ENR Midwest's judges carefully curated a list of 97 high-quality entries down to 35 winning entries for this year's ENR Midwest Best Projects competition. The winners will be featured in-depth in the November 18 edition of ENR Midwest and we'll physically give the awards to each winning project team  at our annual Awards Breakfast December 3 at the Chicago Renaissance Downtown. We'll also be honoring our Owner of the Year, MidAmerican Energy, Contractor of the Year Pepper Construction; Design Firm of the Year HNTB Corp. and our recently named Specialty Contractor of the Year, Gaylor Electric of Indianapolis. We'll also unveil our 2019 Legacy Award Winner at the breakfast.

The independent judges selected this year by ENR Midwest had a daunting task. Each of our 20 project type categories had multiple strong entrants with the exception of the green projects category which had several entrants from other categories moved to it. We had multiple projects that won in more than one category. Our judges — Danielle Dy Buncio, President and CEO of ViaTechnik; Laura Young, CEO of Griskelis Young Harrell; Michael Sturino, President and CEO at the Illinois Road and Transportation Builders Association; Steve Zimmerman, associate principal at Wiss Janney Elstner Associates; Lynda Leigh, project manager at Turner Construction; Jeff Emrick, director of safety and compliance at Ozinga and Sam Mishelow, chief strategy officer at Meyer Najem Construction — all generously donated their time and expertise in judging a diverse group of entrants that ranged from major highway projects to skyscrapers to water and landscape projects. Our safety judges, Jeff Emrick and Sam Mishelow, faced a particularly tough task in comparing safety projects across a wide swath of project types. Any judges whose companies or firms made awards submissions were recused from judging the categories those submissions appeared in.

Our judges' final task will be to designate an overall Project of the Year from the Best Project-level winners listed below. We’ll reveal the Project of the Year at our awards and networking breakfast in December. Hope to see lots of our loyal readers at the Renaissance as well. Here are ENR Midwest's 2019 Best Projects.

Airport/Transit

Best Project: Milwaukee M-Line/The Hop, Milwaukee

Submitted by HNTB Corp.

Award of Merit: American Airlines O’Hare Hangar 2, Chicago

Submitted by Ghafari Associates, LLC

Cultural/Worship

Best Project: Museum at the Gateway Arch, St. Louis

Submitted by IMEG Corp.

Award of Merit: National Veterans Memorial and Museum, Columbus, Ohio

Submitted by Turner Construction Company

Energy/Industrial

Best Project: FD Kuester and AJ Mihm Generating Station, Negaunee and Baraga, Mich.

Submitted by Burns & McDonnell

Award of Merit: Ottumwa Generating Station Selective Catalytic Reduction, Ottumwa, Iowa

Submitted by Stanley Consultants

Government/Public Building

Best Project: Chicago Union Station Great Hall Restoration, Chicago

Submitted by Berglund Construction Company

Award of Merit: Lake County Courthouse Expansion, Waukegan, Ill.

Submitted by Clark Construction

Green Project

Best Project: Village of Oswego Police Headquarters and Training Facility, Oswego, Ill.

Submitted by HOK and Gilbane Building Co.

Health Care

Best Project: Froedtert & the Medical College of Wisconsin Integrated Procedural Platform, Wauwatosa, Wis.

Submitted by Mortenson Construction

Award of Merit: BE Smith Family Center in Merriam, Kansas

Submitted by Turner Construction Company

Higher Education/Research

Best Project: Creighton University School of Dentistry, Omaha, Neb.

Submitted by RDG Planning & Design

Award of Merit: University of Minnesota Tate Science and Teaching Lab Renovation, Minneapolis, Minn.

Submitted by JE Dunn Construction

Award of Merit: UC Gardner Neuroscience Institute, Cincinnati

Submitted by Messer Construction Co.

Highway/Bridge

Best Project: Southern Ohio Veterans Memorial Highway, Portsmouth to Columbus, Ohio

Submitted by Dragados USA, Inc.

Award of Merit: Kentucky 152 Bridge Replacement Over Herrington Lake, Harrodsburg, Ky.

Submitted by Walsh Construction Co. II, LLC

Interior/Tenant Improvement

Best Project: McDonald’s Corporation Headquarters Relocation, Chicago

Submitted by Executive Construction Inc.

K-12 Education

Best Project: Topeka Center for Advanced Learning & Careers, Topeka, Kansas

Submitted by DLR Group

Award of Merit: Burbank School District 111: Luther Burbank School, Burbank, Ill.

Submitted by International Contractors, Inc.

Landscape/Urban Development

Best Project: 41st Street Pedestrian Bridge over Lake Shore Drive, Chicago

Submitted by AECOM and F.H. Paschen

Manufacturing

Best Project: Prestage Foods of Iowa Pork Processing Plant, Eagle Grove, Iowa

Submitted by Epstein

Office/Retail/Mixed-Use

Best Project: Independence Library and Apartments, Chicago

Submitted by PlanGrid, an Autodesk company

Award of Merit: Insinkerator Corporate Headquarters, Mt. Pleasant, Wis.

Submitted by Riley Construction

Renovation/Restoration

Best Project: The 1060 Project at Wrigley Field, Chicago

Submitted by Pepper Construction Group

Award of Merit: Union Terminal Renovation and Restoration, Cincinnati

Submitted by Turner Construction Company

Residential/Hospitality

Best Project: Shinola Hotel, Detroit

Submitted by Barton Malow Company

Small Project (Under $10 million)

Best Project: NorthShore University Health System MOB, Round Lake Beach, Ill.

Submitted by Pepper Construction Group

Award of Merit: Chicago Architecture Center, Chicago

Submitted by Turner Construction Company

Specialty Construction

Best Project: Ameren Missouri Bagnell Dam Stabilization Project, Lake of the Ozarks, Mo.

Submitted by MC Industrial, a McCarthy Holdings Company

Sports/Entertainment

Best Project: Fiserv Forum, Milwaukee, Wis.

Submitted by Populous

Award of Merit: Hy-Vee Arena, Kansas City, Mo.

Submitted by McCownGordon Construction

Water/Environment

Best Project: ORI Structural Rehabilitation Project, Louisville, Ky.

Submitted by Brown and Caldwell

ENR Midwest Safety Award

Best Project: Ottumwa Generating Station Selective Catalytic Reduction, Ottumwa, Iowa

Submitted by Stanley Consultants

Award of Merit: Ameren Bagnell Dam Stabilization Project, Lake of the Ozarks, Mo.

Submitted by MC Industrial, a McCarthy Holdings Company

Award of Merit: Kentucky 152 Bridge Replacement Over Herrington Lake, Harrodsburg, Ky.

Submitted by Walsh Construction Co. II, LLC