Covering the Industry’s News
P.O. Box 791290 San Antonio, Texas 78279-1290
Texas Style
PRSRT. STD. U.S. POSTAGE PAID DALLAS, TX PERMIT #1451
Change Service Requested
San Antonio Dallas/Fort Worth Austin Houston South Texas
Dallas/Fort Worth
CONSTRUCTION
™
The Industry’s Newspaper www.constructionnews.net
H
(210) 308-5800
H
Volume 13
H
Number 8
H
AUGUST 2015
Marking a milestone
Cause for celebrations
Cadence McShane Construction is celebrating its 30th anniversary.
Halff Associates Inc.’s Richardson staff celebrates 65 years.
W
hen Bob Marwill formed The Cadence Group in 1985, the general contracting company was small but focused. Fifteen employees in Dallas, Austin and Houston offices concentrated on providing solutions in the retail, education and commercial construction industry markets. In ten years, the growing success of the company Marwill had created was enough to catch Jim McShane’s eye. McShane acquired the company in 1995 to form Cadence McShane Construction and brought in Neal Harper to serve as company president. After Marwill retired in 1999, the company continued to grow and land major projects, including Austin’s $400 million Riata Vista project and Dallas’
810,000-sf Park Lane project. The company’s successful trajectory accelerated in 2012 when Will Hodges was named president and the company moved into its new Addison headquarters in 2014. This year, Cadence McShane Construction’s 135 employees are celebrating the company’s biggest milestone to date. “In 2015 we celebrate a significant milestone of 30 years in business!” Hodges says. “We’re extremely proud of this achievement and thankful to our team members, clients and subcontractors for making this anniversary possible. Although there are many factors contributing to our success, the most significant is continued on Page 18
S
ixty-five years ago in a Snider Plaza office, Southern Methodist University and John Hopkins University grad Dr. Albert H. Halff opened his consulting firm, Albert H. Halff, Consulting Sanitary Engineer, which would later be renamed Halff Associates Inc. At the time, he planned to offer what today would be considered environmental engineering. But the next decade would be a learning curve for Halff. He realized that to make a living, his firm would need to start doing general civil work, and with the loss of a short-term business partner, he was going to need a few more helping hands. The firm had to shift direction again during the 1980s recession, adopting more public sector projects and di-
versifying both geographically and in its disciplines. Because of what company president Patrick Kunz calls Halff’s “very creative, out-of-the-box thinking,” Halff Associates Inc. grew into one of the Southwest’s largest engineering companies, opening 14 branch offices and employing 530 people. On Aug. 20th – what would have been Dr. Halff’s 100th birthday – the company will celebrate the visionary’s legacy and the 65th anniversary of his vision. “He was very involved in the design of civil projects as Dallas grew, and as Dallas grew, he was able to grow the firm,” Kunz says. The company expanded with continued on Page 18
Parking where planted
L
ike the various plantings there, parking problems at The Dallas Arboretum had been growing for years. With attendance rising, the new Children’s Adventure Garden addition and the loss of a lot used for parking overflow, it was time to address replacement and garden parking needs. Building a new parking garage at 8720 Garland Rd. seemed to be the solution, but neighbors had mixed reviews on a proposed six-level parking structure. With input from neighborhood organizations, a five-level garage with the potential for a 6th level addition was proposed. The Arboretum board then engaged Good, Fulton and Farrell Architects (GFF) to develop a parking master plan. Once a plan was in place, the Rogers-O’Brien Construction team – project director Leon Davis, senior project manager Tim Storms, senior superintendent Steve Pesnell, superintendent Aaron
Flores, assistant project manager Kyle Fletcher and safety superintendent Scott Basler – was brought in to construct the $27 million parking garage. Many challenges faced the team, including how to complete the 156-ft. pedestrian tunnel on an aggressive 13– month schedule while accommodating the garage’s ongoing structure. To achieve this, the Rogers-O’Brien team utilized a hybrid garage system to keep the project on track. The two levels of below grade parking included excavation performed by AR Daniel Construction, who hauled out 700 loads of spoil materials while hauling in tunnel construction materials using a singular vehicular ramp. During the tunnel excavation, a shoring method consisting of a steel plate and prefabricated custom I-beams bent on a radius were used, allowing simultaneous single operation and excavation. The The nature-inspired Dallas Arboretum Parking Garage B-1 & UW Photo credit: ©Nathan Shands
continued on Page 18