Contact:
Becky Backhaus
(608) 754.6601
becky.backhaus@jpcullen.com
MADISON, WI — JP Cullen, the Janesville, Wisconsin-based construction company, has been an integral part of Madison and Dane County history for nearly a hundred years. Now they are strengthening their commitment to the area by opening an office on the Capitol Square.
The Grand Opening of their office on the third floor of the US Bank Building overlooking the Wisconsin Capitol, one of JP Cullen’s hallmark restoration projects, will take place on June 23.
David Cullen, chief executive officer for JP Cullen, said the firm, which has offices in Janesville and Milwaukee, had been planning a Madison office for years. A key reason for the new office is the ability to be responsive to clients in the company’s second largest geographic territory. “Being close to our clients is an absolute requirement for our team,” Cullen said, adding that a large majority of the company’s revenue comes from work with Dane County businesses and institutions. The firm has worked on hundreds of projects in Dane County. Recent and current projects include work for the University of Wisconsin Hospital & Clinics, University of Wisconsin Medical Foundation, WM. S. Middleton Memorial VA Hospital, Henry Vilas Zoo Arctic Passage, DuPont, the historical renovation of the State Office Building at 1 West Wilson, and the Epic campus in Verona.
Founded in 1892, the company has a reputation as the builder that takes on the projects others cannot—projects that are very large, very complex or requiring deep industry-specific knowledge. They began earning that reputation back in 1925, when it was awarded the job of expanding one of the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s most treasured buildings, Bascom Hall. When the company JP Cullen hired to quarry sandstone for the building became insolvent, JP Cullen hired its own stonecutters. The company was able to complete the addition to the University’s signature structure in time for its 1927 dedication.
In the decades since, the firm has played a major role in nearly every phase of UW-Madison expansion and renewal. They have built new dormitories, the Shain Chemistry Tower, the Engineering Centers Building and Biochemistry Building. JP Cullen also partnered in the renovation of Camp Randall Stadium in 2005 and the Student Athlete Performance Center addition in 2013, as well as providing game day service during the football season since 2004. In addition to these and many other construction projects for UW-Madison, both the company and the JP Cullen Foundation have supported many campus activities and initiatives. Since 1999-2000 they have provided scholarships to the College of Engineering specifically targeted towards students going into the construction industry.
“The UW-Madison and JP Cullen & Sons have grown together for multiple generations,” said Alan Fish in 2010, the university’s associate vice chancellor for Facilities Planning and Management at the time. “In the last decade they have built almost $400 million in major projects across campus.” The advantage of working with JP Cullen, he added, is that “They bring a hard-working team of skilled craftsmen, familiar with the campus, and deliver us long-lasting and functional buildings. Whenever they are selected for a job we are confident in the result.”
JP Cullen is a fifth generation family business. David Cullen’s brother Mark is the company’s chairman. Another brother, Richard, also serves in a leadership role as vice president of field operations. Their father, J.P. Cullen, retired as president of the firm in the 1980s, however at nearly 90 years old still comes in to work on most days.
Jeannie Cullen Schultz, the firm’s healthcare construction director, will be leading the Madison office. “I fell in love with the city growing up and visiting family and then going to graduate school at UW Madison,” she said. I am proud of the connection with JP Cullen’s history in Madison and seeing flagship building and facilities that four previous generations of Cullens have built.”
JP Cullen, founded in 1892, is the recipient of the 2015 Build America Grand Award for its work on the Epic Deep Space Auditorium. The company is a member of the Associated General Contractors of America Milwaukee and Madison chapters, is the recipient of the Better Business Bureau’s Torch Award for Business Ethics and Integrity, was voted a “Top Workplace” by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel for four consecutive years, and has won five national awards for partnering and total project performance.
For more information about JP Cullen, please contact Becky Backhaus at (608) 754-6601 or becky.backhaus@jpcullen.com. Visit our website: www.jpcullen.com.
