Dallas-Based Centex Construction Sells for $367 Million to Balfour Beatty
Texas companies win construction awards and join the ranks of an international trade group while The Beck Group promotes four of its executives; construction industry trade facility opens to serve Metroplex job-hunters.
Balfour Beatty’s $367 Million Completes Acquisition of Centex Construction
London-based Balfour Beatty, the international engineering, construction and services group, acquired Dallas-based Centex Construction, the commercial building unit of Centex Corporation for a cash consideration of $367 million.
Balfour Beatty, which has a U.S. presence in selected design, project and program management markets through Heery International and in the growing private finance market through Balfour Beatty Capital. The acquisition of Centex offers Balfour Beatty additional potential to grow in its target building and investment markets.
Centex Construction will now be called Balfour Beatty Construction and will continue its market presence in Florida, Texas, Washington, D.C., and North Carolina markets.
KBR Selected by Standard & Poor’s for S&P MidCap 400 Index
KBR Inc. has been selected by Standard & Poor's to move into the S&P MidCap 400 index after the close of trading on March 30. Houston-based KBR will replace Irvine, Calif.,-based Newport Corp., an electronics manufacturer that is moving over to the S&P SmallCap 600.
Energy giant Halliburton Co. spun off its ownership in KBR, its engineering and construction arm, and the transaction closed in the spring.
Houston officials seek to sell land occupied by mental facility
The Center Serving Persons with Mental Retardation and the City of Houston are in disagreement over the validity of the site lease for the center’s facility at 3550 West Dallas. The nonprofit home for about 200 mentally retarded people built on prime real estate in Houston could lose its land to the city.
Groups such as the American Institute of Architects, Houston do not support the sale and demolition of the buildings of the Center Serving Persons with Mental Retardation located at 3550 West Dallas.
“Invalidation of the lease may result not only in the destruction of the homes of people with intellectual and developmental disabilities but also the demolition of these historically important works of Houston architecture, which anchor a visible site in the heart of the city,” states the AIA Houston in a release.
The nonprofit currently pays the city $1 a year under its lease. If the lease is deemed invalid, the city could sell the increasingly valuable six acres of public land near downtown.
City officials, who maintain that selling the property would benefit more people in the long run, say the bid process would take place in the next six to nine months. The center would have about three years to relocate, and any sale must be approved by the city council.
AGC’s Texas Members Among Build America Award Winners
The Associated General Contractors of America presented its 2007 Aon Build America Awards, the highest and most sought-after awards in the construction industry. Fifteen projects were selected as winners and five were selected for merit awards at AGC's 88th Annual Convention in San Antonio.
The Build America Awards contribute directly to the AGC Education and
Research Foundation. Since 1993, The Build America Scholarship Program has awarded more than $250,000 in scholarships to nearly 80 construction management and civil engineering students.
Among the 2007 Build America Award Winners was Zachry Construction Corporation of San Antonio for the new building of $5 million or less category for the Zachry Corporate Headquarters Conference and Employment Center in San Antonio.
Among the 2007 Merit Award Winners were McCarthy Building Companies, Inc. of Dallas for the new building category for the Emerging Infectious Diseases Laboratory Building 18 in Atlanta, Ga. In the building renovation category, Caddell Construction Co., Inc. of Montgomery, Ala., won for its renovations and upgrades to Terminal C at the George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston.
Two Texas Firms Among 15 New AEM Members
The Association of Equipment Manufacturers (AEM) recently elected 15 companies to membership in the international trade group, which provides business-development resources for companies which manufacture and market agriculture and construction-related equipment, products and services. Two of the firms are from Texas. They are Borg Solutions Inc. of Austin, provider of fleet management system services; and Humdinger Equipment LLC of Lubbock, manufacturer of pulled scrapers.
Training Facility Opens on Cedar Valley Campus
A first-of-its-kind job training and supportive services facility opened in March on the Cedar Valley College campus in Lancaster to provide construction industry trainees with on-the-job training as well as comprehensive training and technical assistance to Disadvantaged Business Enterprises (DBEs) in the Dallas-Fort Worth area.
The Texas Business Opportunity Workforce Development Center’s unique training was developed through a partnership that will allow the college to provide technical assistance and supportive services. The goal of the center is to increase the number of minorities participating in the highway construction industry as entrepreneurs and journeymen.
In the second year of the TBOWD Program, a school-to-work initiative will be implemented that will target 10 high school seniors from the Lancaster Independent School District who have expressed an interest in the construction industry.
Houston Chapter of AIA Locates Downtown
The Houston Chapter of the American Institute of Architects has a new home downtown, a 3,000-sq-ft office on the first floor of Bayou Plaza II. The association’s move follows a number of architects in the area who have relocated downtown.
One of the first leading firms to move downtown was PageSoutherlandPage, which relocated from the Galleria area to 1100 Louisiana, transforming bank lobby space into inventive office space.
Morris Architects moved to downtown just over a year ago after 25 years in the upper Kirby area. Morris moved into First City Tower at 1100 Fannin, a building the company originally designed.
Stern and Bucek Architects also moved downtown, just over a year ago. The firm moved into the former industrial area on the east side of downtown, north of Minute Maid Park. Known for preservation and restoration projects, Stern and Bucek Architects applied its expertise to its new space – an award-winning space that it restored and renovated at 1610 Commerce.
Other architecture firms located downtown include, Ziegler Cooper, Gensler, DMJM Rottet, Planning Design Research Corp., WHR Architects, m Architects, Powers Brown Architecture, Ray & Hollington, Smight & Company, Art Ayala Architects, Burwell Architects, Cynthia Rankin, Gle-Stinson, Harrison Kornburg, Howell Mims, Intexure Architects, John S. Chase, Michael Gaertner, Neos, Paradigm Design and PM Design Group.
NationsRent Gives Away Orange County Chopper
Larry Green of Victoria won the NationsRent Orange County Chopper as the grand prize winner of O.C.C. Chopper Sweepstakes. Green was randomly chosen out of over 79,000 sweepstakes entries.
The sweepstakes was a promotion of Sunbelt Rentals and the former NationsRent. The chopper toured the United States for two years starting in January 2005 appearing at open house events, tradeshows and other promotional events. The sweepstakes took place during the last six months of the tour from May to December 2006.
Sunbelt Rentals, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Ashtead Group plc, is the second largest equipment rental company in the U.S. Sunbelt is based in Charlotte, N.C. |
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