Austin-based Faulkner USA, a nationwide provider of design-build, development, construction, program management, financing and asset management, has evolved into an expert public-private development and building company.

The firm that began 40 years ago as a retail specialist now specializes in convention center and hospitality projects as well as housing for correctional and institutional facilities, public schools and military. Within the past six years, the company has completed 60 major public-private projects and has or is in the process of completing projects valued at more than $2.2 billion.

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The company ranked 15th on Texas Construction's list of the state's top contractors.
FaulknerUSA positioned itself as an industry leader in public-private projects after the passage of the 1996 Defense Authorization Act, which kicked off a trend toward privatized construction and management of military housing.

In 1997, the company broke ground on the first of the Navy's privatized housing projects and began construction on Hawk's Landing in Kingsville. The $10 million, 102-unit multifamily housing complex, named in honor of the TA-4 Skyhawk and T-45 Goshawk aircrafts, placed the company at the forefront of a major industry movement.

Bridge Pointe Landing, a master-planned residential community in Ingleside, was another part of the military's initial effort. The 1997 contract called for FaulknerUSA to develop, own and operate 302 townhomes on a 40-acre site in Portland, midway between Naval Air Station Corpus Christi and Naval Air Station Ingleside.

FaulknerUSA has also benefited from other aspects of government privatization. The Federal Bureau of Prisons and the Immigration and Naturalization Service Prison and Detention Center in Eloy, Ariz., was the first private prison built for the Federal Bureau of Prisons.

The company sees similar opportunities on the horizon in the public sector.

"I think overall, private commercial construction in Texas will not see much growth through the first half of 2004" said Greg Williams, senior vice president of development. "However, we are seeing tremendous opportunities in the public sector.
FaulknerUSA has been able to grow and adapt to market conditions through the years by diversification of our business segments.

"We try to stay ahead of the curve and we have been fortunate in our ability to identify new development opportunities and cutting-edge trends early on."

These days, FaulknerUSA is thriving on a model it helped create, the revenue-supported public-private hotel project. This idea came home to roost in Austin, where the firm has recently completed the 31-story, $177 million Hilton Austin, which will serve as the city's convention headquarters hotel.

"The hotel, together with the newly expanded Austin Convention Center, has dramatically boosted Austin's drawing power as a national convention destination," said Terri Dusek, communications director for FaulknerUSA.

The hotel features 800 rooms, more than 800 underground parking spaces, a health club, a 48-ft. outdoor heated lap-pool and whirlpool, two restaurants, a coffee shop and lobby bar. The facility will also offer 60,000 sq. ft. of meeting space, including two ballrooms.

The hotel was built as part of a $225 million public-private financing venture with Austin Convention Enterprises Inc. The city sold more than $260 million in bonds for the project and invested $15 million to be paid back to the city during the life of the bonds. Austin is expecting to gain $170 million over 30 years in addition to owning the hotel, an asset estimated to be worth about $350 million.

FaulknerUSA had already developed a working relationship with Austin and Hilton Hotels Corp.

In 2001, the company was contracted by the city to renovate the former Bergstrom Air Force Base and convert it into a four-story airport conference hotel. The facility consisted of 263 rooms and 18 meeting rooms totaling 20,000 sq. ft. of flexible convention space. Hilton Austin has led to other public-private hotel and convention center projects for FaulknerUSA. The company is working in Nebraska on the Hilton Omaha, a 450-room convention center that broke ground in April 2002 and is scheduled to open this month. A highlight will be a 200-ft. glass skybridge connecting the hotel to the new Omaha Convention Center.

In December, the firm broke ground on the Vancouver Conference Center and Hilton Vancouver in Vancouver, Wash. The 226-room hotel and adjacent 30,000-sq.-ft. conference center are part of a downtown revitalization effort. The $47 million project is scheduled for a spring 2005 completion.

Another public-private project FaulknerUSA is working on is the $285 million Hyatt Denver Convention Center in Denver, Colo., which broke ground last summer and is scheduled for completion in 2005. The 1,100-room hotel will be across the street from the Denver Convention Center and will serve as the city's convention center hotel. "As specialists in public-private projects, we almost exclusively seek those types of jobs whereby our client is a public entity," Dusek said. "Most of our jobs are design-build."

One of the public projects in construction is the Williamson County Jail, Garage and Sheriff's Department in Georgetown. The $36.9 million renovation project is on a two-year, two-phase timetable.

Phase one was completed last year and included the construction of a new jail and garage. The 211,056-sq.-ft. Williamson County Jail added 832 new beds and has the capacity to hold 1,552 beds.

The foundation was a combination spread footing and drilled pier. The frame was structural steel with masonry shear walls. Interior concrete-masonry unit walls incorporated steel detention frames and security glass assemblies. The project also called for four hydraulic elevators.

The 195,000-sq.-ft., 495-space parking garage also utilized a combination spread footing and drilled pier foundation. Precast columns and concrete beams with 4-in. topping slabs along with architectural precast panels comprise the main structure.

Two stair towers were built from concrete-masonry-unit and brick veneer with a standing-seam roof.

Phase two, the renovation of the County Sheriff's Department required the demolition of about 23,000 sq. ft. of existing building, including the removal of an existing overhead walkway that was once used to escort prisoners between the jail and the courthouse. The walkway was replaced with a secure underground tunnel system that connects the new jail with the new courthouse.