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CONSTRUCTION
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Volume 13
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Number 1
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JANUARY 2015
Together as one
Lucky seven
L-R: The Wallace Group founder Bob Wallace with CP&Y’s founder Walter Chiang and CEO Pete Patel
The team at Action Gypsum Supply’s new Carrollton office.
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or more than a decade, two firms have worked side-by-side on public infrastructure projects along the Interstate 35 corridor. As of Nov. 30, 2014, the two teams became one. Dallas–based full-service engineering consulting firm CP&Y acquired The Wallace Group, a comprehensive engineering, architectural, survey and subsurface utility engineering firm. Both firms boast more than 30 years of service in their respective regions. CP&Y, with its Texas, Colorado, Oklahoma, Virginia and Arkansas locations, absorbed more than 45 employees working in The Wallace Group’s Dallas, Killeen, Round Rock and Waco offices.
With a combined staff of more than 225 employees in 15 regional offices, the expanded firm now offers clients a larger portfolio of engineering, architectural and surveying services. Wallace Group founder Bob Wallace, PE, says the firm, employees, owners and clients will benefit from the acquisition, and that negotiations were made with that goal in mind. Restyled under the name “The Wallace Group, a CP&Y company,” the company now operates as a wholly-owned subsidiary of CP&Y. CP&Y’s CEO Pete Patel says the longstanding relationship that the two com-
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ction Gypsum Supply just rolled its seven in 11. The Texas drywall distributor recently opened its seventh location since managing partners Lenin Juarez and Terri King Peak established the Houston headquarters in 2003. The Carrollton office is the newest for the company, which also has Austin, Bryan/College Station, Corpus Christi, Pearland and San Antonio stores. Regional manager Chris Hawkes says the Carrollton office was opened with customers’ needs in mind. “Action Gypsum Supply has always desired a statewide presence and the ability to service our customers that have work across Texas,” he says.
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Branch manager Mickey Layne and operations manager Jerry Hamilton will oversee the new office and its approximately 15 employees. Hawkes says Layne brings 17 years of Dallas/Fort Worth drywall industry experience and a wealth of customer relationships to the branch, and Hamilton is a 28-year drywall distribution industry veteran known in the area for his operations expertise. In addition to the store’s 2,000-sf showroom, Hawkes says the Carrollton office, located at 1706 I-35E just north of Beltline, “offers a convenience factor that no other drywall distributor is able to offer in the Dallas/Fort Worth market. All of continued on Page 18
Building blocks
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hen Superior Builders® owner Jeremy Molinar learned his general contracting company would be building a LEGO®-themed addition to a popular Grapevine attraction, the kid in him couldn’t wait to play. The 4,500-sf addition to the LEGOLAND® Discovery Center was to be comprised of two parts: A 3,500-sf splash pad and a 1,000-sf area with a pump room, two-guest restroom, changing rooms and a merchandise kiosk area. Designed for ages 3-10, the water playground would involve more than 30 interactive features pumping and spraying thousands of gallons of water. As fun as the highly creative project promised to be, Molinar needed a team that could complete the project quickly while respecting the enjoyment of the Discovery Center guests. He enlisted the help of project manager Rod Caskey of Merlin Entertainment, assistant superin-
tendent Jamie Craft, project foreman Robert Jones and architect Glenn Griggs of Griggs Group. “Scheduling was the project’s biggest challenge; we were on a really accelerated schedule,” Molinar, who acted as project superintendent, says. “The only challenge we ran into was working nights so that we didn’t interrupt the mall visitors. There were things we did during the day, but the loud tasks were done at night.” Aeroflow Plumbing Service’s Johnathan Strangmeier guided the crew as they staked out sanitary sewer drain placement before digging for plumbing. Molinar said installing the massive water tank was like “putting a submarine in the ground.” However, the space it takes up in the environment is offset by what it spares the environment. Superior Builders® came out to play while constructing its latest creation in Grapevine.
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