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CONSTRUCTION
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The Industry’s Newspaper Aztec Theater
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(210) 308-5800
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Volume 17
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Number 3
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MARCH 2015
Due vigilance
Picking up the pace
In running GPS of Texas, Blake Stephens has helped companies track their workers and work hours, even solving some crimes in the process.
JR Trevino is proud of the new headquarters that he, his father, and their team renovated for Treco Enterprises.
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ontractors and equipment companies need to keep track of their trucks and machines, and for more than a decade now, Blake Stephens has been helping them do it as the owner and president of GPS of Texas. While the company sells tracking devices for vehicles and equipment all over the United States and Canada, GPS of Texas, which started in San Antonio about 16 years ago, has most of its presence in South Texas. Stephens observes that business doubled in 2013 and doubled again last year, attributing much of that growth to the oil boom in the Eagle Ford Shale as contractors and other companies continue adding trucks to keep up with the work.
He says that equipment and rental companies often use it for theft protection. This also allows them to tie into an hour meter and track how long equipment has been running so that it can be properly maintained accordingly. Stephens describes the GPS devices as profit tools that promote fuel savings, overtime savings, proof of work, efficiency and productivity by holding workers accountable for their output and time. He notes that the people who really toe the line love it. He adds that some are afraid of it, because the system can weed out workers who are pulling productivity down, and then the bottom line improves dramatically and quickly. continued on Page 24
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he new home of Treco Enterprises, Inc. has been about two years in the making, and finally, Edward “JR” Trevino, vice president – business development, and his parents have a new home the business can call its own. Since Treco had outgrown its former office off Tradesman Drive, which was about 1,000sf, JR and his father, Edward Trevino, Treco’s president, sought out a bigger, more central location. When they found their new office downtown at 1414 North San Jacinto, the space needed a lot of work, but being general contractors, they put two years of work into the building. About six months ago, they achieved substantial completion on their new base of operations.
After doing a little research into the new building’s history, JR discovered that the building was once home to David Pace, founder of Pace Foods. Upon digging up the original deed, he learned that Hettie Bosshardt sold the land to David and Margaret (nee Bosshardt) Pace on Dec. 21, 1955 and a portion of the property was deeded to the city for the expressway, which is I-10 today. Now, with Treco settling into its home, business continues to pick up pace. Running 12 trucks and about 15 employees, those numbers are up from when they first bought the new building. JR comments that having their own property has been conducive to the growth of continued on Page 24
A drive-in for a new generation
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o you remember the good old days when moviegoers could park their best ride at an old-fashioned drive-in theatre and enjoy a feature under the stars with tasty food and good friends? Well, those days are back. Drivein movie theatres are returning to Texas. Whiting-Turner helped bring the first of these new theatres to the San Antonio area with the Stars & Stripes DriveIn in New Braunfels, which aims to open this spring. The private owner of the family-owned theatre, who was very involved in the building process, has two other drive-in locations in Lubbock and Midland. Located on Kroesche Lane, in a rural area off I-35 and 1101, the project encompassed the development of roughly 50 acres. The property hosts a total of seven buildings and three screens, with space for a potential fourth. As you enter the
main drive, you approach one of three bright red box offices underneath a metal-roofed canopy to purchase your tickets. Each screen has a galvalume-clad booth, roughly 100sf in size, to project the feature to the outdoor big screen. The focal point of the property is the centrally located 7,000-sf concession building. Clad in galvalume siding and natural stacked limestone, the design lends a modern take on the classic drivein that blends in with the rural landscape. While the drive-in concept may conjure retro images of yesterday, the look for the Stars & Stripes in New Braunfels is based on today’s design concepts with clean lines giving the classic drive-in a modern feel. There are pendant lights hung from an exposed metal roof structure, smooth white countertops, polished concrete floors and shiny fabric The Stars & Stripes Drive-In Theatre in New Braunfels, the first new drive-in in the San Antonio area, will be opening soon. Photo by Bob Wickley, Photographer
continued on Page 24