Kidder Jefferys Construction specializes in local historic restoration projects.

The firm works closely with architects and engineers all located in the same building, Erie's historic Dickson Tavern.

A key project the firm is now focused on is Canalside.

The company is transforming two crumbling 1875 duplexes into a dozen apartments.

The multi-million dollar project is spearheaded by Erie's Tom Hagen.

Kidder Jefferys Construction President Mike Jefferys said, "It is a real full blown exterior restoration and then a reuse of the inside."

The company began six years ago handling the renovation of the Watson-Curtze  mansion.

It is now the Hagen History Center.

Kidder Jefferys also restoring other buildings on the Erie Historical Society campus, including the Wood Morrison house.

Other high profile projects done by the company include work on the former Pufferbellys Restaurant, at one time a city fire house.

It was transformed into the Erie Insurance events center.

And the company turned the old Rothrock Building on West 10th Street into the showplace headquarters of VNET

The biggest challenge facing the construction company is getting the craftsmen needed to do historic restoration projects.

Mike Jefferys said, "There is a construction boom that continues in western Pennsylvania, and there are not that many specialty contractors available."

But the company has managed to find the works it needs, with a backlog of jobs waiting to be done.