Gamma, a division of the Far East Global Group Limited (HKEx 830.HK) and ranking among the largest curtain wall, window wall and recladding construction companies in North America and the world, announced today a series of strategic developments across North America including a significant portfolio of newly awarded projects - - two new projects in New York City, and five in three Canadian cities: Montreal, Ottawa and Vancouver; an acquisition and new facilities; and new offices in the U.S., Canada and Europe, as the company continues its strong recent expansion.
Today, the company now ranks as Canada’s largest total dollar volume/projects’ square footage/2013 sales run-rate curtain wall company. The company just won the second largest curtain wall contract in Canadian curtain wall history - - at the University of Montreal Hospital.
Comments Gamma Chairman Elliot Kracko, “our North American growth in 2011 and now in 2012 has been significant and consistent. I am proud that the entire Gamma team has helped the company in 2012 add six new regional offices, manufacturing capabilities and projects. We nearly tripled our sales in the last year. Since our team acquired Gamma in late 2007, we have grown from four offices with about 50 employees and $30 million in annual sales to nine offices with more than 460 employees and $245 million in sales,” Kracko said.
New Gamma Acquisition Brings Unrivalled Flexibility In North American Fabrication.
The Gamma/Far East board of directors recently approved the acquisition by Gamma of the assets of the long established CBO Glass Inc., a major glass and curtain wall contractor with operations in Buffalo, NY. CBO’s glass and curtain wall projects include noted buildings on the East Coast from upstate New York, to Philadelphia, Washington, D.C. and environs. In the Engineering News Record list of November 2011 list of the Top 20 Glazing/Curtain Wall Companies, CBO Glass was ranked number #6, just below Gamma at number #5.
Founded in Buffalo in 1960, CBO is a full line design, fabrication, assembly and installation curtain wall company, now rebranded under the Gamma name. The asset purchase acquisition includes a 150,000 square foot manufacturing facility (which boosts our North American fabrication capacity by nearly 60%), 15,000 square feet of office space, 25 employees, and an existing portfolio of client projects. The operation will be headed by Jim Mitchell, Gamma’s President of Canadian operations in Toronto.
According to Gamma’s Kracko, “this acquisition increases our custom fabrication capabilities to serve Toronto, Montreal, Chicago and New York markets and reinforces our ability to provide U.S. and Canadian customers with an uncommon level of integrated, global owned-and-operated flexibility in fabrication options, totaling 420,000 square feet in North America alone. We are retaining existing employees of CBO Glass. In the first month, we added 20 new jobs at the Buffalo facility and plan to add 75-100 full time positions starting in 2013 to service a strong backlog of work which has been identified for this facility.”
“While design and engineering are performed in and controlled from Gamma’s North American operations centers, customers can access Gamma’s North American fabrication resources through large, state-of-the-art plants: the 85,000 square foot Gamma plant facility in Quebec City; the 185,000 square foot fabrication plant in Miami; and the additional 150,000 square foot facility in Buffalo,” he says. Or, as appropriate, Gamma also now offers customer fabrication at one of Far East Global’s two major plants in China, which represent 400,000 sf of plant area.
Kracko notes that Gamma’s parent, Far East Global, is the only Asian-based curtain wall company with its own fabrication capabilities in the U.S. and Canada.
Opens Six New Regional Offices
The Gamma Chairman also announced today the opening of new regional and sales representation offices - - three in the U.S. and two in Canada, plus and an international office in London, England. These are in addition to existing offices in New York City/ New Rochelle NY, Buffalo NY, Miami, Quebec City and Montreal.
In the U.S., Gamma opened sales representation offices in:
· Chicago, Illinois to serve mid-western clients.
· Las Vegas, Nevada to serve western clients.
· Miami, Florida to serve southeastern clients.
In Canada, Gamma opened offices in:
· Vancouver, British Columbia to serve clients in the western part of Canada down through the U.S. Pacific Northwest including Washington and Oregon;
· Toronto, Ontario - regional office that significantly increases the company’s presence in the central Canadian market.
Seven New North American Projects
At the World Trade Center in New York City Gamma announces the award of the Architectural Metal and Glazing Contract associated with the Retail Area of Towers 2, 3 and 4 and the HUB, designed by three different architects - - Maki & Associates, Richard Rogers Partnership and Beyer Blinder Belle.
The retail area project is managed by a joint venture of Tishman and Turner, two of the largest Construction Managers in the NYC Metropolitan area. The project includes many architectural metal and glass items such as column covers, handrails/balustrades, wall panels, store fronts, glass elevator enclosures and fin tube heater enclosures.
Also in New York City, Gamma has been awarded the 150,000 square foot curtain wall project for the 40 storey residential tower at 1113 York Avenue in New York City, known as York 2. Previously, Elliot Kracko built the curtain wall for York 1, the adjacent residential tower. York 2 requirements include tight deadlines for the first panels and creation of curtain wall that matches the adjacent tower. The York 2 owner is Solow Residential. Hunter Roberts is the Construction Manager. Architect is Costas Kondylis and Partners.
In Vancouver, Gamma was awarded the 15 storey residential condominium West 6th Street project which involves 33,700 square feet of glazing. The architect is Henriquez Partners Architects of Vancouver, and the contractor is ICON Pacific Construction Corp of Langley, BC. The building also is being built per LEED Platinum Standards.
In Montreal Gamma has won three new projects. The first is the Tour Viger – Altoria project, a 35 storey, 182,000 square foot commercial office building. The architects are DCYSA and Desmarais Cousineau Yaghjian St-Jean & Assoc. The general contractor is Magil Construction Corporation.
The second Montreal project is the huge CHUM Hospital Project – Centre Hospitalier de L’Universite de Montreal. It involves nearly 600,000 square feet and is the second largest curtain wall contract in Canadian construction history. The architects are Cannon Design Inc. and DCYSA. The construction manager and general contractors are Construction Sante Montreal and EBC.
The third Montreal project is the critical care pavilion at The Jewish General Hospital. Totaling 137,825 square feet, the project is complex with several different types of curtain wall and ribbon windows aluminum panels and louvers. Another project complexity is the timeline - - 14 weeks for submittals, drawings, fabrication and delivery of first modules, which Gamma is providing on schedule, due in part to innovative project management techniques. The architect is Jodoin Lamarre Pratte et Associates, and the general contractor is Magil Construction.
Gamma also has been awarded a commercial office project at 150 Elgin Street in Ottawa. Totaling approximately 120,000 square feet, the architects are DCYSA Architecture and Design Montreal, and the general contractor is PCL Construction Inc.
About Gamma
Gamma has operated for more than 40 years and is well known for its “Performance Assured” approach to its clients. This is reflected by Gamma’s excellent track record and reputation on many important commercial, institutional, public and governmental projects involving complex, custom curtain wall solutions.
Gamma’s owners and mangers together have installed curtain wall on some of the most recognized buildings for some of the most respected owners, developers, public agencies, general contractors and construction managers along the eastern seaboard from Canada to South Florida. For more information, visit www.gammainternational.org.
