Crown Corr Inc.

Architectural aesthetics from curtain walls to skylights, metal panels to louvers and ornamental details, truly make and define a building, offering a first impression of the facility. When it comes to getting it right and creating impressive exteriors, general contractors across the country turn to Crown Corr Inc. (Crown Corr), an industry-leading, full-enclosure subcontractor.

Routinely named one of the top three metal enclosure contractors and recently awarded a spot among Top 30 Glazing Contractors in the U.S., Crown Corr has been a trusted name for nearly 55 years. “We’ve been doing specialty contracting domestically, including metal panels and roofing throughout the country, but more recently, we also have a substantial amount of backlog in curtain walls, as well,” shares Dennis Pilkinton, chief operating officer of Crown Corr.

Exterior aesthetics experts

Since 1960, when Joseph Pellar created Crown Corr, the company has been designing and installing custom building enclosures for major sports facilities, airports, health care, education and industrial projects from coast to coast. And there’s really no where Crown Corr won’t go, according to Pilkinton, who says the company’s market is the contingent U.S.

“Our home base is in Gary, Ind., but we also have offices in Dallas and Atlanta,” he notes. “We’re a union contractor so our employee base varies from 300 to about 500 skilled tradespeople. We’ve done work from Maryland to Florida; Florida to Texas; Illinois to Washington; even Alaska, Qatar and Puerto Rico.”

Crown Corr’s scope of work usually consists of the design and installation of exterior metal panels, aluminum composite panels, pre-insulated architectural panels, glass and aluminum curtain wall systems, sunshades, louvers, integral windows, custom metal roofs, custom aluminum plate and ornamental metals. The company also furnishes and installs the structural and miscellaneous steel backup systems in support.

As a subcontractor specializing in commercial building envelopes, Crown Corr performs a substantial amount of panel fabrication in Dallas and Gary. “We also have our own in-house engineers capable of performing structural analysis,” adds Pilkinton. “As far as curtain walls, we can deliver in-house design and then subcontract fabrication and assembly. Crown Corr has a huge mix of talent; in most cases we have the option to deliver in-house or sub out of house if needed.”

“The market has changed dramatically in recent years toward eco-friendly and energy efficient products and we have longstanding relationships with some of the major suppliers in the U.S. offering these products,” he notes.

Landmark projects

Major clients across the country have called on Crown Corr for exterior excellence, from LAX International Airport (LAX) to the San Francisco 49er’s stadium, the MGM City Center in Las Vegas, Border’s Bookstore and copious others. “We recently finished the roofing contract at LAX International Terminal,” reveals Pilkinton. “We have completed many major stadiums across the country; most recently the Marlin’s Stadium in Miami that included all exterior wall systems highlighted with a retractable Curtain Wall in centerfield that opens to beautiful downtown Miami.”

The impressive $40-plus million Marlin’s Stadium contract included 163,400 square feet of CENTRIA FormaWall Dimension series metal panels, 62,000 square feet of corrugated metal panels, also composite and aluminum plate panels, 26,170 of interior curtain wall systems and 105,000 square feet of NOA missile impact tested, exterior curtain wall and more than 1.9 million pounds of steel framing support.

Crown Corr’s capability exceeds large stadium jobs. “The largest single contract for Crown Corr was the $100 million MGM Mirage City Center project completed in 2009,” reveals Pilkinton. In the center of the famous Las Vegas strip, Crown Corr delivered various metal panels, a 123,000-square-foot curtain wall, 17,000 square feet of skylights, sunshades and custom stainless steel wall, column covers and roof panels for the massive development.

More recently, Crown Corr has teamed up at Exxon at the conglomerates new state-of-the-art 27-building energy center in Houston. “We’re working on developing and installing an exclusive stainless steel package for the featured main Energy Center Building,” details Pilkinton.

Even with a diverse portfolio of impressive exteriors and significant backlog, Pilkinton says no single job sets precedence over others. “Every job is equally important and we have a long history of holding everything to that standard,” he says.

While other companies in the industry pulled back or even out of business completely, Pilkinton says Crown Corr was chipping away at a steady backlog. “We didn’t need to chase work; we understand what our cost structure is and what we have to do in order to execute it,” he explains. “We certainly made concessions from an overhead standpoint but our backlog kept things moving along.”

Now, on the upside of the recession, Pilkinton says he sees new promise in upcoming projects and development. “I see 2015 being a return to prominence for our industry,” he shares. “Two years ago there were projects sitting on the drawing board and no idea of when they would start, now the market is heating up and things are more active. We see airports, stadiums and high-rise construction all with traction.”

Crown Corr Inc. is in a position to take advantage of the upswing, with a 55-year reputation as the complete enclosure and exterior subcontractor of choice.