Category: News

San Antonio businessman B.J. “Red” McCombs (left), Dr. Bill Henrich, President of UT Health Science Center, and Marty Wender, Owner of the Charles Martin Wender Real Estate and Investments (right), share a laugh during the Texas Headwinds breakfast in the Plaza Club at the Frost Bank Thursday morning.

In the 1980s, he envisioned a thriving community west of IH-10 and then proceeded to make it happen, creating the Westover Hills development, helping San Antonio to secure SeaWorld and facilitating the construction of Texas 151. Eight months ago, Wender narrowly escaped death when he lost consciousness in his home’s steam shower, suffering burns that covered more than 20 percent of his body. McCombs sees Wender as one of a small number of community leaders who propelled San Antonio into the modern era; someone who helped transform a river city built around tourism and the military into a sprawling metropolis with an economy sufficiently diversified to withstand the 2008-09 recession.

Wender had been part of that effort, but after developing the Crown Ridge subdivision, north of Fiesta Texas, in 1981, he decided that the north side’s rocky terrain and proximity to the Edwards Aquifer Recharge Zone were problematic. McCombs knew that White would be visiting San Antonio the next day for a luncheon, and he persuaded the governor to visit the area surrounding the projected SeaWorld site — which was a desolate cow pasture at the time. Three decades later, the reverberations from that brief gubernatorial visit are hard to miss in Westover Hills: six data-center facilities, residential growth, Alamo Colleges’ Northwest Vista campus and the Hyatt Hill Country Resort and Spa.

Persistent rain in portions of Texas has made August 2016 the wettest August in more than a century and equal to the rainiest ever, according to preliminary figures released Wednesday by the state climatologist’s office at Texas A&M University. The average rainfall for San Antonio in the month of August is just under three inches. San Antonio experienced a eleven inch deluge.

SAN ANTONIO – With an ice sculpture to celebrate its 50th anniversary, Yantis Company hosted its holiday party Dec. 18 at La Cantera Resort. More than 200 people attended, including current and former employees, family and friends.

L-R: Mike Yantis Jr., CEO; John Yantis, founder; Mike Yantis Sr., chairman of the board; Matt Yantis, president; Arnold Briones, COO

 

Only those living under a rock haven’t noticed that San Antonio is in the middle of an all-encompassing growth spurt.

A rising population, continued job growth, geographical expansion and a steady stream of new developments across the residential and commercial sectors has provided a colossal boost to San Antonio businesses — especially those catering to the real estate market.

Everything from architecture and civil engineering firms to construction and property management companies have posted substantial growth rates in recent years — substantial enough to place them among the fastest-growing companies in San Antonio, according to a Business Journal survey of local private-sector employers.

Among the top 25 on the Business Journal’s list of fastest-growing companies, 14 are related to real estate and development, including notable companies such as Liberty Management Inc. at No. 3, Big Red Dog Engineering & Consulting at No. 4, Galaxy Builders Inc. at No. 8, Central Builders Inc. at No. 12, Ready Rentals LLC at No. 21 and Joeris General Contractors Ltd. at No. 24. Those 14 businesses in the top 25 had an average rate of revenue growth of 106.7 percent from 2013 to 2015. And 23 of the top 50 also fall into that cohort.

During fiscal 2016, which began Oct. 1, 2015, the city of San Antonio’s development services has processed more than $2.2 billion of construction permits.

The department awarded more than 2,355 residential construction permits during that period, and with the U.S. Census Bureau projecting Bexar County to grow at double the national 4.1 percent rate, those figures are expected to continue climbing.

Meanwhile, businesses are coming along for the ride.

Liberty Management CEO Kevin Knight said a lot of his company’s recent growth can be attributed to the city’s rising population, job growth and an uptick among investors putting money into San Antonio’s residential market.

“Investors are seeing future growth and a strong economy here,” Knight said. “People are moving here and driving a lot of the growth. And not only are people moving here, but businesses keep moving in, too. I see a bright future for a long time to come, and all I see is positive, positive, positive if I’m in Texas.”

Liberty, which expanded its San Antonio operations into Dallas and Houston earlier this year, is planning to add to its 14-person team throughout the year because, as Knight said, “as we add more properties, we’ll need to add more people to handle the growth.”

Longtime San Antonio firms are continuing to expand their presence, with several companies branching into new areas or refocusing their business on sectors they expect will propel their growth. Joeris General Contractors acquired San Antonio-based Koontz Corp.’s commercial division in May to strengthen its private development presence in areas such as corporate office, automotive and medical construction.

The steady rise in private development work has also led Yantis Co. to narrow in on more subdivisions and private contract work. The company is also building its future headquarters in an area that CEO Mike Yantis said will be a hotbed for future development — the I-35 corridor between San Antonio and Austin.

For Galaxy Builders President Neilesh Verma, the years ahead will be about controlling the growth the multifamily general contractor has experienced. The company has picked up numerous jobs as a result of rising demand for market-rate, luxury apartments.

“We believe our growth will continue; however, we will be very cautious by trying not to grow too quickly,” Verma said. “Our expectation is to have moderate, controlled growth year over year.”

Original article posted in the San Antonio Business Journal

http://www.bizjournals.com/sanantonio/news/2016/07/22/san-antonio-s-expansion-drives-growth-for-the.html

Yantis Company is finally prepared to break ground on its own space after years of sharing its building with other tenants and spreading its operations across the city.

The San Antonio-based civil construction firm will build its new 15,000-square-foot headquarters at 5425 N. Loop 1604 East, a move that will shift the local company from its current space in far North Central San Antonio closer to the strengthening I-35 corridor.

“It came down to buying a building or buying land,” Yantis CEO Mike Yantis said. “Since we already have our shop facility on Judson Road, it made sense for a lot of different reasons.”

Slated for a 15-acre site the company has owned for the past couple of years, Yantis’ future headquarters will be a 33,000-square-foot one-story tilt-wall facility that will allow the growing firm to house all of its operations at one location.

Yantis Company will be building its new headquarters in Northeast San Antonio as it refocuses on continued growth and biggest areas of business.

As it is now, Yantis Company has its administrative, accounting and executive departments housed in the headquarters building at 3611 Paesano’s Parkway that the company constructed in 2007.But alongside other tenants such as Frost Insurance, White Conlee Builders and Kerns Petroleum Inc., the company is ready for some breathing room.

“It has gotten to the point where we want our own space,” Yantis said of occupying about 14,500 square feet of the 33,000-square-foot property.

With a focus on more subdivision and private work, Yantis Company is on track to hit $75 million in revenue this year. And with plenty of space still available once construction on the new headquarters is complete, the company will have more than enough room to keep growing.