Editor’s note: This is one in a series of stories, looking ahead to 2010.

Hamm Inc. isn’t shedding employees, cutting benefits, reimagining its customer needs or closing up shop.

When you’ve got a $130 million project in your tank, you just keep on rolling — and hoping.

“The nice thing about it is we’re right here at home,” said Ron Nadvornik, project manager for Perry-based Hamm, general contractor for an overhaul and reconstruction of the Kansas Turnpike at Lawrence. “We’ve got three years’ worth of work. We’ve had work right here. We haven’t had to chase work all around the state.”

Just a few months shy of retirement, Nadvornik knows how fortunate both he and his employer are, given the economic climate that has spurred intense price-cutting for bids, increasing bankruptcies for subcontractors, unexpected mergers for competitors and continued worries about job security among construction workers and others throughout the business world.

“Everybody’s just trying to get by,” he said, with a shrug. “We’re hoping that by the time this job’s done, things won’t be quite so desperate.”

Nadvornik’s far from alone.

Throughout the Lawrence area, the business world is peering into 2010 in search of an improving financial forecast.

From builders to bankers, retailers to Realtors, the hope is that the bottom has been reached, the recovery has begun and the future can return to its familiar brightness once again.

“I’m always a ‘glass half-full’ kind of guy,” said Tim Stultz, president of Highland Construction, who intends to finish construction of 15 homes this year and sell them all, along with what’s left of his remaining inventory. “I always look for things to be good and rosy.”

Back in the game

Mike McGrew, chairman and CEO of McGrew Real Estate, has been looking for such positive indications for a while, and now he’s giving himself reason to believe.

Among the signs of progress:

• The city, Douglas County, Kansas University and Kansas Bioscience Authority plan to open a new $7.25 million bioscience incubator this spring on KU’s West Campus, a place designed to accommodate new and growing tech companies. Officials expect six to 10 companies to occupy the 20,000 square feet, employing a total of 70 to 100 people.

• City officials recently agreed to purchase and renovate a portion of the former Oread Laboratories campus at Bob Billings Parkway and Wakarusa Drive, part of an effort to retain CritiTech LLC in Lawrence and to accommodate other promising biotech firms to locate and grow in Lawrence.

• The decision of Deciphera Pharmaceuticals to remain in Lawrence, setting up in space in downtown Lawrence instead of leaving town. Among factors driving the company’s growth: Deciphera signed a deal in October 2008 to collaborate on research with Eli Lilly and Co., a deal that could provide Deciphera with up to $130 million in capital, depending on the meeting of certain benchmarks.

In such projects, McGrew sees the potential for an increasing number of high-wage jobs that can help spur an expanding tax base for the community, thereby improving conditions for all businesses.

Even a community loss is a sign of progress, he said: Lawrence missed out after being among the final four communities considered for a manufacturing plant that would have employed about 250 people, making components for power-generating wind turbines.

Turns out an 87-acre site at the East Hills Business Park didn’t satisfy all of the company’s needs, he said.

“It’s encouraging that we’re back on site selectors’ maps, that the city and county and chamber (of commerce) all appear to be energized in rolling out the red carpet,” McGrew said. “I’m encouraged by the attitude. We had to have the attitude change, and we just need a few more trips to the plate and we’ll hit a home run. And I’m sure we will.”

Spending ahead?

Among the swings for a miss: Sauer-Danfoss Inc., poised to complete its announced closure in Lawrence by the end of June. In September, when the company disclosed its plans, the manufacturing plant in the East Hills Business Park had 100 employees and a reputation among the finest corporate citizens in town.

Fewer then 25 employees were expected to receive offers to transfer to other company plants.

“This is heartbreaking for us all,” said Matt Bendler, human resources director for the company’s North American headquarters in Iowa, as he announced the impending closure. “It’s a wonderful facility, with absolutely fantastic employees. … We’re trying to come up with ways to be as creative as we can get, but unfortunately there are only so many pure layoffs we can do. Then it’s plant closures.”

Such job insecurity may be weighing on many Lawrence residents — tempering home sales, moderating consumer spending, spurring restrictions on lending and more — but others continue to keep their chins up.

Steve Jones, who moved back to Lawrence in July after leaving town upon graduation from KU 30 years ago, sees plenty of signals for a relatively robust economy. He’s a sales manager for a company that sells micronutrients to farmers in eight states, and the bountiful 2009 harvests for corn and soybeans — thanks to timely moisture and favorable temperatures — look to help bolster spending in the agricultural sector in 2010.

Farmers may have cut back on expenses this past year, he said, but pumping money back into the ground is inevitable for the next 12 months.

“It’s going to go up,” said Jones, whose Wolf Trax territory spans Kansas, Iowa, Nebraska, Colorado, Oklahoma, Texas, Arkansas and Louisiana. “They can’t just keep cutting back — that depletes the nutrients out of the soil. They’ll have to spend the money.”

Opportunistic approach

Jones also expects such necessary spending to take root in other sectors of the economy. Look for homeowners to address deferred maintenance and businesses to move into new or opportunistic markets. And while some retail shops will close, additional shopping spaces — such as the Bauer Farm area northwest of Sixth Street and Wakarusa Drive — will sprout up to take advantage of opportunities.

“I don’t see people cutting back at all,” he said.

That’s what Nadvornik, the project manager for Hamm, is counting on. Hamm itself recently was acquired by Summit Materials LLC, a new Washington, D.C.-based holding company that is focused on mining and materials, and officials continue to look out for new opportunities.

The turnpike project is set to end in 2011, after all.

“We have people that will be able to work here, every day, to get us through these tough economic times,” he said. “There’s a real pride of accomplishment when you get to work on a job like this.”