New York City-based AKRF has kept a low profile since its start in a Manhattan loft in 1981 as an early specialist in the then-new field of mandated project environmental review, as its website notes. But the firm has come to occupy a key project role as infrastructure development and its environmental requirements have boomed, particularly on high-profile New York-region programs that are completed and underway.
AKRF has grown along with that niche—as revenue rose nearly 9% last year to about $75.7 million, landing the engineer at No. 191 on this year’s Top 500 list. As AKRF has expanded regionally to about 350 employees, it touts its larger-firm “breadth and resources” and “the specialized know-how and attentiveness” of a boutique.