Case Studies

On a bright sunny morning in 2014, Graham Hallen and his business partner at Egg Harbor Café were on a 1.5-hour drive to the Rockford, Illinois, location. They were apprehensive about the visit as, due to unforeseen circumstances, the entire kitchen staff and much of the wait staff had quit—almost on the same day, which […]

As a longtime member of the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, Gustavo Salas has spent many hours exploring the de Young Museum in Golden Gate Park and the Legion of Honor in Lincoln Park. Yet, he never expected he’d one day get to work at his favorite places to visit. Only when he began […]

Imagine needing an act of Congress to move forward on a massive mixed-use construction project. The partnership of Madison Marquette and Hoffman & Associates Inc. needed three to begin construction on The Wharf, a mixed-use project extending along 27 acres of the Potomac River in Washington, D.C., says Gary Ball. The partners also had to […]

Talk to anybody involved in construction, facilities and maintenance, and you’ll hear that there aren’t enough young people moving into the trades to replace the outgoing plumbers, electricians, carpenters, welders, painters, et al. It’s even more difficult to refill the ranks in the public sector, which pays less than private industry. It takes creativity and […]

The National September 11 Memorial and Museum is a sprawling, ground-level shrine paying tribute to the lives lost in the 2001 and 1993 attacks on the World Trade Center. Its rectangular bronze panels, which bear the names of everyone killed in those attacks—along with the crashes at the Pentagon and in Shanksville, Pennsylvania—surround walls of […]

It’s far from the most expensive project he’s tackled as a healthcare construction executive, but it just might be the most challenging. There’s lots for George Mejias to consider as Valley Health System constructs a new hospital in Paramus, New Jersey, with related projects at 60-plus properties throughout the Garden State. “A very diversified position […]

Gardens and vegetation are, ironically, not the best way to go green on college campuses. The water consumption alone can be drastic, especially in places like Los Angeles, California, which is in the third year of a historic drought. That’s why Garrett Solomon worked with a design team to plant eco-friendly greenery. In 2015, Scripps […]

When Greg Fink returned to civilian life in 1991 after six years in the Navy, his challenge wasn’t finding a job—it was finding one as demanding as being a gas turbine mechanic. “The Navy is fantastic in making sure you know all the intricacies of the systems and equipment you’re maintaining,” Fink says. “When I […]

He can be just what the doctor ordered when it comes to upgrades and retrofits of healthcare facilities in the South and heartland. Director of construction management for Holladay Properties’ healthcare services division in Nashville, George Phelps is readying his team for a 16,000-square-foot MRI specialty area and clinic in the Brentwood, Tennessee, area. His […]

If you’re from Texas, it’s likely you know a good bit about football and just as much about the oil industry. But here’s something you probably don’t know about the latter: Oil production can produce naturally occurring formation water—and lots of it. Properly disposing of that water, while meeting strict environmental standards, is the business of […]