Articles by Debra Wood

Diversification, backlogs and sharp pencils have kept some Texas contractors at the top of their game. A snapshot of this is seen in the profiles of the following six firms. Photo: Don Krueger Construction Don Krueger Construction is building Victoria West High School and Harold Cade Middle School in South Texas. E. E. Reed Construction recently completed the 25-story Legacy at Memorial apartment complex in Houston. Don Krueger Construction “We had our best year ever,” says Kevin R. Krueger, president of Don Krueger Construction in Victoria. “We got lucky and got most of our work the summer before everything went

Even though the idea of living in a community with easy access to jobs, public transit or freeways remains popular in Texas, not many projects are moving forward. Photo: TBG Partners TBG Partners provided landscape architecture and site-planning services for the Park 17 community in Dallas. Photo: UDR A rendering of the $1-billion Vitruvian Park, developed by UDR of Denver as an infill redevelopment project in Addison. Andres Construction of Dallas is building the first phase of residential and retail. “There’s still a huge interest by developers for mixed use, but financing is in disarray,” says David Lake, a partner

Since their inception in 1996, the New York Red Bulls soccer club has been a team without a real home. The Major League Soccer franchise has been forced to play at Giants Stadium, a sprawling, cavernous facility built for American football that never gave off that “home field” advantage you look for in a permanent home. Photo: New York Red Bulls After nearly 15 years playing on turf at the Meadowlands in East Rutherford, the New York Red Bulls’ new $200 million facility in nearby Harrison will allow them to play on natural turf - Kentucky Blue Grass. Photo: New

The construction market in North Jersey is not unlike most in the Tri-State region. Private jobs are hard to come by – and even harder to find – and most firms, large and small, find themselves pitted against steep competition for every small health care, education and transportation project that goes out to bid. Photo: Turner Construction Co. Turner Construction Co. is building the $447 million University Medical Center of Princeton at Plainsboro. Photo: Turner Construction Co. Turner will finish the 630,000-sq-f, 237-room Princeton medical facility in 2011 Related Links: New Home “There’s a fairly significant amount of work on

North Texas and Oklahoma have not escaped the economic downturn, with designers and contractors finding fewer construction starts than a couple of years ago. Photo: Scott + Reid. Scott + Reid completed an interior build-out of Energy Future Holdings. Photo: Turner Construction. Turner Construction Co. is building Deloitte University, a learning and leadership development center in Westlake near the Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport. “North Texas, Dallas and Texas as a whole are still fairing well as compared to the rest of the country,” says Matthew Papenfus, vice president and general manager of Turner Construction Co.’s Texas operations in Dallas. “We

...rebuilding the Downtown Inner Dispersal Route. The $75-million project, which includes 44 bridges, is funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. Walton Construction Co. of Dallas received a $20.4-million contract last fall to build a 165,000-sq-ft defense logistics warehouse and distribution center at Tinker Air Force Base in Oklahoma City. Completion is scheduled for 2011. Oklahoma private projects JE Dunn is building the $50-million, 46-bed Oklahoma Heart Hospital South Campus, and Thompson also expects to start construction on two rural hospitals in the coming year. The company has several other projects in the pipeline. He anticipates health

Texas A&M University’s Department of Construction Science has teamed up with Skanska USA Building to create a unique learning opportunity for students. Photo: Skanska USA. Texas A&M students are learning about construction management from Skanska USA Building officials as the company constructs the school’s Agricultural Headquarters Building. Photo: PageSoutherlandPage. PageSoutherlandPage designed the 150,000-sq-ft classroom building for the University of Houston Sugar Land and Wharton County Junior College. “The Agriculture Headquarters Building in College Station has been a teaching laboratory,” says Matt Daniel, vice president of Skanska in Houston. Skanska officials guest lectured in a senior capstone class and held the

Military project starts remain strong throughout the four-state region. But how long can it last? Photo: Walton Construction Co. Walton Construction Co. of Harahan, La., is building a barracks complex at Parris Island, S.C. Photo: AeroPhoto, www.aerophoto.com VOA Associates of Orlando is the designer of record for the $21-million barracks complex for the Echelons Above Brigade at Fort Stewart, Ga. Image: BPRH ShenkelShultz Architecture of Orlando designed and Balfour Beatty Construction is building an elementary and middle school at Fort Bragg, N.C. Image courtesy of Balfour Beatty Construction. Image: BPRH BRPH Cos. of Melbourne, Fla., designed a $7-million, Child Development

Baseball, transportation and education have become the top construction markets in Miami, an area where residential condominium work has hit a wall and public work has taken precedence. Photo: Odebrecht Construction Miami International Airport and the surrounding area is one of the areas in Miami where construction activity is robust. Projects include MIA’s North Terminal, an extension of Miami’s light-rail line (pictured here) and the Miami Intermodal Center. Image: Turner Construction Co. Miami Dade College is constructing a hospitality management building in downtown Miami. Related Links: Game Changer Image: Suffolk Construction Suffolk Construction expects to complete Florida International University’s School