The Daily Standard
Story Archive
Boardwalk Village, developed by RCS Construction, is a walkable vacation rental community along West Bank Road in Celina that opened in June 2022. In addition to cottages and townhouses, the community has boat dock rentals and other amenities.
Photo courtesy BCE
CELINA - Since its humble beginnings as a residential basement-digging operation, Bruns Construction Enterprises over nearly 75 years has morphed into a regional juggernaut in the construction, development and property/construction management industries.
Though regarded as a long-established, exemplary organization in the area and beyond, stamping its indelible mark on projects such as the 104,000-square-foot Celina Tent manufacturing facility, the Boardwalk Village and Fairway Place Apartments, the Bruns family of associate-owned businesses is in many ways just getting started.
"We're in Ontario (Ohio) now with the mall, and we're working in Cleveland, we're in Cincinnati, we're in Toledo, we're south of Columbus," said BCE President Randy Bruns. "We will probably be in Kentucky, probably Illinois. We have projects coming up in those areas, so I see us continuing to grow."
At the same time, BCE remains fully committed to growing the local area.
"I consider anything within an hour impacts most of us and our children, so we just want a better community," Bruns said.
Today, BCE is a third-generation, umbrella company consisting of seven primary divisions - Bruns General Contracting in Tipp City, Bruns Building & Development in St. Henry, RCS Construction in Celina, Ohio and Indiana Roofing North in St. Henry, Ohio and Indiana Roofing South in Springfield, Bruns Industrial Construction in Sidney, and Glassco in Piqua.
"Most of our growth has been related to the (Interstate) 75 corridor, and then, of course, Springfield was a growth toward Columbus," Bruns noted. "The strategic move was to try to get more into the Columbus market, so that's why we have the Springfield offices."
Combined, the Bruns family businesses have over 300 employees who together maintain 100% ownership.
"The (Bruns) family runs the board and still kind of directs the company … but we are an ESOP (Employee Stock Ownership Plan) company, so it means we're associate-owned," Bruns said.
BCE has a full-service team of project managers, designers, construction crews and other professionals working across its divisions.
"(The divisions) are our line of services. Obviously, this gets broken down into so many different parts and pieces, and that's why we're proud to be Bruns, because we have all of these entities that can work together," explained BCE Marketing Coordinator Brianna Obringer. "Each division specializes in their own type of construction."
Suffice to say, BCE has a multitude of opportunities to expand its portfolio and serve customers in a multitude of industries.
"Development, obviously, is a huge entity that we've started with Bruns Construction where we are buying land or we are buying older buildings such as malls … and we've been revitalizing and developing (them)," she said.
Robert and Florence Bruns. In 1951, Robert E. Bruns founded R.E.B. Construction, a one-man business he operated out of his home.
In 1951, Robert E. Bruns founded R.E.B Construction, a one-man business he operated out of his home, doing odd jobs with his car and one-wheel trailer. The next year, R.E.B. Construction took on partner Jack Bruns, added a carpenter and embarked on building new homes and pouring residential basements, according to the company history.
In 1956, R.E.B. Construction purchased 2 acres in Cranberry Prairie where the original office and workshop were built. In fact, Bruns Building & Development and Ohio and Indiana Roofing North continue to operate out of the same office.
With the loving support of his wife, Florence, and his seven sons and daughter, and a solid foundation based on faith, honesty and efficiency, Robert Bruns went on to see the business expand exponentially. R.E.B. Construction would became Bruns Building and Development.
"He was building barns, homes, and then he started getting equipment, then he started digging basements, and then it just gradually grew to doing developments," Bruns said of his father. "He was blessed because he was very intelligent. He had an engineering mind so he could figure anything out. That's what really helped him, and plus he had the entrepreneurial spirit to where he wasn't afraid to take chances."
For the most part, Robert and Florence Bruns' children started working for the company right out of high school, Bruns said.
The company purchased Rockford Lumber in 1979, enabling it to enter the retail construction sector. The lumberyard would be renamed RCS Construction in 1998, when it moved to its current location on Hellwarth Road west of Celina.
"We focus on commercial and development, but we dive into a little bit of residential," Obringer said of RCS Construction.
Bruns General Contracting was established in Troy in 1982 to better serve the Miami Valley region. It moved to its current office in Tipp City in 1999.
"They do a lot of design-build as well as steel," Obringer said. "They do a lot of work focused in Tipp City, Troy, Dayton area, so you'll see their trucks around a lot in that area."
Growth remained steady through all of BCE's eras, whether it was building structures and homes or expanding into other types of work.
In 1990, Bruns Building and Supply became Bruns Building and Development, which does a lot of excavation work and a lot of design-build, according to Obringer.
Six years later, Ohio and Indiana Roofing was added to BCE's line of businesses. Specialized in commercial and industrial roofing, it has locations in St. Henry and Springfield and was involved with projects such as the Dayton Arcade, the Apollo Career Center, projects for Springfield Schools, the Van Wert downtown revitalization, and the PNC and Chase high-rise buildings.
"Ohio and Indiana Roofing, they just got granted to work on the new Buc-ee's in Huber Heights, so that's a big project for them coming up," Obringer reported.
Another company milestone was the the purchase of the 1-million-plus square-foot AGCO Corp. building in Coldwater, now called the Sycamore Group complex, that leases space for companies and offers access to railroads, loading docks and other essential amenities.
Boardwalk Village, developed by RCS Construction, is a walkable vacation rental community along West Bank Road in Celina that opened in June 2022. In addition to cottages and townhouses, the community has boat dock rentals and other amenities.
Photo courtesy BCE
In 2020, development got underway on the Boardwalk Village, consisting of a restaurant renovation, vacation rental cottages, marketplace and swimming pools. More cottages are planned under the next phase of the project.
"It's well exceeded its expectations," Bruns said. "We do corporate winter stays. In the summer it's mainly vacationers. We've had a lot of them that have been back five, six, seven times."
Then in 2021, Bruns Industrial Construction was established in Sidney, which does everything from design-build projects to pipe fitting and electrical work.
Over the last few years, BCE purchased the former Racquet Club in Celina and transformed it into the Shipyard Sports & Event Center, which is an extension of the Boardwalk Village complex of businesses and adds a new dimension to that development's offerings.
"It's great to have the kids a place to play in a nice, clean facility, but the other thing is that hopefully we can do high-quality training, and our next growth is going to be personalized or team training," Bruns said of the vision for the Shipyard venture. "This is our opportunity to help each community continue to grow and improve."
After less than a year of construction, Fairway Apartments opened in October 2023.
The complex features high-end amenities and communal-style living, located between CJ's HighMarks and Mercer Savings Bank and is owned by C.J. Nelson Rentals LLC.
The project is a partnership of BCE, Celina Insurance Group and Jeff Nelson, officials said at its groundbreaking
Another recent addition was Glassco, a full-service glass company which opened in Piqua.
"We do storefronts and different (projects) like that," Obringer noted, citing the Eldora Ballroom renovation at Eldora Speedway as one of the projects it has assisted with.
BCE is also a partner in the revitalization of former Miami Valley Centre Mall into the Piqua Center. It's also involved in the development of the The Ontario Center, previously known as the Richland Mall, in Ontario, Ohio.
Bruns Building & Development works on a project near the University of Dayton Arena and Welcome Stadium in Dayton.
Whenever logistics and other favorable circumstances align, BCE's multiple divisions will collaborate on a project.
"It's not always possible because everybody's busy, right?" Bruns said. "Sometimes your schedule just doesn't allow. But if you can, you want to incorporate everybody."
There are two primary advantages to the all-hands-on-deck approach, according to Bruns.
"You can control the quality, you can control the price. But also you have tighter control over the project from start to finish. So the more you self-perform in our business, the easier it is," he said.
It also allows for work to proceed with fewer disruptions.
Nowadays, BCE places a strong emphasis on development.
"There's the construction part where we work for others and we're building something," Bruns said. "And then you've got the part where we develop, where we buy a piece of ground, we design it, we set up another business structure and then we go make it happen."
Examples include the Boardwalk Village, The Shipyard and the Piqua Center.
"Our growth is going to be in our development (work), no question. We'll continue to grow in the construction side, don't get me wrong, but we're doing bigger projects all the time," Bruns said.
"I think that's where a lot of our growth has been in the last few years and it will continue to grow because we take ownership of that project and we run with that," Obringer added. "Obviously, then, we need growth in our team for that."
RCS Construction employees huddle to review design plans of a project. The firm is primarily focused on commercial and development work.
At the end of the day, BCE would be nowhere without its 300-plus employees, Obringer emphasized.
"Think about all the parts and pieces within the company … it's not just the trades guys," Obringer said. "We have obviously a marketing department, an accounting department. It takes all of those people and the leadership to be able to make that happen."
A huge goal for the entire enterprise is finding the right people and placing them in the areas where they will succeed.
"We have an entire human resources and recruiting team, and they try to connect with local students as much as we can, and with different trade schools," Obringer said.
And that dogged pursuit has been fruitful.
"You'd be amazed at how many young people are here - and talented young people," Bruns said. "Our culture is absolutely amazing. It's a faith-and-family, high-energy culture. We're pretty blessed. That's why we've been able to grow - because of the culture."
And the employees have just as much riding on the company's overall success.
In 2016, BCE became an ESOP company, meaning it's 100% associate-owned, a fact that will allow it continue as an intact organization well into the future, Bruns said.
"You're starting to see it around here. It's becoming more and more popular because people are seeing the success of it. With the ESOP you see a different level of participation in our daily efforts," he said. "They're basically reaping the benefits of their efforts. You're sharing in all that instead of it just staying in 10 people's pockets."
