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(210) 308-5800
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Volume 18
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Number 12
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DECEMBER 2015
Turning up the volume
Adaptable Alderson
As the company continues to grow its local operations, Wurzel Builders and its staff have a new home in San Antonio on Redland Road. L-R: Shane Norris, Jeff Murdorf, Nancy Soto and Harley Blackburn
Dean Alderson, vice president, and Linda Alderson, president, are celebrating 30 years of service and forward momentum at Alderson & Associates.
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hen Harley Blackburn came on board with Wurzel Builders Ltd. as vice president last year, he opened a full-time office for the commercial general contractor in San Antonio. After leasing temporary offices, Wurzel recently moved on to 1.6 acres of permanent property at 18833 Redland Rd., real estate it will soon share with its two sister companies. They are building out another 1,200sf for a sister service company. The base office is about 2,200sf with eight offices, conference room, training room, kitchen and 2,000sf of warehouse space. At its new home in the Alamo City, Wurzel currently has four employees
working at the new office and six superintendents in the field. The new office was a necessity since Blackburn has ushered the company into a significant period of growth. “The San Antonio office is currently the largest volume producing office of the four offices,” says Blackburn. “I came on board in spring [2014] after leaving another firm. I helped grow that firm double in size in less than five years. My goal for here is to do the same, and within less than one year, we’ve already doubled the size of the company.” Currently, Wurzel’s San Antonio office is working on a total of about 60,000sf
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n November 1985, father and son team Carlton Alderson and Dean Alderson established Alderson & Associates, Inc. to do MEP consulting and engineering. As the company celebrates its 30th anniversary, Dean maintains his leadership role as vice president, and his wife, Linda Alderson, became the firm’s president and managing principal in 2012. Over the last three decades, Alderson & Associates has expanded and changed. To meet the increasing demand for commissioning services, the firm separated into two informal divisions that work together to provide the necessary resources for each project. “Commissioning has become quite a
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hot topic,” Dean says. “At its heart, it is the verification that mechanical and electrical components and systems have been designed, correctly installed, and tested to assure optimal performance.” Hector Carrisalez, PE, manages the engineering division, and Scott Wells, CxA, LEED AP, manages the commissioning division. Linda and Dean believe that the firm’s greatest strength is the people who comprise the Alderson team. When the firm began, there were two professional engineers and a draftsman. Now, they have 25 employees, including nine professional engineers, two certified commissioning authorities, and project support personnel. continued on Page 24
Part of the journey to Austin
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s a general contractor that branches out from its home base in Austin to its closest branch in San Antonio, Journeyman Construction is playing a part in the plan to make travel between Austin and San Antonio easier and faster. Journeyman recently completed work on Centro Plaza, a modern and illuminated plaza built as a multi-modal transit center for the VIA Metropolitan System of San Antonio. “Centro Plaza is one out of three plazas being built as part of a master plan which will provide public train transportation from downtown San Antonio to downtown Austin,” explains Mauricio Ramos, EIT, project manager. “Centro Plaza in downtown and two more similar plazas on the north and south areas of San Antonio will be the main hub stations for the bus system which will connect with the future train station across
the street from Centro Plaza.” The approximate cost of construction for this project was $16 million, not including design or FF&E (furniture, fixtures and equipment). Work began in July of last year and was completed last month. The plaza is approximately 150,000sf and includes three new buildings. The waiting area building is an air-conditioned building for the public to wait for the next bus. The multipurpose room includes public restrooms, a ticket vending area, conference room, kitchen and mechanical room. There is also a core and shell building with canopy. The build also included a historic building remodel, tower, two semi-circled canopies around an open landscaped area, and a Primo canopy that spans across Medina Street. “The color matrix in this project is Built by Journeyman Construction, the new VIA transit center, Centro Plaza, is full of modern touches including colorful lighting and stainless steel finishes.
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