Clark Construction Honored for Work in Texas

SAN ANTONIO, Texas – It has been a banner year for Clark Construction Group, LLC, in Texas. The general contractor, which has had a local presence in Texas and the cities of San Antonio, Houston, and Dallas for 30 years, completed two-high profile, award-winning projects and was named "Contractor of the Year" by ENR Texas & Louisiana, a leading construction industry trade publication.

ENR Texas & Louisiana selected Clark for the honor because of its $1.1 billion portfolio in Texas during 2011 and the company's ability to "successfully position itself for growth during a down economy." The publication also praised Clark for their disciplined approach, client focus, and longstanding relationships with local subcontractors.

In 2011, Clark worked on four major projects in Texas. Three projects addressed much-needed expansions and renovations to the San Antonio International Airport ($160 million) and both airports in Houston: George Bush Intercontinental Airport ($25 million) and William P Hobby Airport ($150 million). The fourth was the $725 million San Antonio Military Medical Center (SAMMC) - delivered as part of the Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) Act of 2005.

The SAMMC and San Antonio International Airport (SAIA) projects recently earned several awards from construction industry groups. Located on Fort Sam Houston, SAMMC is comprised of a new, 765,000 square-foot medical tower, 362,000 square feet of renovated space at Brooke Army Medical Center (BAMC), a 1.7 million square-foot, 5,000-space parking structure, and a central energy plant. To meet the project's federally-mandated completion deadline, the Clark-Hunt joint venture construction team treated each component as an individual project. Associated Builders and Contractors of South Texas recently recognized each project component with a 2011 Excellence in Construction Award. The four award categories included Mega-Project for the new tower, Renovation ($10-$100 Million) for the renovations to BAMC, Mechanical ($10 -$100 Million) for the central energy plant, and Other ($2 - $100 Million) for the parking structure.

SAIA's new Terminal B is 225,000 square feet and includes four levels and eight gates. Construction occurred between two active terminals, a concurrent roadway project, and an active taxiway. The Clark/Byrne joint venture team also constructed a fully automated TSA explosive detection screening facility and added a new 6,000 square-foot central utility plant. For their efforts, the SAIA project team recently earned the Outstanding Construction Award for Building Over $75 Million from the AGC of Texas Building Branch and a Transportation Award of Merit in ENR Texas & Louisiana's Best Projects of 2011 competition.

William P Hobby Airport now has an expanded concourse with five new gates, a new outbound bag screening building, and a renovated terminal building. The exterior façade of the renovated terminal was preserved, but the inside of the building has been transformed into a welcoming, spacious lobby and ticketing area. Through creative phasing and sequencing, Clark was able to shorten the overall program by two years.

The Houston Airport System also required work at George Bush Intercontinental Airport to improve existing operations and improve efficiency of the facility. Clark replaced the International Terminal D roof and constructed a VIP club within the gate area. Additional work included building moving walkways into the existing passenger bridges between the terminal and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and installing four new elevators into an existing precast parking garage.

Clark's 2011 accomplishments are the latest in a long line of success in Texas. Since first entering the marketplace in 1982 building the MCI Regional Manufacturing and Distribution Center in Richardson, the company has amassed a $2.6 billion portfolio of Texas work. Among Clark's most notable projects in the state are the original Brooke Army Medical Center at Fort Sam Houston, the San Antonio Convention Center Expansion (winner of a 2001 ENR Best Projects award), the Federal Inspection Services Building at Houston's Intercontinental Airport (winner of a 2005 ENR Best Projects award), and 1500 Louisiana (formerly Enron Tower 2) and the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, both in Houston.