A Mover and Shaker:
Moving 1,150-ton houses makes heads shake

Monday, September 21, 1998
By Sharon Wernlund, Palm Beach Post Staff Writer

PORT ST. LUCIE -
Like the ancient Egyptians, Kim Brownie has moved the unthinkable - from a Burger King and sprawling mansion to a 300-ton research vessel grounded by Hurricane Andrew.

"I'm the crazy guy who says we're going to move this thing no matter what," says Brownie, 49 of Kim Brownie & Sons Moving Engineers in Port St. Lucie.

"Don't tell me no cause I will prove you wrong,"

It all started in 1902 with Kim's grandfather in New York's Long Island. The late James A. Brownie was dragging shacks with a team of mules, a wagon with wooden wheels and animal fat to grease the way.

With today's technology and hydraulic muscle, the family-owned business now tackles what Brownie describes as the "oddball stuff" in the hundreds and hundreds of tons.

"We go after anything that's a heavy object" says Brownie. "It could be a piece of machinery, a statue or monument, a bridge, historic buildings or large ships."

Last Fourth of July, it was a 175 ton transformer. After one of FPL's transformers blew, Brownie hauled a spare one from Hobe Sound to Fort Pierce to avoid a power outage for thousands of customers in St. Lucie and Martin counties.

"We cleared one of the bridges on I-95 by just 2 inches" Brownie says.

His biggest move took place last spring with a 1,150-ton concrete block and masonry home in Boca Raton. To make way for a larger residence, the owner donated the house to be used as a library for Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute in Fort Pierce.

It was Brownie's job to float it there.

Workers cut the house into three pieces, with the largest section weighing 835 tons. They used 64 hydraulic jacks to lift it off the ground and then wheeled onto a 200-by-55 foot barge. Then, the unusual cargo was floated 90 miles north through 15 drawbridges.

"Offloading was the tricky part" Brownie says. "As we came off, we had to keep that barge level. Otherwise, it was going to pop up like a cork."

How do you stabilize 835 tons?

At just the right intervals, workers pumped 192,000 gallons of water into the barge compartments as the 12,000-square-foot building was rolled onto land.

Brownie, who says he "eats,sleeps and drinks moving," relishes challenges of such enormous proportions.


This family photo shows how things were moved in 1902 - with mules, a wooden wagon and animal fat to grease the skids.

"The magnitude of this stuff doesn't bother me" Brownie says. "You are safer around here than driving on I-95. "In this industry, it is too easy to make a mistake," Brownie says. "You're out in the limelight all the time. You really don't get a second chance. You've got to be as close to perfect as you can be."

Brownie was 8 when he started helping in the family business. He proudly shares old photographs of the company's jobs and its brushes with he rich and famous. In the 1950's and 60's, clients included Zsa Zsa Gabor and the Henry Ford estate in Southampton, N.Y.

But the moving business was stagnant during the winter. In 1982, Kim Brownie, now at the helm, decided to move to St. Lucie County to a friendlier climate.

What had been an established business in New York was suddenly an unknown on the Treasure Coast. It would take Brownie years to regain his reputation.

His big break came in 1992 when Brownie moved a 490-ton, 4,700-square-foot Burger King from the Treasure Coast Square mall in Jensen Beach to the East Port Plaza in Port St. Lucie.

"The locals finally saw what we were capable of," Brownie says. "There were thousands of people lined up that night. We were astounded to see the public's turnout."

Today, Brownie is busy with residential and commercial jobs from Boca Raton to Vero Beach. A fourth generation of sons - Jeremy, Jed, and twins Jarett and Jamison - all work for the company now. Brownie's wife, Jill is office manager and his brother, Tim, is the company's craftsman.

Brownie, who has won several awards from the International Association of Structural Movers, is humble about his company's accomplishments. "We got it easy today," he says. "Think about what the Egyptians did with the pyramids."