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High-stakes engineering
Jim Peck receives recognition for his work in $225 million casino project
Before 1993, the closest Jim Peck had ever come to gambling was playing cards with
fellow Rose-Hulman students around the kitchen table at his parents’ house.
“Mostly, I lost. But the stakes weren’t high and we had a lot of fun,” he
says, smiling while recalling the college memory.
Peck isn’t losing now. And, the stakes are much higher.
The 1985 civil engineering graduate played a lead role in the construction of three
Indiana riverboat casino sites during the past five years, including the grandiose Argosy
Casino near Lawrenceburg, Ind. The $225 million project was named Indiana’s Civil
Engineering Project of the Year by the Indiana section of the American Society of Civil
Engineers.
“It was an engineering marvel that required a coordinated effort of engineers,
architects, contractors, artists and interior decorators, government officials, community
leaders, and hundreds of employees working around the clock,” says Peck, former
special projects manager for American Consulting Engineers, Inc., of Indianapolis. (He is
now a senior project manager for The Schneider Corp. of Indianapolis.)
“It may have seemed like we were flying by the seat of our pants, but everything was
so well-planned. We did our homework. There was no room for failure,” he said.
Within 12 months, the 15-acre site became home to the largest riverboat in America
(including riverside and landside pavilions), a 300-room hotel, a 1,700-car parking
garage, a remote surface parking/shuttle lot with 1,600 additional spaces, and a
1,100-foot-long by 300-foot-wide boat slip onto the Ohio River (designed to protect
patrons and the riverboat during a 500-year flood).
That’s not all. Peck’s ACE team had 150 archaeologists excavating 150,000
artifacts from ancient Indian settlements; purchase and remove a railroad track which
bisects the site; constructed a new floodgate to allow vehicular traffic to access the
riverside pavilion and casino during non-flood stages; expanded U.S. 50 to meet the
expected increase in vehicular traffic into Lawrenceburg; created a 24-acre wetlands
migration area; and created an additional 75-acre woodlands migration area.
The project required 85 separate federal, state, county and local permits.
However, not even the worst flooding along the Ohio River in 50 years could keep the site
from being complete on Dec. 10, 1997 — three days ahead of schedule. Missing the
deadline could have meant loss of the casino’s gambling license — a costly
proposition, indeed.
“At one point Merrill Lynch reported that meeting the construction deadline was
‘doubtful.’ However, we knew the project was going to be done by Dec. 13, no
matter what the cost. There was too much at stake . . . It’s amazing how much got
done during the last month of the project,” said Peck, pointing out that the project
was within its construction budget, without major delays (despite the March ‘97
flood) and without a construction accident.
“It was an awesome team of people that worked together for one goal: Meeting the
customer’s goal,” he said.
Peck also had project management responsibilities in ACE’s design of the $200 million
Empress Casino in Hammond, Ind., from 1994-97 and the $175 million Blue Chip Casino in
Michigan City, Ind., from 1996-98.
“I envisioned this as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,” says Peck, who often
helped supervise 30 different projects at a time. “It was a rewarding experience.
However, I don’t know if I would do three casinos at once again.”
After graduating from Rose-Hulman, Peck was a resident engineer with the Illinois
Department of Transportation (1985-86), project manager for MSE Corporation, Inc.
(1986-91), design-build manager for Construction Consultants, Inc. (1991-92), and site
department head for Paul I. Cripe, Inc. (1992-94) before being with ACE (1994-98).
Now, with The Schneider Corp., the Terre Haute native is becoming a multidisciplined
project manager, expanding his management and customer relations skills.
“I try to understand a client’s business and find the underlying goals to
achieve his or her success,” he said. “I want to be proactive rather than
reactive. It makes everyone a winner.”
Like Jim Peck.
— by Dale Long
 
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