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 H Austin Dallas/Fort Worth H Houston
Austin
CONSTRUCTION
™
The Industry’s Newspaper HAPPY NEW YEAR!
www.constructionnews.net
H
(210) 308-5800
H
Volume 16
H
Number 1
H
JANUARY 2017
The season of giving
Blue ribbon for Blue Label
With the help of friends, Wheeler Companies and others, Jasiel Favors and his family now have a mobility van.
Rebecca Roque, Pedro Garcia and Abbie Fenton are putting their combined experiences together to showcase their love of the granite field.
E
mployees at Wheeler Companies, an Austin-based construction company and building materials supplier owned and operated by Oldcastle Materials, were motivated to pitch in when they learned a Stony Point High School student needed help. Jasiel Favors fractured three vertebrae during a junior varsity football game last year and now is paralyzed from the neck down. He spends much of his time in physical rehabilitation, as well as attending classes at Stony Point. The rehab regimen is challenging but promising. His mother, Debra Favors is hopeful Jasiel should be able to walk within a few years. The lack of a vehicle equipped for wheelchair access, however, has forced the Favors family to physically lift Jasiel
out of his wheelchair and into the car each time they travel to his medical appointments and to school – putting him at risk for injury. Friends established a Go Fund Me campaign to help cover the cost of a special van to safely accommodate Jasiel’s wheelchair and provide the freedom of mobility that he and his family need. While the campaign successfully reached its initial $15,000 goal, the Favors family struggled to find a working van at that price point that could meet Jasiel’s needs, given the specialized vehicle modifications needed to secure and restrain his wheelchair. As of October 2016, 202 donors contributed additional funds reaching a generous $24,000 toward the cost of the van. continued on Page 17
B
lue Label Granite was born a year ago when three co-workers at an Austin granite yard decided to take their expertise and open their own company. Abbie Fenton, Rebecca Roque and Pedro Garcia, along with a silent partner, bring different strengths to the table, but all have one thing in common. “We all love this field,” Abbie says. With a combined 25+ years of experience, Abbie says she loves the sales and advertising part of the business, while Pedro handles the installing and fabricating, and Rebecca runs operations. “We all work very well together,” Abbie says. “We feed off each other in a positive way!” At this point, Blue Label handles
about 70 percent residential and 30 percent commercial, but future goals include having two separate divisions – one that is completely commercial and one completely residential. Several commercial jobs in the past year have led to increased commercial work, including an office building in downtown Austin that Abbie says was intensive, but turned out “very cool”, as well as some intricate work at the renovation of St. William Catholic Church in Round Rock. Recently, the company did the countertops at the new Howry Building in Kyle. With seven employees, customer satisfaction is very important. continued on Page 17
New life in downtown Kyle
S
ituated in between San Marcos and Buda, Kyle, TX is poised to become the next point of growth in the ever-swelling population boom along the I-35 corridor. With the addition of the new Seton Medical Center Hays across I-35 from what is still a small, quiet downtown, Kyle seemed like a good place for general contractor Phil Howry Company to start building projects. Finished in November, the Howry Building, situated across the street from the Kyle Fire Department and the downtown square, is a mix of small retail and multi-family space. “The concept is mixed use; a place where you can live and work,” says founder Phil Howry. “There are a lot of young professionals in Kyle.” “We are filling the void in Kyle for leasable space,” says son Sterling Howry, a partner in Phil Howry Company and its umbrella company, Comanche Holdings LLC.
A previous project in Kyle, fully commercial, built by Phil Howry Company two years ago, filled up in 90 days, Sterling says. The current project already has some of the retail and residential spaces leased. According to folklore, the project was built on what old-timers called Mrs. Miller’s garden, Sterling says. It might have been a flourishing garden at one time, but Google Maps shows a dirt-filled lot where the handsome brick building now sits. Compromised of six retail spaces on the bottom and six residential units on the top, each measuring 840sf, the building is 100 percent masonry with structural steel on the first floor and concrete decks and wood framing on the second floor. Retail units on the bottom have an industrial flair with exposed ducts, and The mixed use Howry Building, recently finished in Kyle, TX, adds much-needed leasable space to the growing area.
continued on Page 17