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 Austin bluebonnets
www.constructionnews.net
H
(210) 308-5800
H
Volume 16
H
Number 4
H
APRIL 2017
A flare for air
Amazing elevator for Austin
L-R: Vice President Rick Gonzales runs the service side of San Marcos Air, while President Lucas Novak runs the commercial construction side.
Thyssenkrupp Central Region construction manager JD McDonald can’t wait to bring this awesome attraction to the Austin area.
W
ith his background in energy conservation, Lucas Novak, president of San Marcos Air Conditioning Service Inc., believes that sets his company apart from the competition. “I believe it gives us an advantage with an ability to add knowledge about an area that is becoming more and more important in the building industry,” Novak said. Novak, who was born and raised in San Antonio, graduated from Baylor University in 2004 with a degree in Business Financials and Management Information Systems. He immediately went to work for a large electric company, where his first big job was a retrofit to Lamar University in Beaumont.
“It was a $15 million job, but they made that back in 10 years in energy savings,” he says. “My background was energy conservation implementation, including to the AC and lighting.” In 2009, he started a new division for energy conservation at Novak Group, a small general contracting firm owned by his father and brother. In the end, though, he really wanted to go out on his own. “I guess I was born with an entrepreneurial spirit,” he says. He had decided that the cash flow was too slow when subcontracting out mechanical work. “So, I purchased a mechanical contractor,” he says.
A
ccording to thyssenkrupp’s website, much has changed since Thyssen and Krupp merged 16 years ago. The company has developed into a modern, global industrial group now seeking to more effectively set itself apart from its competitors. And with the company’s plans for a never-before-seen tourist attraction in downtown Austin, thyssenkrupp will effectively prove itself unique among its counterparts. “We’ve been brainstorming for awhile about what we could do in Austin that would not only put the name thyssenkrupp on everybody’s lips, but would also offer a new, unique attraction to bring more visitors into the state’s capi-
continued on Page 19
tal,” says JD (David) McDonald, construction and modernization manager for the Central Region. “The idea is to build the world’s largest, fastest, freestanding elevator that will encompass several very cool features.” Thyssenkrupp is no stranger to building large, free-standing elevators – their 28-story, free-standing, glass elevator is the centerpiece at the Bass Pro Shops Pyramid in Memphis and has been called the world’s largest freestanding elevator – that is until now. Rivaling not only their own elevator in Memphis, the Austin team plans to take the Guiness Book of World Records away from The Shanghai Tower, which is now listed for three records, including continued on Page 19
No rest in renovating these rooms
W
ith a specialty in interior finish out, general contractor MW3 Associates just finished a restroom re-do that pleased the owners enough they hired MW3A to do the next set of restrooms ready for a renovation. The $220,000 job was located on Research Boulevard and was finished in seven weeks, according to Denise Mellow, business development and project manager. The project consisted of two sets of men’s and women’s restrooms and lockers. The scope of the project consisted of metal stud framing, sheetrock, and wall covering, as well as tile work. Architect was Carson Design Associates. Working with this property manager, Kathryn Swift and her team felt easy, and effortless,” Mellow says. “They understood the timing of materials, as well as the necessity of doing some work after
hours and on the weekends and their team made it easy and worked to accommodate us. “The architect, Alexa Feldman, was present during the whole process answering Requests for Information (RFI) and walking the job site to make sure we were on par with her vision. I really feel we had the dream team on this project.” Subcontractors on the job included Commercial Flooring Facilitators of Texas, Wall to Wall Finishes, Alpha Granite, Butler Plumbing, Northstar Fire and TM Electric. MW3 Associates was founded and is owned by Geoffrey Whittaker in 2014. Typical customers are property managers in commercial, retail and industrial buildings. The company has one office with 17 employees and works throughout the Austin and San Antonio area. MW3 Associates recent restroom remodel went well with the GC, property manager and architect working on the same page.
continued on Page 19