West Texas Market Report

Although construction activity has slowed in the Panhandle and West Texas, new projects continue to surface and work continues.

“We’re not nearly as busy as we have been the past five or six years, but we have some nice school projects starting in 2010,” says Wiley Hicks III, vice president of Wiley Hicks Jr. Inc., a general contracting firm, and president of the Panhandle of Texas Chapter of the Associated General Contractors, both in Amarillo. “It’s not great, but it’s not horrible.”

Wiley Hicks Jr. is finishing up a new building for the Cardiology Center of Amarillo, and Hicks says the firm has some commercial projects expected to start later in 2010.

Jerry Rohane, president of Western Builders of Amarillo, indicates his firm has stayed busy with school, higher education and industrial projects. It finished one job for Bell Helicopter Textron in Amarillo and expects to start another this fall.

“We’re blessed,” Rohane says. “We don’t have the high highs or the low lows.”

That economic steadiness bodes well for the area, but it cannot completely buffer local contractors from the recession. Rohane expressed some concern that things will slow down in 2011 because Panhandle construction activity typically lags the rest of the nation by a year or so.

“We’re hoping we scoot through this recession, and when [the economy] revives, we will have had little effect,” says Stan Cotgreave, president of Page & Associates Contractors in Amarillo.

Page & Associates has completed about 60% of a $10-million, 60,000-sq-ft, three-story Nursing & Dental Health Center at Amarillo College. The company recently started a $3-million workforce education building at Clarendon College’s Pampa Center.

“We have slowed down, but our economy has not slowed much,” says Tonya Felder, executive director of the Panhandle of Texas Chapter of the Associated General Contractors in Amarillo. 

Felder adds that construction spending was down 6% in 2009 in Amarillo, compared to 2008, “but we have construction going on in the smaller towns around us, which is keeping the contractors busy.”

Carl Daniel, principal of Carl Daniel Architects of El Paso, also expresses optimism. His firm has started design on three medical office buildings since the beginning of 2010, which he considers a indication that things are getting better.

“It’s rebuilding a little bit,” Daniel says.

He cites strong activity at Fort Bliss and says that the El Paso economy has not felt the recession as dramatically as other parts of the country.

K-12 education Rohane says there is pent-up demand for school construction and renovation. Abernathy Independent School District selected Western Builders for a renovation project, and Bushland ISD hired the company for an expansion and renovation. He did not release cost.

Wiley Hicks has focused on a few school projects, including a new $25-million, K-12 campus for Borden County ISD in Gail and a $1.5- to $2-million classroom addition for Wellington ISD in Wellington.

Page & Associates continues work on a new $15-million intermediate school, scheduled for completion in August, for Dumas ISD in Dumas. For the same school district, Page & Associates has started a $4-million addition to the junior high school and a $5-million addition and renovation to the high school. 

University projects There’s still some institutional money out there, Daniel says. In collaboration with PageSoutherlandPage of Dallas, he designed the $45-million College of Health Sciences/School of Nursing for the University of Texas El Paso. Vaughn Construction is building the five-story, 132,000-sq-ft facility, scheduled for completion in April 2011.

Vaughn also is working on a $69-million, 150,186-sq-ft Chemistry and Computer Science Building at UTEP. 

West Texas A&M University in Canyon plans an estimated $71-million worth of construction projects, including a $32.5-million residence hall, with up to 400 beds, which Western Builders expects to start construction on this summer. West East Design Group of San Antonio designed the building.

TAMU expects SpawGlass Construction of Houston to begin construction on a $21.8- million recreational sports complex before the summer break. PBK Architects of Houston is designing the multifield facility.

Lee Lewis Construction in Lubbock has several projects under way for the Texas Tech University System in Lubbock. The company began work last fall on the $70-million, 147,500-sq-ft Rawls College of Business Administration and in December on the $25-million Jerry S. Rawls College of Business Administration Classroom Building renovation.

And Lee Lewis continues constructing the university’s $31-million Jones AT&T Stadium East Side Expansion, a five-story building with 26 suites and 540 club seats, and a $6-million North End Zone Expansion with 6,182 seats.

Turner Construction Co. of Dallas, in a joint venture with Lee Lewis, recently completed the $47-million Overton Hotel and Conference Center in the Overton Park area of Lubbock, adjacent to Texas Tech. Garfield Traub Development of Dallas and 1859 Historic Hotels of Galveston own the hotel and the city owns the conference center.

Matthew Papenfus, vice president and general manager of Turner, is tracking more construction work about to be bid at Texas Tech, including an on-campus, developer-led, mixed-use project; residence halls; and a parking facility.

Public Projects Robins & Morton of Birmingham, Ala., continues work on a $154-million, 354,500-sq-ft bed tower expansion and renovation and new $119-million, 224,500-sq-ft children’s hospital at the University Medical Center of El Paso for the El Paso County Hospital District. Jordan Construction of El Paso serves as a subcontractor, completing site demolition, excavation, utility, concrete and asphalt paving work.

Pat Rhodes, deputy director of aviation for Rick Husband Amarillo International Airport, says Western Builders is about 45% complete and on schedule with its $31.8-million terminal building concourse renovation project.

Journeyman Construction of San Antonio has begun a $14-million restoration of the Potter County Courthouse.

Multiple projects remain under construction at Fort Bliss, but as brigade complexes continue toward completion, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has begun work on more quality-of-life projects.

“We’re at our busiest,” says Steve Wright, account manager for the Fort Bliss Expansion Program for the corps’ Fort Worth District. “Our contractors have been placing work at about $20 million a week for the last six to eight months. And we think that will continue for about another six to eight months.”

Wright says the corps will put up $1-billion worth of projects this fiscal year. Four brigade complexes will wrap up. The corps has about $300-million yet to bid for additional facilities.

John Goodrich, executive vice president of Jordan Construction’s Civil & Concrete Division, says that with the private market tight, 99% of his division’s work is at the base, primarily sitework and concrete paving, with some tilt-up panel construction, for multiple prime contractors. The company also is building a $47.5-million, 243,000-sq-ft Armed Forces Reserve Center & Joint Vehicle Maintenance Facility for the Texas Army National Guard at Fort Bliss.

That project—with a two-story tilt-up concrete structure and a single-story, pre-engineered metal building—is scheduled for completion in May. Jacobs Facilities of Dallas designed the facility.

The corps began a $50-million Warriors in Transition Complex to assist wounded soldiers with recovery. Sundt Construction of Tucson, Ariz., received a $30-million design-build contract to construct the initial phase, a 140,000-sq-ft, three-building, 232-bed barracks.

FPM Remediations of Rome, N.Y. received the $11.1-million phase-two contract to build a 30,000-sq-ft administrative building and a 15,000-sq-ft Soldier and Family Assistance Center. American Recovery and Reinvestment Act money funded that project.

Alutiiq International Solutions of Dallas has completed about 85% of the $19-million Physical Fitness Center and Brigade Combat Team Community Center. Walton Construction Co. in Dallas is building the $42-million Consolidated Family Care/Troop Medical Clinic at the base.

“We’re not just delivering the mission-type stuff but beginning delivering quality-of-life, soldier- and family-support facilities that are needed to make it a community,” Wright says. “Things are moving well and fast.”