their drawings, and a team that can adjust a framing detail on the spot saves days that a change order process would burn.
When structural work is needed, such as new openings, reinforced beams or foundation repair, we coordinate with the engineer and the concrete foundations crew. For a building that must keep running during the work, we apply the planning we use in phased construction on occupied sites, so the owner stays open while walls move.
Renovation budgets fail when they pretend to know what they do not. We separate known scope from allowances for hidden conditions, set contingency in writing and report against it monthly. Cost drivers include structural repair, code-driven upgrades, hazardous material abatement, system replacement and the difficulty of working inside an existing structure.
The savings are real too. Keeping a frame, a foundation and a roof is often cheaper and faster than starting new, and reusing a building can shorten permitting. For hospitality groups, school districts and municipal owners alike, we help compare renovation to new construction on cost, schedule and operating life, and we show the comparison in plain numbers. Operating life is part of that comparison, since an older building that is cheap to buy and expensive to heat is not really cheap, and the energy upgrades that come with a renovation often pay back over the years the owner expects to stay.
Tell us the address, the current use and what you want it to become. We will survey the building, flag the big risks and give you a budget range. Use the quote form or call us.
It depends on the frame, roof, systems and the new use. If the structure is sound and the layout can work, renovation can save time and money. If systems and code upgrades cost as much as new, we say so. We price both when the question is open.
We survey first, open test areas early and carry a contingency for hidden conditions. When we find something, we stop, document it, tell the owner and agree on the fix before proceeding.
A change in use, an addition or a major alteration can. The Existing Building Code governs how much of the building has to be upgraded. We confirm the extent with the building department before design is final.
Yes, with the right environmental information. Sites like Platte River Commons have a documented history of contamination and remediation, and we require the owner's environmental reports before we plan excavation or foundation work.
It depends on size and condition. Discovery and design take longer than owners expect, and construction follows once the unknowns are settled. We provide a schedule once the survey is done.