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The Industry’s Newspaper WIC Week - See page 12
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(210) 308-5800
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Volume 3
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Number 4
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APRIL 2016
To Belize for papayas!
A window to success
Danny and Nancy Boultinghouse, along with daughter Wanza and granddaughter Sierra, are shown in front of their new papaya plantation in Belize.
L-R: Roy, Richard Jr, Ernestine and Richard Valadez Sr. are ready to welcome customers to Academy Window Coverings.
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ost people who know Danny Boultinghouse, Boultinghouse, Simpson, Gates Architects in McAllen, know that he loves going to Belize. In fact, he’s been known to say, “If I go missing, look for me there – or rather, don’t look for me!” What a lot of people don’t know about Danny, and his wife, Nancy, is their secret addiction – to papayas! “It’s not something we brag about,” Danny says. “You never really want to admit that you have a secret addiction.” Danny and Nancy say they come by the problem honestly. Both sets of parents were and are also papaya addicts, as were plenty of other ancestors. “Nancy actually has a secret recipe book that her grandmother put together
– it’s absolutely filled with thousands of ways the families, through the years, have incorporated papaya into everything they cooked – often without their dinner guests even knowing!” Danny boasts. So, when the pair found out that Belize is actually known for its papaya plantations, the die was cast. “We’ve decided to chuck it all and move to Belize, where we will start a papaya plantation,” Danny said. “Of course, we are going to miss our lives and friends here in the Valley, but we are hoping that people will find the time to travel to Belize and visit us – and that while they are there, we can turn them into papaya addicts, too!” continued on Page 10
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hen Richard and Ernestine Valadez returned to San Antonio in 1958 from Europe after Richard’s time in the U.S. Air Force, the young couple used some savings to buy a small grocery store on Presa Street. “We always had a dream to open our own business,” Ernestine says. But the profit margin on a grocery store wasn’t living up to the growing family’s needs, so they passed it onto Richard’s father and Richard went to work for a blind company. In 1959, the company transferred him to Corpus Christi to run the branch there. When the company no longer wanted that branch, Richard and Ernestine bought it and Academy Window Coverings was born. “We made it a successful company,”
Ernestine says. “It was hard work. Sometimes we would work until midnight trying to complete orders when it was just him and I.” Ernestine even wrote a book, “Success and Survival in a Family Business” about their hard-won triumphs. The couple has six children (five sons and one daughter), all of whom worked in the family business while attending high school. Three of their sons work there today. There are also 16 grandchildren. “They learned their work ethic while working here in the summers,” Ernestine says. “I call it a blessing.” All of the children are successful continued on Page 10
Bright new star in McAllen
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ith a year-round temperature that includes an average high of 81° and a low of 59°, the growing city of McAllen is becoming a destination spot for vacationers from all over. Located near the popular beaches of the Gulf of Mexico and boasting an array of shopping, dining and local attractions, the McAllen–Edinburg–Mission metropolitan area is one of the fastest growing metropolitan areas in the United States. In 2015, Phoenix Hospitality Group provided the area a world-class hotel by converting the 35-year-old Embassy Suites by Hilton into a Double Tree by Hilton. The $10 million-plus project was spearheaded by Alamo System Industries LLC (ASI), the general contractor on the project. Project manager was Brandon Wallace, an owner of ASI and Mark Romel was superintendent. The architect was SA Partnership. “A year of planning went into the project prior to starting construction,”
McAllen has a brand new destination hotel in the recently renovated Double Tree by Hilton.
Wallace says. “The renovation took six months and was completed in July 2015. The hotel is 272 rooms and nine stories over 250,000 sf. The property was converted to a Double Tree and updated to Double Tree standards. All guestrooms, corridors, indoor pool, meeting space, ballrooms, public bathrooms, atrium, lobby, restaurant, bar and Porto Corche were renovated. Materials used included sheetrock, paint, metal studs, carpet, tile, concrete, and lots of demolition. “With any large renovation of such an old property there were unforeseen conditions behind walls and finishes,” Wallace says. “The vision from the developer and architect did not always work and minor adjustments were necessary to maintain structural integrity or MEP systems of the property. The structure itself is pre-cast concrete and elevated post tension - cutting holes into concrete continued on Page 10