GREELEY • One might say that Zachary Mannheimer is a bit of a riverboat gambler — a calculated one, though. 

As founder and chairman of Greeley-based Alquist 3D, Mannheimer didn’t follow the most conventional path into the world of 3D concrete printing (3DCP) for commercial and home construction. 

Mannheimer initially thought his calling was the performing arts, specifically theater. 

He was so inspired and driven by the performing arts that after graduating with a bachelor’s degree in theater and philosophy from Muhlenberg College in Pennsylvania, he packed his bags and moved to London for two years, where he immersed himself in theater. 

His acting dream didn’t end across the Atlantic. 

Mannheimer remained persistent in his theatrical pursuit and moved to New York, where he continued to work in theater, running some theater companies and restaurants because, as he said, “Theater doesn’t always pay the bills.” 

He lived in Brooklyn for 10 years before deciding a change was necessary for his own personal and professional growth.   

“I knew I wanted to be in a smaller place that would challenge my belief systems,” Mannheimer said. “I was surrounded by only people I agreed with. I wanted to challenge myself more, so in 2007, I did a road trip to 22 cities around the country to figure out where I wanted to live, and I chose Des Moines (Iowa).”

The move to Iowa proved to be a good one for Mannheimer. He lived in the area for 16 years and worked in community development. One of his jobs, principal community placemaker, was with an engineering company.

Contacts emerged, as did ideas, leading Mannheimer to launch Alquist in late 2020. The company remained in Iowa until 2023, when it moved its headquarters to Greeley.

Alquist is a leading construction technology company that specializes in 3D-printed structures and infrastructure.

The company’s name evokes symbolism of Mannheimer’s theater roots. Alquist was a character in the 1920 satirical play “Rossum’s Universal Robots.” The Alquist website highlights that Alquist, the play’s main engineer, is the only character in the story who believes that humans and robots can coexist peacefully.

Revolutionizing the game

It’s apparent to Mannheimer that 3D printing and robots are the wave of the future in construction design. 

“I want to educate the masses in how to use this technology,” Mannheimer said. “I want people to go to their local hardware stores and rent a 3D concrete printer and redo their retaining wall, redo their driveway, redo their sidewalk, redo their curbing system — just get creative with it and do some sculptures. 

“The builders that are actually building today, I want them to be going and using this technology. Ultimately, it’s going to be greener for the planet. It’s going to be less expensive and it’s safer.”

He acknowledged, “We still have a long way to go to prove all these things and really show how this can scale.”

Alquist, though, is gaining leverage and traction. In 2021, the company built the first 3D-printed home in Virginia. The company has worked closely with Habitat for Humanity on several housing and construction projects, but most recently netted its largest contract with Walmart. 

In November 2025, the company announced it would now print more than a dozen new Walmart buildings, as well as buildings for other commercial retailers. Alquist had previously printed Walmart buildings in Tennessee and Alabama in 2024. 

The deal with Walmart, along with partnerships with Hugg & Hall, a construction and equipment rental dealership, and FMGI, a full-service general contractor, arguably makes Alquist the largest-scale commercial real-estate development using 3D printing technology in the U.S. 

“For the first time ever in our industry, we have the right partners in place to scale 3DCP (3D construction printing) at a massive level,” Alquist CEO Patrick Callahan said in a release. “For years, 3DCP has been an emerging idea. Now it’s a proven solution being deployed by some of the nation’s largest companies … and it’s only the beginning of what 3D printing will do for commercial construction.”    

Mannheimer believes the agreement with Walmart will create the leverage and experience needed to make 3DCP more mainstream at the residential level. 

“This new announcement of us doing a dozen more (Walmarts) is huge for the industry,” Mannheimer said, “and the biggest reason why is that we needed the scale to learn how to drop costs and be able to buy in bulk and get the cost of the material down. We haven’t shown this yet, but we believe that next year we’re going to be able use this technology to go back into residential (construction). We are looking to show how we can drop these costs.”

Connecting in Greeley

Although Colorado has experienced a bit of a reputational fallout nationally in attracting business — it was depicted as the sixth-most-regulated state in the U.S. by a 2024 report by the Colorado Chamber of Commerce — the state and the city of Greeley succeeded in drawing Alquist to Colorado.   

The state and Greeley offered about $4 million in incentives that enticed Alquist to relocate its headquarters to Greeley ahead of a handful of other states. 

“Greeley is one of the places (on the Front Range) poised for growth,” Mannheimer said. “They haven’t grown dramatically like the other towns that are adjacent to them. They also have a lot of space, and they have a lot of water. I think the City of Greeley has prepared itself very well.”

Mannheimer said that an even bigger draw to relocating to Greeley was the opportunity to partner with Aims Community College. 

Alquist had partnered with Aims Community College in 2023 and helped the college integrate 3D-printing equipment and operations into the school’s construction management program. 

Alquist and Aims collaborated to offer an online 3D-printing course in 2024 and began launching hands-on physical in-person courses in 2025.

“We have so many fantastic things going on at Aims right now that I’m trying to keep them straight, but it’s been a fantastic partnership with Alquist,” Aims Community College President Leah Bornstein said. “When they were looking for a different home for their headquarters, they really wanted to make sure it had a community college because of their philosophy and organizational values of education and just giving back to the community. We met with Zach Mannheimer and (CEO) Patrick Callahan, and when we learned more about their vision and how they wanted to integrate their business model into higher education, it really was a no-brainer to partner with them.”

Former Aims Continuing Education Manager Rina Mitchell said the courses are gaining traction and that the school is looking to collaborate with Alquist to offer more courses. 

“It’s been a huge win for us,” Mitchell said. “With it being part of our continuing education program, the courses are non-credit, so folks do have to pay for this out of pocket, but they come from across the U.S. to learn about 3D construction printing (3DCP). The course evaluations from the participants have been amazing.”

The company and college announced in late January that Alquist donated $25,000 to provide scholarships for students and participants in 3D-printing workshops, and that Alquist would become the first industry tenant at the Aims Workforce Innovation Center (AWIC), which is under construction and scheduled to open in the fall.

The AWIC will be the first innovation incubator in Weld County, according to an Aims release.

Bornstein and others affiliated with Aims and Alquist are excited about the development of the AWIC and the partnership with Alquist. 

“Zach as a human being is great,” she said. “He is really committed to both the business and industry side, as well as the education and human impact side.”

Mannheimer not only applies the creative process to his business but also occasionally to his theatrical roots. He proudly directs the plays and school musicals at his children’s elementary school. 

“I definitely get a kick out of doing that, and helping them out,” Mannheimer said.