Construction Industry

For Maryland's building industry, the good times may be coming back. The construction sector, which has been in the tank for the better part of five years, is on the verge of receiving a sizable infusion of money from recent decisions in Annapolis. Much to the chagrin of many Maryland motorists, the General Assembly has approved legislation to charge hundreds of millions of dollars a year in additional gas taxes - money that will build new roads and transit systems. Also heading to Gov. Martin O'Malley's desk is a $1 billion plan to build 15 new schools in Baltimore and renovate three dozen more.

For Maryland's building industry, the good times may be coming back. The construction sector, which has been in the tank for the better part of five years, is on the verge of receiving a sizable infusion of money from recent decisions in Annapolis. Much to the chagrin of many Maryland motorists, the General Assembly has approved legislation to charge hundreds of millions of dollars a year in additional gas taxes - money that will build new roads and transit systems. Also heading to Gov. Martin O'Malley's desk is a $1 billion plan to build 15 new schools in Baltimore and renovate three dozen more.

Investment firm from Columbia opens office in California Optical Capital Group, a Columbia-based firm that invests in optical networking technology companies, has announced the opening of a San Francisco office. The office is directed by Max Straube, who joined the company as president and managing director of private equity, along with Dick Filippini, who serves as associate director of private equity. The office was opened to help identify strategic opportunities on the West Coast.

Ernest T. Davis, a retired construction project manager and a World War II B-24 pilot, died Feb. 13 of heart failure at Gilchrist Hospice Care in Towson. He was 92. The son of a civil engineer and a government worker, Ernest Theodore Davis was born in Bemis, Tenn., and later moved with his family to Washington. He was a graduate of Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School and started engineering studies at the University of Maryland, College Park. In 1942, he enlisted in what was then the Army Air Corps, and after completing training as a B-24 Liberator pilot, was assigned to the 8th Air Force in England.

New trade group is created for Md. contractorsA new nonprofit trade association has been formed to serve Maryland's construction industry.Licensed Contractors of Maryland is offering membership to all of Maryland's more than 40,000 contractors with state construction licenses or specific trade licenses from the Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation.The new association's primary function is to present a comprehensive industry view on proposed legislation and regulations dealing with licensed contractors.

New Positions Reed, Murphy are named to posts at Performax Performax has named Scott Reed director of communications and Christie Murphy director of marketing for the Baltimore-based health and benefits plans development, administrator and managerial firm. Reed will have responsibility for internal and external communications development, strategy and supervision. A graduate of the University of Maryland, he was formerly with Health Care Strategies Inc. Murphy, previously with CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield, is an MBA graduate of Loyola College.

2 architects finish state requirementsMarilee Tortorelli and Pam Davison of John E. Harms Jr. and Associates recently completed requirements for becoming registered landscape architects in Maryland.Ms. Davison is the senior planner within the land planning division at Harms and Associates, which is based in Pasadena.Ms. Tortorelli manages the Land planning division.Gardiner to chair membership driveFrancis E. Gardiner Jr. president of Gardiner and Gardiner Inc. has been named area chairman to the Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC)

Maryland AGC, the Maryland Chapter of the Associated General Contractors of America, has elected Stella Miller, president and owner of Stella May Contracting, as chairman of the board for the period July 1, 2011 through June 30, 2013. Also elected were Jeffrey Hargrave, president of Mahogany, Inc., as first vice chairman, Steve Crist, vice president of J. H. Hampshire, Inc., as second vice chairman, and Christopher Tripp, heavy civil manager Mid Atlantic for Joseph B. Fay Company, as secretary/treasurer.

Kent Thomas is the new president of the Building Congress & Exchange Foundation in Baltimore. The nonprofit organization develops educational and public-awareness programs for the region's construction industry. Since its inception in 1998, the foundation has awarded $25,000 a year to construction-education programs in the Baltimore area. Thomas will serve a one-year term as president. BCEF works under the auspices of KAWG&F, a public accounting firm based in Towson. Thomas is co-chairman of the firm's construction services practice group.

A national contractors group is calling for tax breaks, federal investments in highway and water projects and other measures to pull the construction industry from a "depression," boost the overall economy and stem the past year's loss of construction jobs throughout the United States, including in Maryland. The Associated General Contractors of America unveiled a plan Wednesday designed to revive the construction industry and reverse expectations that construction will struggle through the next year.

Maryland AGC, the Maryland Chapter of the Associated General Contractors of America, has elected Stella Miller, president and owner of Stella May Contracting, as chairman of the board for the period July 1, 2011 through June 30, 2013. Also elected were Jeffrey Hargrave, president of Mahogany, Inc., as first vice chairman, Steve Crist, vice president of J. H. Hampshire, Inc., as second vice chairman, and Christopher Tripp, heavy civil manager Mid Atlantic for Joseph B. Fay Company, as secretary/treasurer.

A national contractors group is calling for tax breaks, federal investments in highway and water projects and other measures to pull the construction industry from a "depression," boost the overall economy and stem the past year's loss of construction jobs throughout the United States, including in Maryland. The Associated General Contractors of America unveiled a plan Wednesday designed to revive the construction industry and reverse expectations that construction will struggle through the next year.

After wrangling for nearly a year over development impact fees that supporters say are vital to pay for schools, roads and other services, County Executive John R. Leopold announced a new plan Tuesday aimed at easing a difficult business climate for builders and developers, providing a 20-month reprieve from new fees that could spark hiring and avoid layoffs. Leopold, who calls the plan an economic stimulus, says phasing in the fees would allow the construction industry time to recover from an economic downturn that has brought development to a virtual standstill in recent months.

What footprint? Years from now, the prior existence of Loblolly House may be imperceptible to those wandering the property it once occupied on Taylors Island. Having served its purpose by then, the house overlooking the Chesapeake Bay will have been disassembled, its pre-fabricated components perhaps resold on eBay to become part of another house on another shore. No rusty nails or construction debris will betray the house's former presence. The promise of impermanence is part of the beauty inherent in Loblolly, the archetype of a new generation of pre-fabricated homes designed by the Philadelphia architectural firm KieranTimberlake Associates.

Brand Energy and Infrastructure Services, which provides pipeline infrastructure and building materials for the construction industry, is moving an operations center that will employ about 100 workers from Beltsville to a redeveloped warehouse in Southeast Baltimore. Construction is to start at the Holabird Industrial Park on Monday to redevelop the 15-acre site of the former Lesaffre Yeast Corp. manufacturing plant, which closed in late 2005. Principals of Baltimore brokerage firm Corridor Reznick LLC acquired the property for $2 million in December 2006 and have been doing environmental cleanup and marketing, Michael B. Glick, chairman of Corridor Reznick LLC, said yesterday.

A construction foreman missing since Wednesday afternoon was found dead yesterday morning at the bottom of a shaft inside the Constellation Energy Group headquarters near Baltimore's Inner Harbor, authorities said. The man, Wayne Kerr, 55, of Glen Burnie, was a longtime employee of Centerline Construction Co. He was working at the Constellation building when he apparently fell from the ninth floor to the fourth floor in the 6-by-6-foot metal construction shaft. The building is at 750 E. Pratt St. "Wayne Kerr had a lot of long-time friends here," said Mark Green, the president of Centerline Construction.

The construction industry must work to expand and enhance training programs if a serious shortage of skilled workers in the 1990s is to be overcome, a new study concludes.The study, released at the recent convention of the National Association of Home Builders, attributes the predicted shortage to continuing growth in the number of jobs in the industry, coupled with a decline in the number of people available to fill them.California will need 13,236 more carpenters and 5,130 more electricians during that period, according to the study, "An Analysis of America's Construction Work Force and Occupational Projections (1990-1996)

After wrangling for nearly a year over development impact fees that supporters say are vital to pay for schools, roads and other services, County Executive John R. Leopold announced a new plan Tuesday aimed at easing a difficult business climate for builders and developers, providing a 20-month reprieve from new fees that could spark hiring and avoid layoffs. Leopold, who calls the plan an economic stimulus, says phasing in the fees would allow the construction industry time to recover from an economic downturn that has brought development to a virtual standstill in recent months.

Charles Rivers Carroll Jr., a retired construction materials salesman, died of pulmonary failure Monday at Sinai Hospital. The Roland Park resident was 88. Born in Richmond, Va., and raised in Grandview-on-Hudson, N.Y., he enjoyed sailing and ice boating as a young man from his family's riverfront home near the Tappan Zee Bridge. He attended Bard College and the Johns Hopkins University. He served in the 7th Regiment of the New York National Guard in 1939 and in the Army from 1940 to 1946.

Maryland's job growth from April to June was faster than in all but eight other states, helped in part by the hot local housing market, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. said yesterday. Employers in the state increased jobs by 2.2 percent compared with the second quarter last year. At the same time, Maryland's growth in home prices was nearly 23 percent, seventh-fastest in the nation, the FDIC said. Washington, D.C., ranked sixth. "Housing activity has been quite strong in the area," said Kathy Kalser, regional manager for the federal agency's division of insurance and research in New York.