Case Studies February 2017

The idea of redeveloping the Baldwin Complex, and more importantly the former Baldwin manufacturing building, has been with Dan Neyer for decades. As the president and CEO of a Cincinnati-based commercial real estate developer called Neyer Properties, he’s kept an eye on the property, waiting for the right moment when he could return the building […]

Pensacola Glass Company (PGC) has been providing leading commercial and residential glass and glazing contracting services to customers throughout the Pensacola, Florida, and Mobile, Alabama, areas for over 80 years. Founded in 1936 by the Pitman brothers, PGC is an independent subsidiary of Dothan Glass Co., which offers glass and glazing services throughout the Southeast. […]

Back when he was in high school, Brent Pence recalls hearing teachers tell students “you don’t want to be a ditch digger” all your life. His response now? That ditch digger may be making $35,000 or $40,000 a year, without going into overwhelming student debt. A fourth generation contractor, Pence honed his chops working for […]

People laugh when Jaime Quello tells them one of the businesses he respects most is McDonald’s. But he’s serious. Wherever you are, when you walk into a McDonald’s, it’s the same as all the others. The company doesn’t know if two people or 200 are going to show up for lunch, but regardless, they can […]

In Southeast Tennessee, the housing market has been largely spared the booms and busts of other sunny climes and is projected by such observers as Fortune Builders magazine to grow steadily for at least the next few years, and a prime beneficiary is likely to be Pratt Home Builders, a family-owned company since 1998 that […]

Dustin Seidel, owner of Seidel Construction, says the challenge of being completely transparent is sometimes telling his clients what they don’t want to hear. Seidel says he’s had clients come to his company full of ideas about the kind of building they want, without considering all the additional costs of new construction like the foundation, […]

Nelson Algaze and Rick Shlemmer, the founders of SAA Interiors + Architecture, work in an industry that is always changing. Each year presents new trends and challenges for their design and architecture firm, which creates interiors for commercial real estate owners and landlords, as well as process driven environments, commercial businesses and healthcare institutions. The […]

A hundred years and it’s still going strong, but that hardly sums it up for S.M. Lawrence Company Inc., the full-service mechanical and electrical contractor that works predominantly in the southeast, but has also installed systems across the country, from Maine to Southern California. S.M Lawrence specializes in HVAC systems, electrical services, plumbing and piping […]

When Christopher Porto describes his ideal Oakland, California, he envisions a city almost devoid of cars. But that’s not all he envisions. Through his real estate development company, Smart Growth, he imagines developing the area into tightknit communities that are closer to transit corridors, reducing the need for cars and increasing a sense of place; […]

In the fall of 2016, the architecture firm, Steven Holl Architects, finished the exterior structure for an indescribable new library in Queens, New York. Located on the western edge of Long Island City, the library is right across from the United Nations Headquarters on the East River, and is unlike anything else on the waterfront. […]