Linbeck Takes Home Build America Award

Houston-based Linbeck Construction Co. recently captured a 2003 Build America Award in the new building category for its work on the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth.

Featured in the October 2002 issue of Texas Construction, the 153,000-sq.-ft. museum is the first major U.S. commission of noted Japanese architect Tadao Ando. The two-level facility features distinctive use of exposed cast-in-place concrete.

The Build America awards are presented by the Associated General Contractors of America and Aon Risk Services. Those honored symbolize excellence in construction by promoting quality, uniqueness and innovation within individual projects.

Garage Design Captures Award For Houston Firm

Houston-based Walter P. Moore & Associates Inc. recently won an honorable mention award in the 2003 International Parking Awards for Excellence competition, a program of the International Parking Institute.

Palm Avenue Parking Garage, a joint venture of the City of Tampa, Fla., and Hillsborough Community College, was recognized in the Category II division of the competition that focused on best design of a parking structure with 800 or more spaces.

Walter P. Moore worked in conjunction with Fleischman & Garcia Architecture to provide engineering and parking consulting services on this project and also the award-winning 1,200-car Centro Ybor Parking Garage. Both facilities utilize materials and details indigenous to the architecture of Ybor City's Historic District.

The IPI's Awards for Excellence program was created in 1982 to recognize and commend the trend toward parking facilities that are aesthetically appealing as well as functional and to encourage innovation and excellence in parking design and operational creativity.

ENGINEERING
Austin Engineering Firm Marks 30th Anniversary

Austin-based engineering firm Jose I. Guerra Inc. is celebrating its 30th anniversary in 2003 with an expanded leadership team, added services and a statewide focus.

With more than 40 experienced engineers and support staff, Jose I. Guerra has become the largest Hispanic-owned engineering firm in Central Texas and one of the largest locally based engineering firms in the region.

"We have evolved from a small firm with only Austin projects and being very proud of that to taking on more complex jobs across the state," said company founder and president Jose Guerra. "Like most 30 year-olds, we are excited about the future."

As part of the company's preparation for the future, current leaders Guerra and senior vice president L. Lemar Porter have broadened ownership to include three other senior executives - professional engineers Rick J. Guerra, Joe Hernandez and Joseph J. Luke - as shareholders.

In addition, services have been expanded in recent years to include a fully integrated range of structural, civil, mechanical and electrical engineering consulting.

Hunt Valley, Md.-based environmental service contractor MARCOR Remediation Inc. and Central Texas mold remediator contractor TurnKey IAQ have merged to open a new MARCOR location on Burnet Road in Austin.

"TurnKey has earned an excellent reputation in the state for the professionalism of its staff and its management of commercial and residential projects," said David Jungers, president and chief operating officer of MARCOR.

"With the opening or our operating location in Austin, we're now able to work side by side with former TurnKey personnel to handle a full range of service options."

Mark Sanders is general manager of the Austin location, which features a variety of environmental contracting services for the company's south-central region.

ARCHITEXAS, a historic preservation architectural firm with offices in Dallas and Austin, is marking its 25th anniversary in 2003. The firm was established in 1978 by Dallas natives Craig Melde and Gary Skotnicki.

"Preservation was not the popular place to be back then," Melde said. "Some of the city's finest buildings were falling and few were willing to take a stand against it. When the Sanger Brothers buildings came down, we decided we had to do something."

"Things really took off in the 1990s, not just in Dallas but statewide," added Skotnicki. "Now we are completing planning and preservation projects across Texas. And the more projects we complete, the more people realize the value of preserving the past."

The company has completed a variety of projects in more than 30 Texas counties. It held a 25th anniversary celebration in May at the historic Inwood Lounge in Dallas. The popular local club was rehabilitated in 1982 by ARCHITEXAS and represents the diversity of projects completed by the firm in the last quarter-century.

Crescent Machinery Co. recently emerged from bankruptcy after filing for Chapter 11 in February 2002.

Since that time, the Fort Worth-based company has closed seven branch offices in Nevada, California and Hawaii as part of reducing costs and focusing on eight other branches throughout Texas and Oklahoma.

"We are pleased to have worked through the reorganization process," said Crescent Machinery chief executive officer Eric Anderson. "With the negative cloud of the bankruptcy process behind us, we are excited about growing and improving our business."

Crescent Machinery is a full-service distributor in sales and rentals of construction equipment and supplies.

B-C Equipment Sales Inc., based in Corpus Christi, opened the new branch location in San Antonio on Southeast Loop 410. The new Texas location is managed by Chuck Wehring.

The San Antonio branch was one of four new locations recently opened by LBX, joining others in Gulfport, Miss., Belton, Mo. and Deauville, Quebec, Canada.