First comes natural gas, then the infrastructure needed to support it. That's a formula that has meant growth for the Texas and Louisiana construction industry over the past few years. The end result is continuing strength for the region's specialty contractors. Related Links: Engineering News Record Architectural Record This year's ENR survey of Texas and Louisiana's Top Specialty Contractors drew 98 responses. Firms reported more than $7.425 billion in regional revenue across both states. That's a gain of nearly $300 million over the top 98 firms in last year's ranking.Bolstered MarketsFive of the top 10 firms in this year's ranking
The Colony, Texas, a suburb of Dallas, is the site of a new 1.9-million-sq-ft home-furnishing mecca quickly nearing completion. Nebraska Furniture Mart's latest store, and its first in Texas, is a $156.8-million behemoth that will include 564,000 sq ft of retail space; a 1.3-million-sq-ft warehouse and pickup area; an 800,000-sq-ft, 2,000-space, five-story parking garage; and a data center and central utility plant. Related Links: Nebraska Furniture Mart NFM Blog Turner Construction Co. 2013 Top Starts in Texas & Louisiana Work began on the project in March 2013, and Turner Construction Co., the construction manager, anticipates a Dec. 1 completion, well
Rick Whitney has been appointed CEO of Adolfson & Peterson Inc. (A&P), effective Oct. 1. He succeeds interim CEO Steven Pinney, who held the position since CEO Doug Jaeger stepped down in December. Pinney will continue to serve A&P as chairman of the board of directors. Whitney spent the last six years as president and CEO of M+W U.S. Inc., based in Watervliet, N.Y. Related Links: People: Texas & Louisiana: August 2014 People: Texas & Louisiana: June 2014 FKP Architects has added several new staff members.Elizabeth Nilsen joins FKP as the new chief financial officer. Nilsen assumes the position following
Combining a booming construction market like that in Texas and Louisiana with a strategy to maximize opportunities in the right places is working out well for Baton Rouge, La.-based electrical contractor The Newtron Group. Related Links: ENR Texas & Louisiana's Top Specialty Contractors: Main Ranking ENR Texas & Louisiana's Top Specialty Contractors: Rankings by Sector The firm posted regional revenue of $282.25 million in 2013, a gain of nearly $100 million over 2012, placing it at No. 6 on ENR Texas & Louisiana's annual ranking of Top Specialty Contractors. That's up five spots from last year. The firm was ranked
A watchdog group focused on federal spending at the Savannah River site, a nuclear complex in Aiken, S.C., is raising new concerns about the delayed, $7.7-billion Mixed-Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility project after the contractor filed a "routine" request to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission for a 10-year construction extension. Photo courtesy Savannah River Site Watch The contractor leading the $7.7-billion Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility project at the Savannah River Site has requested a 10-year extension for construction authorization from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Related Links: DOE: Nuclear Agency's Initial OK of MOX Project Violated Standards Construction, Operational Challenges Endanger $7.7B
Hard Rock Construction of Metairie, La., is preparing to break ground on a $13.3 million intermodal terminal at the Port of New Orleans. Related Links: Hard Rock Construction Port of New Orleans The 12-acre project will feature 10,000 linear ft of rail track and five acres of heavy duty paving to accommodate the transfer of intermodal containers between ships, trucks and trains. Hard Rock Construction will also install electrical, drainage and utility systems along with new water feeds for additional fire hydrants.Port of New Orleans spokesperson Matt Gresham says the project is part of the ongoing expansion of the Napoleon
Hammered by the Great Recession, many contractors across the Southeast, and nationwide, have become "lean and mean," paring down staff and other assets to succeed in today's new construction economy. But one contractor, Batson-Cook Construction, is getting lean and not-so mean, by utilizing lean construction methods to build nearly a dozen prototypical high-rise apartment projects across the Southeast and Texas. Related Links: Applying Lean to a Specialty Contracting Company Builders Solve Calatrava's Polytechnic Puzzle In 2011, the contractor, along with its development arm, Batson-Cook Development Co., competed for and won the assignment to build a series of towers for Atlanta-based
Robert Clifford, CLIFFORDformerly executive director of the Tampa Bay Area Regional Transportation Authority (TBARTA), has joined Parsons Brinckerhoff as vice president and Tampa area manager. Clifford has 28 years of experience in the planning and construction of transportation facilities. As TBARTA's executive director from 2009 to 2014, Clifford served as the chief executive and administrative officer for the seven-county regional transportation agency with responsibility for planning, designing, operating and constructing facilities and services in the Tampa Bay area. Related Links: Slideshow: The Southeast's Top 20 Under 40 PB's Tampa office announced that James Lynch has been named a senior supervising
Across the Southeast, specialty contractors are finding out that this construction recovery isn't arriving via a wave or even a slow upward curve. Instead, this post-recession rebound is coming together on a piece-by-piece basis, like a massive puzzle that's only now starting to reveal its overall picture. Photo courtesy Gate Precast Concrete Progress Gate Precast is providing a unique set of precast concrete panels to the Miami Science Museum project, which is being led by Skanska USA. Photo courtesy of NASA Up and Away? At Kennedy Space Center, Florida, NASA is renovating its Vehicle Assembly Building to accommodate the next
Just as repeat visitors to Central Florida's theme parks typically find new rides and attractions alongside old favorites, the region's contractors and subcontractors are finding the current uptick in activity similar, yet different from post-downturn periods of the past. Related Links: Southeast Specialty Firms Still Seeking Market Stability Southeast Top Specialty Contractors Ranking To be sure, the market's typically strong segments—multifamily apartments and condominiums, hospitality and health care—are once again leading the way, along with some government and sports initiatives.But it's how these projects are being executed that is defining this current construction environment. Most notably, say regional players, the
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