D.E. Harvey Builders

A Developer-Oriented Approach to Building

By Jeff Hawk

In February 1958 two future construction industry leaders began building a construction philosophy that continues nearly half a century later. The business partnership between builder David Harvey Sr. and developer Gerald Hines began humbly with the construction of a small General Electric office building on Houston's Richmond Avenue.

Today, D.E. Harvey Builders ranks 9 on Texas Construction's list of the state's top contractors.

Until 1987, Hines owned part of the Houston-based firm while fully owning his development company, Gerald D. Hines Interests. Hines and Harvey continued to develop and build structures along Richmond and elsewhere in Texas, creating a developer-oriented approach to construction management that remains the hallmark of D.E. Harvey's success.

Working closely with a developer "forms your philosophy" as a builder, said David Harvey Jr., CEO of D.E. Harvey Builders and the son of its founder. "We look at developers as partners. We're on the same side of the table and have common goals."

Though Hines no longer owns a part of D.E. Harvey Builders, "we still enjoy a good relationship with them," Harvey said. Many of Texas' landmark structures bear the Hines-Harvey signature, including Houston's $22 million, 450,000-sq.-ft. Three Post Oak Central, a 24-story high-rise built in 1987.

That relationship-oriented style has also clicked well with other prominent developers. In 1986, Dallas-based Trammell Crow Co., an international developer and real estate manager, asked D.E. Harvey Builders to open an East Coast office in Gaithersburg, Md., so they could extend the builder's expertise to its developments in that part of the country. The office continues to operate and work for Trammell Crow as well as other noted developers.

The company has also worked in Houston with some of the country's most respected architects, including I. M. Pei on the Doubletree Post Oak (formerly the Warwick Hotel) and the late Phillip Johnson and John Burgee on the Williams Tower (formerly the Transco Tower) and the tower's nearby massive and exquisite Waterwall. "We try to do one or two landmark projects a year," Harvey said.

Harvey said the company's commitment to providing continuity throughout projects and its relationships with architects and developers are keys to its success.

During a project's front-end phases, D.E. Harvey assigns a team of project managers who remain involved through completion. "There's no transitional loss when handing off to another team," Harvey said.

Project managers not only stay with the project from beginning to end, they also find themselves working with the same developers and architects on multiple projects.

"One guy thought he wasn't going to do anything but Kroger Signature Grocery Stores," Harvey joked. D.E. Harvey has built more than a dozen stores for Kroger. That single-point accountability is "what Mr. Hines wanted" and what other building partners appreciate, Harvey added.

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Examples of D.E. Harvey structures can be found in The Woodlands. The towering Anadarko Building and stunning Waterway Plaza One, both designed by Houston-based Gensler Architects, represent two of the more than a dozen prominent projects D.E. Harvey has built in and around the Houston suburb.

Texas Construction recently recognized the builder with a Best of 2004 award in the multifamily residential category for the 100,000-sq.-ft. Waterway Lofts in The Woodlands. The company also built The Woodlands' 14-level, 400-room Marriot Hotel and Convention Center.

But the firm's portfolio extends beyond high-rise buildings.

The company recently completed a 914,000-sq.-ft. tilt-up warehouse for Igloo Products Corp. in Katy. It currently is building the 30-story, 1.7 million-sq.-ft. high-profile Memorial Hermann Medical Plaza, designed by Houston-based Kirksey Architecture.

D.E. Harvey also enjoys a long history with the ExxonMobil Corp., culminating recently with the completion and opening of the Upstream Research Co. Technical Training Center in Houston.

The 98,000-sq.-ft. ultramodern, high-tech center, designed by PageSouthernlandPage Architects of Austin, blends in with the surrounding 1950s-era buildings while projecting a futuristic presence.