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CONSTRUCTION
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The Industry’s Newspaper
Remember the Fallen Memorial Day • May 25
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(210) 308-5800
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Volume 17
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Number 5
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MAY 2015
Modern family
Better half of a century
Felipe Carstens, center, had the moral support of his parents, Ximena and Enrique Carstens, when he started his own company. Now, he has their support in the office, too.
The owners of Yantis Company are L-R: Arnold Briones, PE, COO; Mike Yantis Jr., CEO; J. Mike Yantis, chairman of the board; Matt Yantis, president
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hough Felipe Carstens established Modern Day Concrete on his own in 2011, his family has joined him in the business as it continues to grow. A year-and-a-half after its founding, Carstens’ father, Enrique Carstens, came onboard Modern Day as director of marketing and sales, and also doing administration. Enrique came to the U.S. from Chile in 1980 with his wife, Ximena Carstens. He studied business at the University of Missouri in St. Louis, where his son Felipe was born while he was working toward his bachelor’s degree. The family returned to Chile, and in 1995, the Carstens returned to the U.S. so Enrique could pursue his master’s degree at the University
of Texas-Pan American in Edinburg, TX. For about 13 years, Enrique stayed in the U.S. on working visas. A job with Merrill Lynch brought the family to San Antonio, and his son brought him into Modern Day in 2012. Today, the Carstens are citizens. Felipe’s brother, Cristobal, is foreman, currently working on a job at Lackland Air Force Base. With the busiest workload Modern Day has ever had, Ximena recently joined her husband in the office to help file invoices and catch up on paperwork. “We really have been experiencing growth from the day we started to where we are now,” says Felipe, 30. “When we continued on Page 24
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s the country pulls out of the Great Recession, Yantis Company has come out on the other side of the downturn just in time to celebrate the company’s 50th anniversary. The civil infrastructure contractor has overcome economic challenges since its inception. At the age of 33, founder John Yantis was unemployed and started the company with $1,000 he had and a borrowed $9,000. He was able to turn enough profit on the first job to keep the business going. Today at 83, Yantis is chairman emeritus of the company he established in 1965. His son, J. Mike Yantis, is chairman, and his son’s sons, Mike Yantis Jr. and Matt Yantis, are leading the company as
CEO and president, respectively. In the most recent internal development, Arnold Briones, PE, joined the third generation of leadership late last year as COO with the distinction of being the first owner outside of the Yantis family. Briones started with the company in 2007. “We’re really excited,” says Mike Yantis Jr. of the anniversary. “We’ve done a lot of different projects around San Antonio. It’s really neat for my grandfather to just be able to look back at some of the things he has done and accomplished.” After running the company for years, John was joined by J. Mike in the early ‘80s. In the early 2000s, Mike and Matt continued on Page 24
Integrating warmth into medical care
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veryone has had the experience of sitting in a doctor’s office feeling uncomfortable in its various spaces that are as sterile visually as they are medically. But when Dr. Teo Sanchez, a full-time ER doctor, set out to open his own office, he envisioned a very different environment. Marksmen General Contractors built Sanchez’s vision in Alamo Ranch Integrative Medicine. The project was an interior finish out of a shell building for medical offices near 1604 and 151 off Alamo Ranch Parkway. Work began on Dec. 15 and was completed Mar. 16. The project encompassed a little under 2,500sf and the cost was approximately $350,000. Use of the space was fairly typical for a medical office with six exam rooms and a consultation room, as well as the doctor’s office, which included a bathroom and a shower. The space also included typical amenities of an office environ-
The Alamo Ranch Integrative Medicine project incorporated several elements, including earth tones and textured wall panels, to make the environment feel relaxing and comforting.
ment, including three storage areas, a janitor’s closet and a break room. One of the most unique areas in style and design was reception, with a curved feature and a nice textured wall panel feature designed by the Shawn Kaarlsen & Associates team. Marksmen’s project manager, Megan Gold, says that architects Shawn Kaarlsen and Mark Hodges worked with Sanchez to create the atmosphere that he wanted. She notes that Sanchez brought them clippings of features that fit his concept, and they based their design on his visions. Sanchez wanted the overall feel of the space to be similar to that of a relaxing spa rather than a typical commercial or medical office. “Dr. Sanchez did a wonderful job of picking some great color tones, and the textures that Mark Hodges and Shawn Kaarlsen brought to the forefront really continued on Page 24