Growing With the City

San Diego's Roel Construction rides historical building boom

By Joe Florkowski

San Diego-based Roel Construction Co. keeps it all in the family.

Since Tom Roel founded the company in 1917 in Fargo, N.D., ownership of the firm has passed down from generation to generation.

That tradition of keeping it in the family and operating as a family has allowed Roel to succeed where other general contractors have come and gone, says Kevin Elliott, president, COO and great-grandson of Tom Roel.
"We're deeply committed to offering a relationship-based construction services with a family-based style," he adds. "We think of ourselves as a mom-and-pop based shop."

Part of the company's growth has been due to its location. The company moved to San Diego in 1959 and has taken advantage of the region's building boom that began in the 1990s.

And San Diego will still continue to serve as a strong area for construction, Elliott says.

Celebrating its 90th year in construction, Roel continues to grow in size and revenues. The firm, which employs more than 500, operates offices in Irvine and Palm Desert as well as in Las Vegas and Bullhead City, Ariz. Much of Roel's work is devoted to building office, industrial, retail and hotel projects.

Currently earning about $300 million in revenue, Roel is expected to grow in the coming years, says Stephen Roel, former president of Roel, current chairman and grandson of Tom Roel. Wayne Hickey is the firm's CEO.

Moving to and building in San Diego was a good move for the company, which Roel believes could earn $500 to $600 million a year very soon.

advertisement

Through the first three months of 2006, Roel had worked on 549 projects - both active and completed, says Elliott.

Much of Roel's work is in the tenant improvement field - smaller projects that represent about 75 percent of the company's work and about 25 percent of its revenue.

Roel's larger general contracting work represents about 25 percent of its work and 75 percent of its revenue, says Elliott.

Some of the major projects that Roel completed last year include QUALCOMM WT in San Diego, Long Beach Lincoln Mercury Mazda dealership, National University in Los Angeles, the Park Manor Suites in San Diego and The Melting Pot in San Diego.

While Elliott says he thinks high-density high-rise projects that have popped up in San Diego are on the wane, there is still growth in some areas such as office and hotels.

And a future stadium for the NFL's San Diego Chargers could provide a huge boost to the San Diego region, he adds.

San Diego's business community is hopeful that plans for a new stadium for the Chargers will be finalized in the next 12 months, Elliott says, adding that once work begins on a new stadium, development in the San Diego area will flock around that site. At press time, two cities - National City and Chula Vista - have come forward with interest in building a stadium.

Stephen Roel agrees that high-rise residential is on the decline and that hotel growth will remain steady.

Construction of office space will shift to the outlying areas of San Diego as more research and development facilities are built, Roel says. Corporate campus offices will become more popular as well, he adds.

Building in San Diego has never been an obstacle because Roel has always worked well with the city, Stephen Roel says.

"San Diego is not that tough of a town to come in and compete," he adds. "We pick up the permits and go. It's a great place to work."

The weather contributes to that work environment because very few days are lost to rain, but working by the water does cause some problems because contractors constantly have to work to keep the site dry, Roel says.

"It's an added expense to dewater all the time," he adds.

Roel's core concentration of work is in Southern California and while San Diego continues to provide a strong base of work, other areas are also providing new business, Elliott says.

Indian gaming is an area that the company is delving into, and Roel will work on two Indian gaming resorts for tribes in the immediate future, Elliott says. The firm completed the Agua Caliente Casino in Rancho Mirage recently and is currently constructing a hotel on the site.

"It's a good time to be in construction," Stephen Roel says. "It's been really solid for the last 11 years."