Local Contractors Finish Updates on Yavapai Exceptional Industries General HQ
Prescott, Arizona—It’s been more than a year in the making, and it’s officially complete: the “refresh” on the Yavapai Exceptional Industries (YEI!) General Headquarters on Washington Avenue is complete. The result: a more energy-efficient building with a smaller carbon footprint, improved sustainability, and an increased capacity to offer more diverse activities, training, and production for its clients.
“These upgrades not only lower operational costs—meaning a better ‘bang!’ for a donated buck,” said Brad Newman, YEI! Executive Director, “but they also bring the thirty-five-year-old ‘General Headquarters’ up to par with Ruger AirPark and Antelope Point facilities” (the organization’s newer facilities in Prescott and Prescott Valley).
In addition to a new lower ceiling, more energy efficient lighting, new plumbing including low-water-use fixtures, new repurposed cabinetry, upgraded HVAC systems, and fresh pavement in the parking lot, the upgrades include:
- Guttering and rain collection barrels
- New flooring: carpeting upstairs and polished concrete downstairs
- A new loading-dock overhead door
- An inline water heater
- A new washer and dryer (thanks to Quality Maytag).
Earlier this year, YEI! added “The Sequel,” also known as The 440 building, a 2,200-square-foot addition to the General Headquarters. It is home to a computer lab, an activity center, a kitchen where nutrition and cooking classes will take place, and ancillary services (like speech and occupational therapy). It is now fully outfitted, too.
As always, a project of this scope is a community venture.
Charlie Gorlick, owner of Prescott Plumbing, played a major role in the completion of this “refresh.”
Gorlick said he and his team upgraded the building’s features, including replacing water fountains and toilets.
“Working there is really nice,” he said. “All the people there give you hus and smiles. It’s my favorite place to work, it really is. They give you high-fives walking in. What other job gives you that?”
Another player in the remodel: Brian Bombardieri, owner of B’s Contracting.
“I love the YEI! organization as a whole,” he said. “And I love doing whatever we can do to help the YEI! family.”
Other local businesses involved in the General Headquarters “refresh”: Brian Pierce and B’s Contracting, Ponderosa Electric, Diversified Concrete Creations, EuroTech and EnGrained Cabinets, High Country Doors, and “painters to the stars” Carlos Aguilera and Neil Jensen.
YEI! is a charitable organization founded in 1974 to support adults with disabilities living in the Central Highlands by providing them with job training, employment, volunteer placements, and support services. The “Developmental Employment” program at YEI! includes the award-winning “Community Contribution Corps” and has been continually accredited at the highest level of service by the National Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities since 1978.
Submitted by
YEI!
Brad Newman, Executive Director, Yavapai Exceptional Industries
928.713.1979