EMJ Corporation: The First Fifty Years

E M J C O R P O R AT I O N THE FIRST FIFTY YEARS

E M J C O R P O R AT I O N

Create Centre in Cartersville, Georgia, is a three-story creative “think tank” built for Shaw Industries Group Inc.

II

E M J C O R P O R AT I O N THE FIRST FIFTY YEARS

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E M J C O R P O R AT I O N THE FIRST FIFTY YEARS

Copyright Š 2018 EMJ Corporation

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying or recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from EMJ Corporation.

EMJ Corporation 2034 Hamilton Place Boulevard Suite 400 Chattanooga, Tennessee 37421 423.855.1550 emjcorp.com

Burt Odom Chief Executive Officer and President Jay Jolley Chairman of the Board of Directors Editor Rob Levin Writer Amy Meadows Designer Rick Korab Copyeditor Bob Land Indexer Shoshana Hurwitz Archivist RenĂŠe Peyton Photos on pages ii, iv, 2, 12, 16, 38, 45, 53, 62, and 64 by Dan Reynolds Photography.

All other photos courtesy of contributors and EMJ archives.

Bookhouse Group Inc. Covington, Georgia www.bookhouse.net

EMJ renovated the Chattanooga Metropolitan Airport to modernize the main terminal and improve the building’s environmental sustainability.

Upon completion, the 280,000-square-foot Indigo Sky Casino in Wyandotte, Oklahoma, was the Eastern Shawnee’s first destination resort.

FOREWORD

X EMJ TIMELINE

XII PROLOGUE

A Tale of Two Companies 1 CHAPTER ONE

A Singular Focus 5 CHAPTER TWO

Daring to Diversify 23 CHAPTER THREE

All in the Family 51 EPILOGUE

A Future That Reflects the Past 77 INDEX

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The headquarters of Farmer Brothers Co. in Northlake, Texas, includes a 258,338-square-foot distribution center, a 194,438-square-foot coffee production facility, and 84,823 square feet of office space.

FOREWORD I remember the day in 1983 when I received a call from Phillip Higginbotham at EMJ Construction asking whether I was interested in interviewing with the company. At the time, I was right out of college and considering a position with a different company, but I met with Phillip, Phil Green, and Jim Sattler anyway. We hit it off, and I joined EMJ, where I met a young project manager who started one week after me, Jay Jolley. n I never imagined that thirty-four years later, I would follow Jay as CEO and be introducing you to the story of EMJ, a corporation named for his father, Edgar M. Jolley. n Jay has often said how proud his father would be to see how the company he founded in the back of an airplane in 1968 has grown into EMJ Corporation, a diverse family of companies across multiple offices. It’s been a remarkable journey and a story of ingenuity, integrity, service, and grit. n On behalf of Jay and me, thank you to all current and past EMJ employees, and the many leaders, like Ed Jolley and Jim Sattler, who guided the company before us. We celebrate this accomplishment due to your tremendous contributions in the office and on the job site. Thank you for being part of our team and for sharing your talents with us. I am honored to serve alongside you. n Also, thank you to the hundreds of clients and partners who have trusted us with their projects throughout the years.

EMJ would not be where it is today without you, and we look forward to working with you as we continue to grow and strengthen our business. n Congratulations to all of you on this milestone anniversary of EMJ. We hope you enjoy the book as we celebrate our first fifty years and look toward the future.

Burt Odom Chief Executive Officer and President

Construction of the Lone Star College Conroe Center in Conroe, Texas, included three buildings with classrooms, offices, academic labs, and more.

EMJ TIMELINE MARCH 1972

1993

Northgate Mall in Chattanooga is completed, the second enclosed mall ever built in the city. It was also Independent Construction’s first major job and spurred future business.

CBL goes public and has to end exclusive partnership with EMJ. 1987 Office opens in Boston.

Hamilton Place Mall in Chattanooga is completed, the largest shopping mall in Tennessee at the time.

1968 Charles B. Lebovitz, who ran Independent Enterprises, and Edgar M. Jolley, president of H.E. Collins Contracting, engage in a conversation while sharing a ride in the back of a small plane. By the time it landed, Independent Construction Company was born.

DECEMBER 1993 Founder Ed Jolley retires as CEO of EMJ.

1970

EARLY 1994 LATE 1980s, EARLY 1990s

Independent Enterprises is sold to Arlen Realty in New York and becomes the southern division of that company, with Ed Jolley serving, essentially, as project manager through Independent Construction Company.

Food Lion becomes major customer; EMJ builds dozens of the grocery chain’s stores and a million-square-foot distribution facility.

Jim Sattler assumes CEO position at EMJ.

1978 1990 Relationship with Arlen Realty ends. Lebovitz and others form CBL & Associates. Independent Construction is named EMJ Corporation. Ed Jolley is named CEO, Jim Sattler is tapped as president, and Bill McDonald is vice president.

Other key positions were soon filled by Jolley’s sons, Edgar Jr. and Jay, as well as Burt Odom and Ron Jobe.

XII

Dallas office is opened.

EARLY TO MID-1990s

1990s

Company exits Food Lion business and begins working with Kmart, Kroger, WinnDixie, Walmart, and others.

EMJ moves into other markets, such as industrial, office, education, and healthcare, among others, the majority of it outside of Tennessee, creating a national footprint.

APRIL 2000 EMJ completes its first sports arena, AT&T Field, in EMJ’s own backyard of Chattanooga.

2016 2009

EMJ breaks through the billion-dollar-revenue milestone.

2005 EMJ’s work with clients along the West Coast prompts the opening of an office in Sacramento.

CORE Safety Group is launched, providing safety consultation to the construction industry.

Burt Odom becomes CEO and president. Jay Jolley becomes chairman of the board.

Signal Energy established.

2011 A new subsidiary, EMJ Hospitality, begins, concentrating in hotels.

2007

2014

Accent Construction Services established.

EMJ begins buyout of CBL’s remaining stock.

2017 Equitas Management Group begins, focusing on freestanding retailers, such as Starbucks, Tractor Supply, and 7–Eleven.

2008 RedStone Construction, based in Tulsa, Oklahoma, is launched.

2010 EMJ leans on its diverse portfolio, including Signal Energy, Procruit, and Accent Construction Services, as a national recession hits the American economy.

Jim Sattler becomes chairman of the board. Jay Jolley named CEO of the company his father started, and Burt Odom becomes president.

Accent is rebranded as EMJ Special Projects.

EMJ purchases all interest in Signal Energy, making it 100 percent EMJ-owned.

2018 EMJ celebrates fiftieth anniversary.

EMJ acquires Inman Construction to specialize in the healthcare field.

XIII

This aerial photo of Chattanooga, Tennessee, features several EMJ projects, including the under-construction Village at Waterside, Hamilton Place Mall, Gunbarrel Pointe, Hamilton Corner, and Hamilton Crossing.

E M J C O R P O R AT I O N â—† T H E F I R S T F I F T Y Y E A R S

PROLOGUE

A Tale of Two Companies The Power of Progress For nearly half of its fifty years in business, EMJ Corporation served a single client in a single industry: mall developer CBL Properties (formerly Independent Enterprises and CBL & Associates Properties Inc.). The organizations worked closely and harmoniously, developing and building retail strip centers and enclosed malls throughout the country. More recently, though, EMJ has engaged in a concerted effort to diversify, bringing an array of new clients into the fold and finding great success in a variety of market sectors, from industrial and hospitality properties to healthcare facilities and office buildings. It also has added a number of subsidiaries and standalone companies to the EMJ family.

From the outside, it’s almost like looking at two different EMJ Corporations. The first is a general contractor that served CBL exclusively, providing a level of outstanding service unique in the construction industry. The second is a burgeoning construction services company that continues to expand its horizons by looking at the industry in unconventional ways while turning challenges into new opportunities.

Over the course of fifty years, EMJ Corporation has surpassed anything that the man who started it all, Edgar M. Jolley, could have imagined.

According to Charles B. Lebovitz, CBL founder and longtime friend of Ed Jolley, the change that EMJ Corporation experienced was as natural as it was necessary. “It’s been a healthy evolution,” he says. “EMJ’s story is that it went from a single-client company for its first twenty-five years to spending its next twenty-five years as a multiclient company. That in itself is such a dramatic, fundamental change in the direction and strategy of the company. And to be able to make that type of fundamental change in its business plan, to have had such a successful first quarter century with a single client, and likewise success in its next twenty-five years as it has evolved into a multiclient company, is pretty unique.”

This is the story of a distinctive company and everything it took to get to where it is today.

1

The LEED Silver–certified six-level Hampton Inn & Suites sits on a bustling corner, welcoming visitors as they enter downtown Chattanooga.

EMJ constructed the corporate headquarters of CBL Properties along with the neighboring CBL Center II office building.

E M J C O R P O R AT I O N â—† T H E F I R S T F I F T Y Y E A R S

CHAPTER ONE

A Singular Focus Total Commitment at Every Turn It all began in the back of a private four-seater plane that was heading to Chattanooga, Tennessee, late one night in 1968. Ed Jolley and Charles Lebovitz were returning home after a meeting, and they were sitting together on the brief flight. Lebovitz, who helmed shopping center developer Independent Enterprises with his father, Moses, and cousin Jay Solomon, looked at Jolley, a general contractor and president of H.E. Collins Contracting Company, and spoke off the cuff.

“I said to Ed, ‘You should come work with us,’” Lebovitz recalls. “He said, and I’ll always remember his response, ‘You can’t afford me.’ I said, ‘Try me.’ Before we got off the plane, we had a deal. The next day, I went to my father and cousin and said, ‘I struck a deal with Ed Jolley last night to form a new construction company to build shopping centers for us.’ That’s how it started.”

Owning a construction company was never something that Ed Jolley intended. He was introduced to the business as a young man by marriage, when his father-in-law started H.E. Collins Contracting Company in 1952 and gave Jolley a job. Together they built homes and a variety of other projects, during which Jolley learned the ins and outs of construction and general contracting, ultimately being tapped as company president. In 1965, under 5

[Ed Jolley] was not only a contractor, he was an entrepreneur at heart.

He understood the business. He was very creative, and I thought he was very honest.

Charles B. Lebovitz

Jolley’s direction, H.E. Collins submitted a proposal to construct a shopping center in Muscle Shoals, Alabama, for Independent Enterprises. The proposal was rejected. However, in 1966, Independent Enterprises came back to H.E. Collins and hired the firm to build the Mercury Plaza Shopping Center in Murfreesboro, Tennessee.

The successful opening of that project—which occurred in November 1966 in the midst of a huge snowstorm—signaled the beginning of the enduring professional relationship between Ed Jolley and Charles Lebovitz. By 1968, Independent Enterprises and H.E. Collins Contracting Company had collaborated on numerous projects, including Jay Solomon, Charles Lebovitz, and Moses Lebovitz led Independent Enterprises, which today is CBL Properties.

Maury County Plaza in Columbia, Tennessee, and a large shopping center in LaGrange, Georgia.

During those operations, Charles Lebovitz got to know Ed Jolley and recognized something special in his colleague. “He was not only a contractor, he was an entrepreneur at heart,” Lebovitz asserts. “He understood the business.

He was very creative, and I thought he was very honest.”

The qualities that Lebovitz saw in Jolley convinced him to make that pivotal proposal in the back of the plane on its way home to Chattanooga. And the deal they made was a rather unique one, as the new construction company would serve as the exclusive general contractor for Independent Enterprises. Ed Jolley would own 50 percent of the company, and Charles Lebovitz would own the other 50 percent. “The arrangement was that Ed would build all of the shopping centers that Independent Enterprises was to build, and we would not interfere with his running the

6

EMJ Construction teams work on Baptist Memorial Hospital in Booneville, Mississippi.

EMJ Construction teams work on Baptist Memorial Hospital in Booneville, Mississippi.

construction company, provided that the

The Early Days

pricing that he would give us for the projects was acceptable,” Lebovitz explains. Thus, Ed

With a conference room in the office of

Jolley left H.E. Collins Contracting Company

Independent Enterprises serving as the

and launched his own venture, Independent

headquarters of Independent Construction

Construction Company, in 1968. According to

Company, Ed Jolley got to work immediately.

Lebovitz, “It proved to be a win-win situation.”

Independent Enterprises needed shopping

Loyalty Personified: A Partner’s Perspective For Ed Jolley, business was about relationships. And while he famously focused on the relationship with his company’s main client, the dedication and loyalty he afforded from day one actually extended to everyone he worked with, including vendors. No one has felt that more keenly than Mark Brock, owner of Brock Insurance. His father, John Brock, who founded Brock Insurance, began working with Independent Construction Company in 1968, handling all of the organization’s insurance and bonds. When Independent Construction Company became EMJ Corporation in 1978, the relationship never wavered. John Brock passed away in 1983, leaving his company to his sons—Paul, who was twenty-seven at the time, and Mark, who was only twenty-two. “At that time, Mr. Jolley and the folks at EMJ were extremely helpful to our agency as far as continuing to work with us,” Mark Brock says. “It was a major account for our agency, and we were able to continue the relationship for years and years.” n To this day, even after Paul’s unexpected passing in 2008, EMJ and Brock Insurance remain connected, working together as both companies evolve. The agency insures all of EMJ’s projects and construction activity, as well as all of the companies that have become part of the EMJ family. And Brock notes that his company not only appreciates having the opportunity to serve EMJ’s needs but also has taken cues from the way its client works.

“Something we have learned is that [EMJ] is always looking to improve their relationships with their [clients], and we’re trying to do the same with them every day,” he asserts. “I can’t say enough great things about their loyalty. It’s been a phenomenal relationship.”

The relationship between EMJ and Brock Insurance Agency, founded by John Brock (pictured), began in 1968.

9

Ed was a true CEO and oversaw the operation. Jim was a brilliant finance guy. And my expertise was in construction. I think we complemented each other rather well in our various capacities.

Bill McDonald

centers built across South Carolina, in towns

and even into the Midwest, Ed Jolley grew the

from North Charleston and Mount Pleasant to

team around him, bringing on primary partners

Summerville, Gaffney, and Newbury. And those

Bill McDonald, a colleague from H.E. Collins, as

needs quickly spread throughout the region.

a project manager and Jim Sattler as the chief

Typically, the shopping centers—often referred

financial officer. “I think we complemented

to as strip centers—included a department store

each other very well,” McDonald says. “Ed was

anchor like Montgomery Ward surrounded by

a true CEO and oversaw the operation. Jim

smaller shops. It didn’t take long, though, for

was a brilliant finance guy. And my expertise

Independent Enterprises to begin developing

was in construction. I think we complemented

enclosed shopping malls in

each other rather well in our

locations like Tupelo, Mississippi,

various capacities.”

and Johnson City, Tennessee.

During this time of growth, “Ed was building all of these

Independent Construction

centers, and it really became

Company opened a myriad of

a very active, busy business,”

successful projects, including

Lebovitz notes. “It grew in

an open-air center in Fort

scope and size, and [Ed] ran

Oglethorpe, Georgia, and

Independent Construction Company very

one particular enclosed mall that truly put

successfully and very profitably.”

the company on the map: Chattanooga’s Northgate Mall. Jim Self, whom Ed Jolley hired

10

The company continued to expand when the

as a carpenter at the age of sixteen, recalls

Lebovitz family sold Independent Enterprises to

the intense work that went into completing

New York–based Arlen Realty and Development

the project, which many believed could not be

Corporation in 1970 and became the southern

finished by the scheduled opening date. “Ed

division of that company. For several years,

was basically the project manager for us, and I

Independent Construction Company continued

worked directly with him because it was the first

to serve as the general contractor for the

big job to show Arlen Realty what we could do,”

vast majority of projects the Lebovitz family

says Self, who advanced to a main foreman on

completed under the Arlen umbrella. As

the project during construction. “Working hand-

Independent Construction Company broadened

in-hand with [Ed] was quite an experience for

its geographic region throughout the Southeast

someone who was just put into a supervising top

EMJ Construction teams work on Baptist Memorial Hospital in Booneville, Mississippi.

E M J C O R P O R AT I O N â—† T H E F I R S T F I F T Y Y E A R S

EMJ converted a former Sears store into five contemporary retail spaces at CoolSprings Galleria in Franklin, Tennessee.

position. It was a challenge just being able to do

South Carolina,” Lebovitz recollects. “The night

all of those stores and finish the job because we

before the grand opening, Ed and I were out

always had an end date on projects. When we

there in the parking lot helping to finish the

started a project, we knew when we had to finish

striping of the lot. The project had to open the

it. Those dates were always out there. We did

next morning. The stores were fully fixtured and

whatever it took to accomplish that.” Thanks to

had merchandise. We had represented that we

that effort, Northgate Mall opened on schedule

were going to open on a certain day at 9 a.m.

on March 15, 1972. It was the second enclosed

And the night before, we did what it took to get

mall ever built in Chattanooga.

it done.”

Whatever It Took

Going above and beyond became a hallmark for Ed Jolley and Independent Construction

Independent Construction Company’s ability

Company. Not only did the company always

to complete an intricate job like Northgate

deliver on time and on budget, but Jolley also

Mall was directly tied to Ed Jolley’s overriding

took a unique approach to the way he worked

business philosophy, which comprised several

with Independent Enterprises. “There was a

key elements. First and foremost, Ed Jolley and

tremendous chemistry between the Lebovitz

his team of skilled and dedicated subcontractors

family and Ed Jolley, and eventually myself,”

would never miss a deadline. It was that simple.

says Jim Sattler, who joined Independent Construction Company in January 1976. “That

12

“I remember we were building a shopping center

chemistry was so important. [Independent

once in a small town in South Carolina—Laurens,

Enterprises] had a development team, but they

counted on Independent Construction Company

understood the business. He understood what

to basically perform all of the preconstruction

it took to put these shopping centers together,

services that they needed. If they were given

and he was very helpful in the negotiations with

an assignment to go out and evaluate certain

different local officials to secure the permitting

properties and see which would be the best

and everything else. To say that [Ed] was our

properties, we were always involved.”

general contractor was really a misnomer.”

Charles Lebovitz adds, “[Ed] understood our

That strong connection between Independent

approach to development. He was able to

Enterprises and Independent Construction

participate directly as we would go to different

Company became even more clear in 1978 when

cities to meet with utility companies and others

the former ended its business dealings with

as far as developing initial budgets, where

Arlen. Charles Lebovitz and four associates

utilities had to be extended to the property,

formed CBL & Associates, and Ed Jolley

how to handle the storm water drainage for the

showed his solidarity with the new firm by

property—all the things that went into a project.

renaming Independent Construction Company.

Ed became almost an extension of Independent

“Since there was no longer an Independent

Enterprises. He would go to those meetings

Enterprises and we were now CBL, Independent

and be identified as the contractor, but he

Construction Company changed its name to

Edgar M. Jolley: A Snapshot Edgar M. Jolley was born on December 9, 1928, in Chattanooga, Tennessee, to John E. Jolley Sr. and Grace Scott Jolley. He grew up in the Chattanooga neighborhood of Ridgedale, as well as in Boynton, Georgia. He graduated from Central High School in Chattanooga and in 1951 received a degree in business from the University of Chattanooga, where he was a member of the Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity and a head cheerleader for the Chattanooga Mocs, which he fervently supported after his graduation. n While his family business was in the automotive industry, he found his professional calling in construction services and at the helm of EMJ Corporation. He retired in 1993. In addition to being a father of seven, a grandfather of fourteen, and a great-grandfather of two, he was an avid golfer and pilot (of both private aircraft and remote control planes), as well as a community leader. In 2005 he was inducted into the Entrepreneurship Hall of Fame at UT-Chattanooga. He passed away on January 30, 2007.

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A steel erector works on the Coppell Life Safety Center in Coppell, Texas.

E M J C O R P O R AT I O N â—† T H E F I R S T F I F T Y Y E A R S

EMJ Corporation,” Lebovitz explains. Although

development over the next several years. The

Jolley claimed he would never use his initials as

company continued to flourish throughout

a company name, he recognized how beneficial

the 1980s, with the team continuing its close

it could be when Charles Lebovitz did just that

relationship with CBL & Associates, which

with his new company. Both men had sterling

eventually would help take EMJ’s work to a

reputations based on the work they had done

national level.

over the years, and the credibility they built translated to the new iterations of CBL &

In 1987 CBL began to expand even more when

Associates and EMJ Corporation.

Charles Lebovitz’s son Stephen joined the firm.

To take advantage of retailers that wanted to

A New Name Heralds New Opportunities

move into and grow in the Northeast, such as The Home Depot and Walmart, the younger

Bill McDonald recalled that the transition from

Lebovitz oversaw the opening of an office in

Independent Construction Company to EMJ

Boston. To serve its exclusive client, EMJ set up

Corporation was seamless. CBL remained the

a Boston location as well. “EMJ was our partner

exclusive client of EMJ, and Ed Jolley was

in our development projects, and we relied

more than happy to continue that single-client

on them to help us with the due diligence as

relationship within the retail construction space.

we were analyzing potential sites, to develop

The two companies worked in harmony and

budgets, to help us figure out the opportunities

grew in tandem.

and challenges of new projects as we got into them,” notes Stephen Lebovitz, who currently

“They were just part of the team,” says Ben S.

serves as president and chief executive officer of

Landress, who joined Independent Enterprises

CBL Properties. The geographic area proved to

in 1961 and currently serves as executive vice

be more challenging than the Southeast region,

president of management for CBL Properties.

thanks to different environmental conditions, the

“There was no question about who was going

dense population, and very specific government

to build. [Ed] had to get pricing from suppliers

requirements. “It’s complicated to build in the

and subcontractors, but he was going to be the

Northeast, and we wanted to have [EMJ] close

general contractor. It was almost like [EMJ] was

by,” Lebovitz continues. “We wanted them to

part of our own organization. It was very much a

have a regional office here and have the people

team effort. There was no question about it.”

on the ground to be available to help us out.”

Upon the name change to EMJ, Ed Jolley

Jim Sattler assembled a team to work out of

officially became the CEO of the company, while

the Boston office, which shared space with CBL

Jim Sattler assumed the role of president and

and was visited often by Jay Jolley, who helped

Bill McDonald became vice president. The EMJ

direct its growth. Much of the work involved

team grew as well, with Jolley’s sons—Edgar

the building of open-air power centers with

M. Jolley Jr. and Jay Jolley—joining the firm.

retailers like Service Merchandise and Circuit

Also on board were Burt Odom, an estimator,

City. Larger projects followed, including a major

and Ron Jobe, a project manager, both of

750,000-square-foot center in New York. And

whom would have a significant impact on EMJ’s

continued on page 18

15

Plant T1 is an industrial development located in Adairsville, Georgia, that spans 686,668 square feet. The project was EMJ’s second of four projects for Shaw Industries Group Inc.

continued from page 15

just like the work being done out of Chattanooga, EMJ made a complete commitment to CBL’s Northeast interests. “It was about more than just making money,” Stephen Lebovitz says. “It was about having a long-term win-win relationship between the companies.”

Interestingly, though, all of the work EMJ acquired through CBL brought the company to the attention of a variety of other organizations, which began to see the type of work that the burgeoning firm was able to do. While the relationship between Ed Jolley and Charles Lebovitz remained rock solid, over the next several years, a number of changes would cause EMJ to evolve in a way no one expected.

“I don’t think there’s anyone who I’ve known in my business career who meant more to me than Ed Jolley,” Charles Lebovitz declares. “When we signed that piece of paper on the plane flying back, it was the basis of a contract for forty years. Never once in all of the years was there ever any question, much less concern, that there was anything other than absolute honesty. And that sense of complete trust was so important. With Ed, it was about as absolute a trustworthiness as you can have.”

“My father had that Hedgehog Theory, and that was that you do one thing and you do it really well,” Jay Jolley notes. “To him, doing that one thing really well was working for CBL and really performing for them in every aspect that he could. The rest of it, in his mind, was expendable.”

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Glaziers work on Farmer Brothers Co. headquarters in Northlake, Texas.

E M J C O R P O R AT I O N â—† T H E F I R S T F I F T Y Y E A R S

Baptist Reynolds Hospice House in Collierville, Tennessee, offers patients care in a homelike environment.

EMJ constructed the unique geometries of the Hunter Museum of American Art, perched on a cliff top overlooking the Tennessee River in Chattanooga.

CHAPTER TWO

Daring to Diversify Embracing the Winds of Change For the whole of the 1980s, retail construction projects for CBL & Associates were the focus for EMJ Corporation. It was steady work that allowed the company to thrive beyond all expectations, with projects like Hamilton Place Mall in Chattanooga taking center stage. Opened in 1987, Hamilton Place was the largest shopping mall in Tennessee upon its completion. Because of the anticipation surrounding the project, it had to be finished on time, and EMJ delivered. In fact, Charles Lebovitz observes that Hamilton Place Mall and its sister property, Northgate Mall, were two of the most noteworthy projects that EMJ did during this period. “Those two projects definitely put EMJ on the map as a major, recognized general contractor specializing in shopping centers and shopping malls,” he says. “They were fifteen years apart, so there were a lot of projects in between. But the credibility that EMJ earned from Northgate and Hamilton Place—I think that those two, as much as any, are very significant in the history of EMJ.” While EMJ and CBL enjoyed shopping malls’ heyday, change was afoot for the general contractor by the 1990s. The impetus for that change actually began when Jim Sattler and John Foy, chief financial officer of CBL & Associates, began collaborating on some smaller neighborhood strip shopping centers in the mid-1980s.

23

“At that time, Ed didn’t really want to do

need to be doing this.’”

We used to have all-nighters. We would all gather in a conference room at CBL, and we’d start at about six or seven in the evening and we’d get pizza. We’d work until one or two in the morning, and then everyone would go and implement those plans.

Food Lion stores anchored many of the

anything other than enclosed malls and large strip centers,” Sattler recalls. “John Foy wanted to get involved in some development, and he had started a couple of projects. These neighborhood centers would typically involve a grocery store, a drugstore, and maybe some in-line tenant space. I went to [Ed] and said, ‘We

neighborhood centers developed by CBL

John Foy

and built by EMJ, and this new branch Crews work at the site of Hamilton Place Mall in Chattanooga.

of the business grew not just quickly but exponentially, requiring the teams that headed up the projects to spend a great deal of time together to keep everything running smoothly and efficiently. “We used to have all-nighters.

We would all gather in a conference room at CBL, and we’d start at about six or seven in the evening and we’d get pizza,” Foy recalls. “We’d all sit in that conference room with the architects, EMJ, ourselves, and our project managers, and we’d go over five or six projects. We’d work until one or two in the morning, and then everyone would go and implement those plans.”

“We would sit and, like a jigsaw puzzle, work out a way to make a site work and how we could use it best from a performance standpoint and from a cost standpoint,” Sattler adds, noting that EMJ employees like Burt Odom; Phillip Higginbotham, vice president of estimating; and Phil Green, who would later become senior vice president of estimating, also participated in the famous all-nighters. “We would put together a schedule, and we actually built fifteen to twenty-five strip centers a year that way.”

24

Opening in 1987, Hamilton Place Mall was the largest shopping mall in Tennessee upon its completion.

E M J C O R P O R AT I O N â—† T H E F I R S T F I F T Y Y E A R S 25

EMJ constructed more than 10 million square feet of retail, distribution, and warehouse space, including this facility in Greencastle, Pennsylvania, for Food Lion.

E M J C O R P O R AT I O N â—† T H E F I R S T F I F T Y Y E A R S

An Opportunity Presents Itself

were able to establish a relationship because of our professionalism and commitment and ability

The decision to consider the neighborhood

to complete things on time,” Sattler says. “Food

center opportunities was part of Jim Sattler’s

Lion took notice, and they came to us just after

overall vision for EMJ, which involved a desire

those three stores opened and asked us if we’d

to diversify. Projects he pursued with John

be interested in doing a warehouse for them

Foy were just the beginning and allowed him,

in South Carolina. And that led to another 10

along with Bill McDonald, to develop a direct

million square feet of warehouse space over a

relationship with Food Lion—one that would

period of time.”

take EMJ into an entirely new realm.

Between the late 1980s and early 1990s, project For the first time ever, EMJ completed work

manager Ron Jobe, who was promoted to vice

for a client outside of the CBL relationship;

president overseeing Food Lion warehouse

the company built several stores in South

construction and later became executive

Carolina directly for Food Lion, and that

vice president of the Chattanooga office, and

firsthand experience opened the door to new

superintendent Jim Self, who later became vice

opportunities throughout the Southeast. “We

continued on page 30

Lessons Learned: Arbor Place Mall In 1998, work on Arbor Place Mall in Douglasville, Georgia, required a good bit of rock blasting because of the solid granite in the area. During one Friday afternoon blast, the rock underneath unexpectedly shifted, sending flyrock and mud into the air. Led by superintendent Andy Gribble, the EMJ team immediately leaped into action to clean up the area. However, the question remained of why the blast happened. No construction team had ever had a flyrock situation like the one EMJ experienced, and the team wanted to ensure that it never happened again. n Unbeknownst to the EMJ on-site crew, the drilling had caused more vibration in the granite than expected, causing the blast to go awry. So Philip Augustino and Ron Jobe went above and beyond regarding future projects, identifying the procedures required before a rock blast and assisting in the rewriting of Georgia’s blasting laws. It was an undertaking that garnered several awards and proved EMJ’s commitment to excellence surrounding every construction project.

27

Pearland Town Center in Pearland, Texas, is a 143acre mixed-use development that includes retail, residential units, restaurants, and a hotel.

continued from page 27

president of construction, led the completion of at least one major Food Lion distribution center project per year, with each site comprising approximately eight hundred thousand square feet of space. It was a massive undertaking, and EMJ achieved great success with the program.

Food Lion was so impressed that it offered the company a chance to tackle an even more complex project based out of Dallas, Texas: the construction of forty-two Food Lion stores and a 1-million-square-foot distribution center to serve Texas, Louisiana, and Oklahoma.

Jim Sattler pegged Jay Jolley and Burt Odom to relocate to Dallas to spearhead the program.

“When we moved to Dallas, we started with nothing,” Odom reveals. “We did not know the market. We did not have any employees except for Jay and me. We were both twenty-nine, so inexperienced, and going to do a project of that magnitude with no office and no people. It was a giant challenge.” However, with the Dallas market in a financial free fall at that time, Jolley and Odom were able to find willing employees and subcontractors quickly and got the program under way. They also brought trusted EMJ employees, including assistant superintendent Glenard Ratcliff, who retired in 2016 as director of construction, to Dallas to help manage the program. They set up a system that allowed EMJ to streamline the construction process and build multiple stores simultaneously. As Food Lion continued to grow in the regional market, the chain increased the number of requested stores.

“In about a two-and-a-half-year period, we built 102 stores and a million-square-foot distribution center,” Odom continues.

“EMJ had built up an organization that could move in a big way with big projects,” says 30

EMJ constructed the 1.4-million-square-foot parking deck at the headquarters of BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee in Chattanooga.

E M J C O R P O R AT I O N â—† T H E F I R S T F I F T Y Y E A R S

Grand Parkway Marketplace is a two-phased retail development, spanning more than one hundred acres in the Houston metro area. Phase I of the project included construction of a Target store along with more than eight junior anchors.

E M J C O R P O R AT I O N â—† T H E F I R S T F I F T Y Y E A R S

Spencer Storie, vice president of planning

that just wasn’t going to end.” But then the

and development for Food Lion at the time.

bottom fell out.

“They had good people throughout the whole organization—really great superintendents,

A Potential Disaster Becomes a Major Triumph

project managers, and subcontractors who could fast-track a project. And they

In late 1992, Food Lion received national

accomplished something that no one in the

attention for alleged unsanitary practices in

U.S. had been able to do at that magnitude. We

a few stores. Although the claims would later

couldn’t have done it without EMJ.”

prove untrue, the grocer’s growth came to a halt. “Within a week, Food Lion had stopped all

Odom notes, “Food Lion stock was on the rise,

construction that we were doing. And it never

and it looked like we were riding a giant wave

recovered,” says Jay Jolley. According to Odom,

The Manual Ed Jolley wanted every field office to work in exactly the same way, following similar procedures and adhering to certain directives to ensure the safety and efficiency of each EMJ project. Toward this end, Ed created The Manual, which came to be known as the Standard of Excellence. It initially was a very simple guidebook that explained how to approach everything from setting up a field office to what on-site superintendents and executives should wear. “Ed’s view was one of simplicity,” Ron Jobe says. Yet it also was one of practicality, and he offered guidance on the nuts and bolts of getting a construction job done correctly. n Over the years, The Manual has been revised and refined, and it remains one of the company’s most important documents. To ensure that every site understood how to use it, EMJ would send Margaret Self, field office manager, to follow up with the on-site crews. “We had all the same paperwork. We had all the same procedures,” she says. “And I went from job to job to check on the offices and talk with the superintendents to find out what they needed.” It was just one unique way that EMJ kept the lines of communication open, allowing the company to fulfill Ed Jolley’s vision of completing jobs on schedule. n To this day, the Standard of Excellence is one of EMJ’s go-to tools. “‘Have you looked at the Standard of Excellence?’ That’s the first thing I ask when [someone calls with] a question,” says Gary Gibson, director of construction in Chattanooga. “‘Typically, you can read whatever is in there [and get your answer]. If you’ve got more questions, call me then.’”

33

“We spent about six months winding the Food Lion program down. Then we turned our efforts to asking ourselves, ‘Are we going to leave Texas, or are we going to stay and try to go get business from ground zero again?’”

The ultimate decision made by Jim Sattler, Jay Jolley, and Burt Odom was to stay in Dallas and try to build a client base. Since Jay was needed in the Chattanooga office, Burt was tapped to remain in Dallas to oversee those efforts.

They initially reached out to grocery store developers and chains to see if they could start new relationships within the market segment.

“We were so determined and committed to succeeding that we didn’t even consider failure,” Jolley observes. They also knew that they had done something that no other company could claim: they had built an expansion model that would allow other companies to construct multiple stores simultaneously like Food Lion.

Other major brands had taken notice. Kmart, which was adding a new food wing to its department store model, was the first to respond.

“We [began] working with Kmart like we were working with Food Lion. We took our model and started to build off of [it] with other clients,” Odom says. Within months, EMJ managed to attract an array of additional clients, and over the next several years, they built their direct client base to include Kroger, Winn-Dixie, Walmart, Brookshire’s, and Publix.

They also took their programmatic model— through which companies could build the same type of store over and over across the country—to developers. By approaching both major clients directly and developers, EMJ covered the bases and built an impressive new clientele that provided another decade 34

Whole Foods in San Antonio, Texas, is one of eight locations built by EMJ.

E M J C O R P O R AT I O N â—† T H E F I R S T F I F T Y Y E A R S

E M J C O R P O R AT I O N â—† T H E F I R S T F I F T Y Y E A R S

of growth that, with such names as Mervyn’s, Lowe’s, and Kohl’s, eventually would take EMJ to the West Coast.

EMJ converted a Walmart Neighborhood Market in Dallas, Texas, into a Walmart–Sam’s Club combo store.

continued on page 40

Expect the Best: A Client’s Perspective When David Berndt founded his development firm, David Berndt Interests Inc., in Dallas in 1998, he was familiar with EMJ Corporation, having worked with the company through his previous development experience. And he never considered using any other general contractor after branching out on his own. n “I was 100 percent sure we would use EMJ,” Berndt says. “They are very, very good at what they do, and there was never any doubt I would use them.” n According to Berndt, the consistency that EMJ provides gives him confidence in the fact that the construction process will be seamless. “I don’t have to worry about this piece of the project,” he observes. “I know exactly what I’m going to get. One of the most important pieces of what we do is eliminating risk. [Hiring EMJ] actually eliminates the risk from that part of the equation. It’s risk avoidance.” n To date, EMJ has constructed nearly 7 million square feet of open-air retail space with David Berndt, and no building has ever been delivered late or over budget. “With that many square feet, on time and on budget, it says it all,” he concludes. “I think they are the best retail contractor in the country.”

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Market City Center is a ten-story mixed-use development in downtown Chattanooga.

continued from page 37

The Chattanooga Office Changes Course As the Dallas office found its new footing, the Chattanooga office continued to work closely with CBL & Associates on a wide variety of projects, from mall construction to mall renovations. The relationship did go through changes, though, when CBL went public in 1993 and became CBL & Associates Properties Inc. As a public company, CBL was not able to maintain the exclusivity that it once had with EMJ. Fortunately, Jim Sattler, who assumed the role of CEO in early 1994 after Ed Jolley retired on his sixty-fifth birthday in December 1993, had already set in motion a new vision for the company in terms of its relationship with CBL and the market sectors in which it worked.

I really felt that we needed to diversify, that retail at some point was going to get too restricted, which eventually did happen.

Jim Sattler

“I really felt that we needed to diversify, that retail at some point was going to get too restricted, which eventually did happen,” Sattler explains. Fortunately, by constructing distribution centers—and an office building— for Food Lion, EMJ was able to show it could handle projects beyond malls and retail strip centers. In fact, EMJ’s office building experience dated back to its earliest days, when it built the Northgate office building for CBL. Too, when CBL went public, EMJ constructed its new office at One Park Place in Chattanooga.

Sattler knew that EMJ could take advantage of

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Museum Bluff Condominiums is a seven-story, multiunit residential structure on a bluff high above the Tennessee River in Chattanooga.

E M J C O R P O R AT I O N â—† T H E F I R S T F I F T Y Y E A R S

The University of Memphis University Center features a spectacular sky-lit atrium, a ballroom, a 350-seat theater, offices, classrooms, and meeting spaces.

E M J C O R P O R AT I O N â—† T H E F I R S T F I F T Y Y E A R S

that background and laid the groundwork for the company to begin working in other market sectors nationwide, including industrial, office, education, healthcare, and hospitality. And much of that new work, which was done as part of the central division now known as EMJ Construction, actually began in Chattanooga.

“The interesting thing about EMJ was that we were very much a Chattanooga company, but we didn’t do any work in Chattanooga,” says Doug Martin, who joined EMJ in 1993 as a project manager and currently serves as the company’s chief operating officer. The most recognizable EMJ projects in the city were Northgate Mall and Hamilton Place Mall, but they had been around for several years. “I’m driving around Chattanooga, and nobody knows us outside of what we did in 1986,” says Sattler, who wanted EMJ to have a true legacy in his hometown. So he began leveraging his relationships with members of the community to secure new and unique work for EMJ, which coincided with a revitalization effort that had started throughout Chattanooga.

EMJ’s first major project in Chattanooga was the construction of Covenant Transport’s headquarters in 1996, followed by the headquarters for U.S. Xpress, the national trucking firm. EMJ also was tasked with building AT&T Field, which opened in April 2000 and is home to the minor-league Chattanooga Lookouts. Other notable projects over the years, helmed by such formidable employees as Ron Jobe, Doug Martin, and director of construction Gary Gibson, among many others, included an impressive addition to the Hunter Museum of American Art and the construction of the Museum Bluffs Condominiums, the BlueCross BlueShield parking deck, East Ridge Elementary 43

School, the Baylor School Natatorium, and many more. Additionally, EMJ constructed CBL Center—now the home of CBL Properties and EMJ’s corporate headquarters—on property adjacent to Hamilton Place Mall. In fact, much of Chattanooga’s aesthetics can be attributed to EMJ Corporation.

“I go up on my deck, and I look across the river,” Sattler says. “I see the museum, and I see the [condos] and how we did those. Then I see the stadium, and I see BlueCross. I see all of those from my place, so it’s kind of nice.”

EMJ Heads West Even with CBL’s transition to a public company, EMJ’s Chattanooga headquarters was still the company’s go-to office for its retail construction needs, yet the diversification of EMJ out of both the Chattanooga and Dallas offices was palpable and provided even more steady growth for the thriving company. “Each one of our clients was growing, so we were just growing with those clients,” Jay Jolley says, noting that EMJ had fifty clients at any one time during its biggest boom years.

I go up on my deck, and I look across the river, I see the museum, and I see the [condos] and how we did those. Then I see the stadium, and I see BlueCross. I see all of those from my place, so it’s kind of nice.

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Jim Sattler

EMJ’s first sports venue, AT&T Field, is home to the minor-league Chattanooga Lookouts.

In 2005, EMJ’s successful programmatic work

Lowe’s, and eventually one for Kohl’s, and

convinced Mervyn’s to ask the company to

Augustino found himself hiring a huge staff to

build stores throughout California and along

keep up with the demand. In the first year alone,

the West Coast. “They wanted us to get started

the office doubled its projected annual revenue.

immediately,” recalls Philip Augustino, senior vice president of construction, who helped

While EMJ was riding high on a strong list of

launch EMJ’s Sacramento office with five

successes, the 2008 recession was right around

employees in September 2005. “We started

the corner. Fortunately, although EMJ struggled

to put the office together, and we had loads

like so many firms, it was able not only to come

of Mervyn’s work. Of course, we had to start

out on the other side but also to become even

them back from square one because they had

stronger than before.

no prototype, and they didn’t know what they wanted.” Soon after that work began, EMJ launched a similar West Coast program for

Northport 35 Business Center is a threebuilding, 945,000-square-foot industrial park on sixty acres in Northlake, Texas.

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One of two EMJ projects for the retailer, Bass Pro Shops in Daytona, Florida, sits adjacent to the Daytona International Speedway.

E M J C O R P O R AT I O N â—† T H E F I R S T F I F T Y Y E A R S

Settlers Ridge is a four-hundred-thousand-square-foot retail center located near downtown Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and constructed on a seventy-seven-acre site that was formerly a coal strip mine.

Established in 2005, Signal Energy has grown to be one of the top engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) contractors in the U.S. renewable energy industry. Pictured is a wind and solar project constructed for Southern California Edison (SCE) in Mojave, California.

CHAPTER THREE

All in the Family The Beginning of Something Bigger In 2008, the economic downturn wreaked havoc across the country, affecting countless industries and companies of all sizes. The retail industry was struck particularly hard, affecting much of the work that EMJ did. “We had to cut overhead,” Jim Sattler says. “You couldn’t cut overhead fast enough to absorb the loss of revenue.” However, the decision Sattler had made years before to diversify EMJ played a key role in the company’s ability to stay afloat through the tough economic times. In fact, while many of EMJ’s clients were struggling as well, a deal Sattler made in 2005 proved to be a fortuitous one.

Looking beyond EMJ Up until 2005, much of the diversification within EMJ revolved around the type of clients and market sectors the company served with its construction services. However, Jim Sattler wanted to go beyond those two areas. Fortunately, fate intervened when a colleague introduced him to Ben Fischer, an entrepreneur in the renewable energy construction industry. Fischer had built a team of specialists in the renewable energy field and launched a business that focused on designing and building wind energy projects. While Fischer initially sought a financial backer for his firm, Sattler proposed partnering instead. Together, the men agreed to form Signal Wind Energy LLC, which today 51

is known as Signal Energy Constructors. In just over a decade, it has grown to include solar energy projects and clean energy development and construction, as well as two additional partner companies: Applied High Voltage, which designs and builds electrical interconnection systems, substations, grid integration solutions, and more, and Arraycon, the premier foundation and mechanical installer of solar photovoltaic (PV) arrays. Under the EMJ umbrella, these companies have designed and built projects for a wide range of clients worldwide, from Southern Company, Chevron, and John Deere to U.K. energy supplier E.ON Energy.

Construction partners survey progress at FedEx Ground Distribution Center in Chattanooga.

Signal was the first true out-of-thebox diversification that was not internal service or retail-oriented.

Jay Jolley

“Signal was the first true out-of-the-box diversification that was not internal service or retail-oriented,” Jay Jolley notes. According to Fischer, EMJ and Signal Energy were a perfect fit. “We had a common foundation that we both wanted to use our skills and gifts and the people that we work with to make a difference,” Fischer says. “EMJ was focused on building. The structure we came up with allowed for EMJ to continue to focus on its core business but bring our common strengths together to build a new enterprise. And at the end of the day, we were both construction companies.”

In 2017 EMJ purchased Ben Fischer’s minority interest in Signal Energy. As part of the acquisition, Greg Pawson became president of Signal Energy, and Julian Bell became the company’s executive vice president.

Since its start in 2005, Signal has grown to be one of the top engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) contractors in the U.S. renewable energy industry. Today, it remains well poised in the utility-scale renewable energy market. continued on page 57

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The unique LEED Silver–certified Holiday Inn & Suites in downtown Chattanooga houses a restaurant on the first floor, parking on the second and third floors, and an elevated pool on the fourth floor.

The Palm Beach Outlets & Marketplace in West Palm Beach, Florida, consists of two adjacent retail developments, the 465,000-square-foot Outlets and the 300,000-square-foot Marketplace.

Signal Energy constructed the 21.5-megawatt Searchlight Solar Project in Searchlight, Nevada.

E M J C O R P O R AT I O N â—† T H E F I R S T F I F T Y Y E A R S

continued from page 52

The Family Grows Signal Energy’s emergence as an EMJ company preceded the launch of several additional ventures, including the 2006 founding of Procruit, the internal recruiting arm of the company. “We were growing. We had multiple offices, and we were having to hire a lot of people,” Burt Odom explains. “We discovered that we hated having to use outside recruiters or headhunters. It was frustrating because they didn’t understand our people, our culture, our company. So, one day, we had the idea that this was not a good process, and we started our own recruiting service.”

Procruit is now a separate business unit that manages recruiting for EMJ’s companies.

The Procruit team is responsible for finding candidates and guiding them through the interview process for any opening within EMJ. Regardless of the position, every potential employee goes through the same process to provide consistency throughout the organization. And while the business unit focuses on EMJ, it has recruited for companies outside of EMJ, adding to its potential as a profit center.

That same thinking—finding additional revenue streams for EMJ—encouraged Jay Jolley and Burt Odom to consider starting a special projects division. They laid the groundwork for Accent Construction Services, which would handle projects in the $5 million or less range.

“We were growing in size, and [our resources] were sized appropriately for larger projects,” says executive vice president Neil Pratt, who was tapped to helm Accent. “We had exclusive continued on page 61

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Taking On Technology As EMJ evolves, technology has become a major topic for the company. “When I came to EMJ, we didn’t have email,” recalls Michelle Bernard, director of strategic initiatives, who has been with EMJ for more than two decades. Times have changed. From iPad applications used on project sites to construction management software, EMJ has embraced technological advances that make not only the company’s job easier but also the experience more seamless for clients. n According to Chuck McGlothlen, chief financial officer, EMJ now invests in smart, cutting-edge technology, such as building information modeling (BIM) applications, online project collaboration tools, and 3D technology. “We have become much more advanced, and it makes us more efficient in the field,” he says. “We are giving the right tools to the people who are making it happen.” n “We have made it our mission to become an industry leader in technology,” Bernard says. “We want to get ahead of the curve, and that’s exciting. We want to be able to say that we can handle whatever the client needs. That’s our goal.”

The team used drone flights and photogrammetry to measure the grade of the Firestone job site in Opelika, Alabama.

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The graphic at left juxtaposes an actual photo of Connection Park, a two-phased office development in Irving, Texas, with a 3D model of the construction drawings. Building information modeling (BIM) uses 3D visual representations of construction drawings to virtually build a facility prior to construction, helping teams foresee challenges and improve efficiency.

E M J C O R P O R AT I O N â—† T H E F I R S T F I F T Y Y E A R S

The Fountains at Farah is a 578,000-square-foot open-air shopping center in El Paso, Texas.

E M J C O R P O R AT I O N â—† T H E F I R S T F I F T Y Y E A R S

continued from page 57

relationships with clients where we were no longer servicing them completely because they had small needs and large needs alike. I didn’t ever feel good about the fact that we couldn’t take care of them from top to bottom.”

For quite some time, Odom had reflected on this challenge and wanted to pursue the possibility of taking on smaller projects, especially with 2007 being the best year in the company’s history—up to that point. So Accent Construction Services became part of the EMJ family of companies in 2007.

Looking Up during the Economic Downturn The year 2008 saw unexpected changes for EMJ. The company had peaked at $950 million in revenue in 2007, but the recession eventually would take its toll. Because the retail industry took such a hit, as did so many others, a number of EMJ’s clients stopped all work on their major development and construction activities. The Sacramento office in particular suffered greatly when the California market crashed, and the office began focusing on projects in the public works sector to keep money flowing in, such as a restoration of the Carnegie Library, an expansion initiative for the city of Turlock, and a gymnasium project for West Hills Community College.

EMJ did what it could to maintain revenues across the entire company, but the outlook appeared bleak compared to the company’s peak in 2007. It certainly was not the best time to start a new company, but EMJ forged ahead with its plans for Accent Construction Services.

As expected, the subsidiary floundered at the outset.

“I started contacting people we had 61

relationships with prior to the downturn

had smaller projects in the $3 million arena

and tried to parlay those relationships into

that needed construction management, and

work. I think there were forty or fifty people I

Accent acquired that work. Somehow, even

called,” Pratt remembers. However, no one had

during that first treacherous year, the company

projects. In fact, most companies were going

made money.

through significant layoffs. But the Accent team marched on and switched its focus to

Over the next few years, as the economy

offering construction management services,

began to recover and Accent turned its focus

which included hiring general contractors and

back to its original plan of constructing small

overseeing the building process on behalf of

projects, such as restaurants and medical

clients. Pratt contacted CBL to see if there

office buildings, its revenue increased

were any opportunities in this realm, and

significantly. In 2017 Accent rebranded as

CBL responded with a resounding yes. They

EMJ Special Projects to reflect the company’s growth and expansion into larger projects

EMJ Special Projects has built more than 24 H&M stores across the nation.

and specialty sectors such as healthcare and adaptive reuse.

While EMJ’s diversification helped the company through the recession, the company also took a unique approach to the concept of cutting overhead. Jay Jolley, who became CEO in 2010 when Jim Sattler became chairman of the board, looked at the departments within the company and tried to find ways to maintain them while reducing costs. His first stop was the safety department, which was led by safety professional Russ Bartholomew, who had continued on page 67

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The River Spirit Casino Resort in Tulsa, Oklahoma, includes a twentynine-story hotel tower, a twenty-five-hundred-seat entertainment venue, a six-level garage, a grand ballroom, a retail center, a resort spa, two restaurants, an outdoor pool and bar, and additional gaming space.

E M J C O R P O R AT I O N â—† T H E F I R S T F I F T Y Y E A R S

Originally constructed in 1916 as a textile manufacturing facility, this two-and-a-half-story, 34,560-square-foot structure in Chattanooga was renovated by EMJ Special Projects into Signal Mill, an urban, mixed-use retail, restaurant and office development.

Construction of the 280,000-square-foot Indigo Sky Casino in Wyandotte, Oklahoma, included the installation of a thirteen-mile natural gas line.

E M J C O R P O R AT I O N â—† T H E F I R S T F I F T Y Y E A R S

continued from page 62

there, the portfolio grew, even in a challenging

always dreamed of one day owning his own

economic climate. “It was a great time for

safety firm—something Jay Jolley understood.

safety consultants because there were a lot of companies that had full-time safety people they

“There was reduction, of course. At that point,

had to drop because of reduction, but they still

Jay messaged me and said, ‘This is your option.

had a need,” Bartholomew explains. “So we were

If you want to get out and do something, this

able to pick up all of those companies.” As Jolley

might be your opportunity,’” Bartholomew

notes, “It was very organic. [Bartholomew] is

recalls. EMJ offered to spin him off into his

out there trying to find new clients, and the next

own company, with EMJ as a client and an

thing you know, we have this very successful

opportunity to build a new client base, thus

safety company.”

paving the way for CORE Safety Group to be incorporated on January 1, 2009. One of its first

Although cutting overhead was a focus in 2009,

projects was providing safety consultation for

EMJ didn’t turn its back on any opportunities,

the construction of the Volkswagen Training

including the chance to start yet another

Center in Chattanooga—an EMJ project. From

company. It again was a move that worked to

EMJ Corporation’s Chief Executive Officers

Edgar M. Jolley 1968–1993

Jim Sattler 1994–2009

Jay Jolley 2010–2016

Burt Odom 2016–Present

Ed founded EMJ in 1968 with the mission to deliver exceptional construction projects with impeccable customer service. During his tenure, he built EMJ’s reputation through strong partnerships with CBL Properties and Food Lion, among others. His tenure saw the opening of EMJ’s Boston and Dallas offices.

After serving as president under Ed Jolley, Jim expanded EMJ’s client list into sectors such as education, healthcare, sports, and hospitality.

EMJ’s Sacramento, Memphis, and Tulsa offices opened, and Signal Wind Energy, Procruit, EMJ Special Projects, and CORE Safety Group were formed during his tenure.

Jay began serving EMJ as a project manager before being named vice president. He and Burt Odom led the opening of the Dallas office and helped grow its client base. Jay assumed the role of president before being named chief executive officer in 2010. In 2016, Jay transitioned to chairman of the EMJ Board of Directors.

Burt has worked more than thirty years in various positions at EMJ, including estimator and project engineer.

He helped establish EMJ’s Dallas office and expanded the corporation into several new sectors.

Burt now serves as the chief executive officer and president, his role since October 2016.

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the company’s advantage. The venture began in 2008 when Chris Samples, the chief of staff of the Eastern Shawnee Tribe of Oklahoma, reached out to EMJ. “We were doing millions of dollars in construction,” he says of the tribe, which included the construction of administrative buildings, roads, infrastructure, healthcare facilities, schools, casinos, hotels, and more. “We threw the idea around about the tribe actually going into a partnership with a good construction company. A friend of mine introduced me to EMJ and had great things to say about them. They came and visited the tribe, and within a year, we formed an alliance, a partnership, and we named the company RedStone Construction.” Lance Gopffarth moved from the Dallas office to lead Tulsa-based RedStone as executive vice president.

Steady Growth In 2010 EMJ continued its innovative initiatives.

Wanting to build a solid healthcare construction practice, the company acquired Inman Construction, the second largest general contractor in Memphis, which had a strong focus on the healthcare market. EMJ retained all sixty Inman employees and set out to build a new office to serve Memphis and the surrounding areas. Yet the struggle with the economy, and the Memphis market specifically, encouraged EMJ to close the new Memphis office in 2013.

By this time, though, the economy elsewhere was on the rebound. EMJ moved forward with a variety of new concepts, such as formally instituting its client-focused approach. Born out of the company’s history of taking clients through the entire development process, from the earliest stages of a project to the last moments of construction, the philosophy behind 68

EMJ performed multiple additions, renovations, and site work on the campus of Methodist Hospital in Germantown, Tennessee.

E M J C O R P O R AT I O N â—† T H E F I R S T F I F T Y Y E A R S

EMJ’s approach has been setting the company apart for five decades. By setting out to train

This is a service industry based

employees across the entire family of companies

upon relationships, demonstrating

about how to employ it, EMJ has ensured that it will continue the work that Ed Jolley started so many years ago.

what you can provide the client and being able to deliver on that promise. The machine of EMJ

The company also continued to move forward with the creation of additional subsidiaries and the implementation of notable diversification efforts, including the founding of EMJ

improves our ability to deliver that promise.

Chris Hall

Hospitality in 2011. The subsidiary focused on building hotels across the country and ultimately brought in $50 million in revenue. In 2016 the brand was brought back under the main EMJ Construction umbrella and combined with the company’s student housing and mixed-use building programs.

By 2014, following a buyout of CBL’s remaining stock in the company, EMJ moved forward with the creation of a development company named Equitas Management Group, LLC. Equitas began with a focus on the development of freestanding retail stores across the Southeast for such clients as 7-Eleven, Starbucks, AutoZone, and Tractor Supply Co., but continues its pursuit of other sectors, including grocery and hotels. The company is led by Chris Hall as executive vice president; John Potter, senior vice president of real estate and development; and Drew Smith, senior vice president of operations. “What Equitas really is in nature is an investment company,” Potter notes. “We’re investing in real estate.”

EMJ converted two free-standing office buildings into The Inn at Sea Island in St. Simons Island, Georgia.

The team helps acquire land and connect retailers with the right properties for their expansion efforts, primarily in the Southeast—something

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Equitas has developed 7-Eleven convenience stores in central and southern Florida, including this one in Homestead, Florida.

E M J C O R P O R AT I O N â—† T H E F I R S T F I F T Y Y E A R S

The Sutherland Cardiology Clinic in Germantown, Tennessee, is a modern, two-story medical office and treatment facility.

that blends harmoniously with the longtime construction endeavors of EMJ. “This is a service industry based upon relationships, demonstrating what you can provide the client and being able to deliver on that promise,” Chris Hall says.

A Major Milestone In 2016, EMJ Corporation became a $1 billion business. In addition, that October Burt Odom was named chief executive officer and president of the company, as Jay Jolley became the chairman of the board. The passing of the baton, as had happened twice before, was smooth and fluid, thanks in large part to the way EMJ approaches its vision of leadership.

“We want a sustainable company that continues forever,” Odom says. “My dream is that people get to do the same thing that Jay and I got to do; come in as kids and have the opportunity to one day own the company. My vision is all about opportunity in the future for the company and for our people, while maintaining the company’s roots in a culture of servant leadership.”

Some of the individuals guiding this vision include executive vice presidents and other senior leaders who help direct EMJ Construction and other key operations within the company.

While the company can’t be certain of all the new opportunities that will arise, the skills of the people poised to bring the company into the future will ensure EMJ’s success through the next fifty years.

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Lamp Post Group, a growing venture incubator, enlisted the EMJ Special Projects team to construct its unique office space within the historic Loveman’s building, a century-old department store, in Chattanooga.

EMJ Foundation PURPOSE To be People Serving People.

MISSION To deliver unique value to our clients, partners, and colleagues.

VALUES Selfless. We support and invest in our clients, partners, colleagues, and communities. We trust and empower each other, build strong teams, and lead by example.

Trustworthy. We are truthful with ourselves, developing self-awareness and humility. We are accountable and work to be good stewards for our clients.

Gritty. We are courageous, of strong character, and able to persevere in difficult situations. We are more interested in doing what is right than what is easy.

APPROACH Deliver unique value and exceptional client experiences through customer experience project teams.

EMJ constructed the five-story municipal hub for the city of Fairview, Texas.

E M J C O R P O R AT I O N â—† T H E F I R S T F I F T Y Y E A R S

EPILOGUE

A Future That Reflects the Past Yesterday’s Lessons Become Tomorrow’s Vision EMJ is guided by its Foundation, which spells out EMJ’s purpose, values, mission, and approach. EMJ’s purpose is to be people serving people. The company charges its employees at all levels to be servant leaders who lead by example and inspire and serve others, both at work and in their communities. EMJ has a set of core values by which it hires and asks employees to aspire. These enduring principles and traits are to be selfless, trustworthy, and gritty. Empowered by its purpose and guided by its core values, the corporation aims to accomplish its mission, which is to deliver unique value to its clients, partners, and colleagues.

The final part of EMJ’s Foundation, which stems from its purpose, values, and mission, is the corporation’s approach. EMJ’s team approach brings together employees of various specialties to steward construction projects from concept to completion. These client experience project teams cultivate collaboration and aim to produce a continuous flow of fresh ideas, and through that, EMJ’s best work and exceptional client experiences.

For fifty years, people have been at the heart of EMJ Corporation. Today, the leadership of EMJ strives to ensure that everyone has the opportunity to move forward both professionally and personally as the company evolves onward and upward.

For these reasons, in recent

Between my father, Jim Sattler, myself, and Burt Odom, and this underlying group of leaders and executives that we’ve relied on, there’s always been this entrepreneurial drive to want to do more and want to do it better.

Jay Jolley

years, EMJ began focusing on career development for employees of all ages and stages within the company. The company offers mentoring, career mapping, and professional development opportunities, including Construct U, an online learning platform custom-designed to meet

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EMJ’s purpose, values, mission, and approach

The heart and soul of EMJ are really our people—people who care, people who care about other people, people who care about our clients. If we can continue with that attitude among our employees, I believe we’ll be the most outstanding construction company in the world.

create an environment in which all of EMJ’s

technology and more formal programs to

Burt Odom

employees understand where the company is going and how to get there. The company’s leadership knows it sets high expectations, but if EMJ continues to provide its clients with a remarkable experience—focused on providing them unique value—EMJ will continue to grow for years to come.

While today’s EMJ employs the most advanced deliver results for clients, the foundation is still that straightforward business philosophy. It also includes the entrepreneurial spirit that was deep within Ed Jolley from the very beginning.

“A business always reflects its leadership,” Jay Jolley says. “I think we have a great group of people here who care about their employees and who are good servant leaders. And I think that one thing that’s made EMJ different is that we always seem to be looking up. Our culture has always been one of looking up and asking ourselves, ‘What can we do to make ourselves better, faster, stronger, and more profitable?’

Between my father, Jim Sattler, myself, and Burt Odom, and this underlying group of leaders and executives that we’ve relied on, there’s always been this entrepreneurial drive to want to do more and want to do it better.”

“I hope that EMJ’s second fifty years will be as great as the first fifty years,” Burt Odom

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the needs of EMJ employees. The aim is to give

says. “The heart and soul of EMJ are really

employees the resources they need to succeed

our people—people who care, people who

not only within EMJ but also in their careers as

care about other people, people who care

a whole. The effort has been around informally

about our clients. If we can continue with

for many years, as employees have taught and

that attitude among our employees, I believe

mentored other employees throughout EMJ’s

we’ll be the most outstanding construction

growth and evolution.

company in the world.”

EMJ team member collaborates with an on-site trade partner.

INDEX Numbers in italics indicate photos

# 7-Eleven, 70, 71

A Accent Construction Services, 57, 61–62 Adairsville, Georgia, 16–17 Applied High Voltage, 52 Arbor Place Mall, 27, 27 Arlen Realty and Development Corporation, 10, 13 Arraycon, 52 AT&T Field, 43, 45 Augustino, Philip, 27, 46 AutoZone, 70

B Baptist Memorial Hospital, 7, 8, 11 Baptist Reynolds Hospice House, 20–21 Bartholomew, Russ, 62, 67 Bass Pro Shops, 47 Baylor School Natatorium, 44 Bell, Julian, 52 Bernard, Michelle, 58 Berndt, David, 37 bigger, beginning of something, 51–73 BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee, 31, 43–44 Board of Directors, EMJ, 67 Booneville, Mississippi, 7, 8, 11 Boston, Massachusetts, 15, 67 Boynton, Georgia, 13 Brock, John, 9, 9 Brock, Mark, 9 Brock, Paul, 9 Brock Insurance, 9 Brookshire’s, 34

C Carnegie Library, 61 CBL & Associates, 13, 15, 18, 23–24, 27, 40 CBL & Associates Properties Inc., 1, 40, 44, 62, 70 CBL Center, 44 CBL Center II, 4 CBL Properties, 1, 4, 15, 44, 67 Central High School, 13 CEOs of EMJ, 67 change, embracing the winds of, 23–46 Chattanooga, Tennessee all in the family, 67 daring to diversify, 23, 27, 34, 40, 43–44 The Manual, 33 photos, xiv, 2–3, 22, 24, 25, 31, 38–39, 41, 45, 52, 53, 64– 65, 74–75 singular focus, 5–6, 10, 12, 18 snapshot of Ed Jolley, 13

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Chattanooga Lookouts, 43, 45 Chattanooga Mocs, 13 Chevron, 52 Circuit City, 15 client, perspective of a, 37 Collierville, Tennessee, 20–21 Columbia, Tennessee, 6 commitment, total, 5–18 companies, tale of two, 1 Connection Park, 59 Construct U, 77 CoolSprings Galleria, 12 Coppell, Texas, 14 Coppell Life Safety Center, 14 CORE Safety Group, 67 Covenant Transport, 43

D Dallas, Texas all in the family, 68 CEOs of EMJ, 67 daring to diversify, 30, 34, 40, 44 perspective of a client, 37 photo, 36 David Berndt Interests Inc., 37 Daytona, Florida, 47 Daytona International Speedway, 47 diversify, daring to, 23–46 Douglasville, Georgia, 27, 27

E East Ridge Elementary School, 43–44 Eastern Shawnee Tribe of Oklahoma, 68 El Paso, Texas, 60 embracing the winds of change, 23–46 EMJ Construction, 43, 70, 73 EMJ Foundation, 75, 77 EMJ Hospitality, 70 EMJ Special Projects, 62, 67 Entrepreneurship Hall of Fame, 13 E.ON Energy, 52 Equitas Management Group, LLC, 70

F Fairview, Texas, 76 Fairview Town Hall, 76 family, all in the, 51–73 Farmer Brothers Co., 19 FedEx Ground Distribution Center, 52 Firestone, 58 Fischer, Ben, 51–52 flag, EMJ, 78 focus, singular, 5–18 Food Lion, 24, 26, 27, 30, 33–34, 40, 67 Fort Oglethorpe, Georgia, 10 The Fountains at Farah, 60

INDEX Foy, John, 23–24, 27 Franklin, Tennessee, 12 future that reflects the past, 77–78

G Gaffney, South Carolina, 10 Germantown, Tennessee, 69, 72 Gibson, Gary, 33, 43 Gopffarth, Lance, 68 Grand Parkway Marketplace, 32 Green, Phil, 24 Greencastle, Pennsylvania, 26 Gribble, Andy, 27 Gunbarrel Pointe, xiv

H H&M, 62 Hall, Chris, 70, 73 Hamilton Corner, xiv Hamilton Crossing, xiv Hamilton Place Mall, xiv, 23, 24, 25, 43–44 Hampton Inn & Suites, 2–3 H.E. Collins Contracting Company, 5–6, 9–10 Higginbotham, Phillip, 24 Holiday Inn & Suites, 53 The Home Depot, 15 Homestead, Florida, 71 Houston, Texas, 32 Hunter Museum of American Art, 22, 43

I Independent Construction Company, 9–10, 12–13, 15 Independent Enterprises, 1, 5–6, 9–10, 12–13, 15 Indigo Sky Casino, 66 Inman Construction, 68 The Inn at Sea Island, 70 Irving, Texas, 59

J Jobe, Ron, 15, 27, 33, 43 John Deere, 52 Johnson City, Tennessee, 10 Jolley, Edgar M. all in the family, 70 CEOs of EMJ, 67 daring to diversify, 24, 40 future that reflects the past, 77–78 The Manual, 33 photos, 13, 33, 67 singular focus, 5–6, 9–10, 12–13, 15, 18 a tale of two companies, 1 Jolley, Grace Scott, 13 Jolley, Jay all in the family, 52, 57, 62, 67, 73 CEOs of EMJ, 67

daring to diversify, 30, 33–34, 44 future that reflects the past, 77–78 photo, 67 singular focus, 15, 18 Jolley Jr., Edgar M., 15 Jolley Sr., John E., 13

K Kmart, 34 Kohl’s, 37, 46 Kroger, 34

L LaGrange, Georgia, 6 Lambda Chi Alpha, 13 Lamp Post Group, 74–75 Landress, Ben, 15 Laurens, South Carolina, 12 Lebovitz, Charles daring to diversify, 23 photo, 6 singular focus, 5–6, 9–10, 12–13, 15, 18 a tale of two companies, 1 Lebovitz, Moses, 5, 6 Lebovitz, Stephen, 15, 18 lessons learned, 27 lessons of yesterday as vision of tomorrow, 77–78 Loveman’s, 74–75 Lowe’s, 37, 46 loyalty personified, Ed Jolley as, 9

M The Manual, 33 Market City Center, 38–39 Martin, Doug, 43 Maury County Plaza, 6 McDonald, Bill, 10, 15, 27 McGlothlen, Chuck, 58 Memphis, Tennessee, 42, 67–68 Mercury Plaza Shopping Center, 6 Mervyn’s, 37, 46 Methodist Hospital, 69 Mojave, California, 50 Montgomery Ward, 10 Mount Pleasant, South Carolina, 10 Murfreesboro, Tennessee, 6 Muscle Shoals, Alabama, 6 Museum Bluffs Condominiums, 41, 43

N Newbury, South Carolina, 10 North Charleston, South Carolina, 10 Northgate Mall, 10, 12, 23, 40, 43 Northlake, Texas, 19, 46 Northport 35 Business Center, 46

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INDEX O Odom, Burt all in the family, 57, 61, 73 CEOs of EMJ, 67 daring to diversify, 24, 30, 33–34 future that reflects the past, 77–78 photo, 67 singular focus, 15 Opelika, Alabama, 58

P Palm Beach Outlets & Marketplace, 54–55 past, future that reflects the, 77–78 Pawson, Greg, 52 Pearland, Texas, 28–29 Pearland Town Center, 28–29 perspective of a client, 37 Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, 48–49 Plant T1, 16–17 Potter, John, 70 Pratt, Neil, 57, 62 Procruit, 57, 67 progress, power of, 1 Publix, 34

R Ratcliff, Glenard, 30 RedStone Construction, 68 reflecting the past, future as, 77–78 Ridgedale, Tennessee, 13 River Spirit Casino Resort, 63

S Sacramento, California, 46, 61, 67 Samples, Chris, 68 Sam’s Club, 36 San Antonio, Texas, 35 Sattler, Jim all in the family, 51, 62 CEOs of EMJ, 67 daring to diversify, 23–24, 27, 30, 34, 40, 43–44 future that reflects the past, 77–78 photo, 67 singular focus, 10, 12, 15 SCE (Southern California Edison), 50 Searchlight, Nevada, 56 Searchlight Solar Project, 56 Self, Jim, 10, 27 Self, Margaret, 33

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Service Merchandise, 15 Settlers Ridge, 48–49 Signal Energy Constructors, 52, 57 Signal Mill, 64–65 Signal Wind Energy LLC, 51, 67 singular focus, 5–18 Smith, Drew, 70 snapshot of Ed Jolley, 13 Solomon, Jay, 5, 6 Southern California Edison (SCE), 50 Southern Company, 52 St. Simons Island, Georgia, 70 Standard of Excellence, 33 Starbucks, 70 Storie, Spencer, 33 Summerville, South Carolina, 10 Sutherland Cardiology Clinic, 72

T tale of two companies, 1 Target, 32 technology, taking on, 58 Tennessee River, 22, 41 tomorrow’s vision, yesterday’s lessons as, 77–78 total commitment, 5–18 Tractor Supply Co., 70 Tulsa, Oklahoma, 63, 67–68 Tupelo, Mississippi, 10 Turlock, California, 61

U University of Memphis University Center, 42 University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, 13 U.S. Xpress, 43

V Village at Waterside, xiv vision of tomorrow, lessons of yesterday as, 77–78 Volkswagen Training Center, 67

W Walmart, 15, 34, 36 West Hills Community College, 61 West Palm Beach, Florida, 54–55 Whole Foods, 35 Winn-Dixie, 34 Wyandotte, Oklahoma, 66

Y yesterday’s lessons as tomorrow’s vision, 77–78