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CONSTRUCTION
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The Industry’s Newspaper San Antonio • Hill Country Bluebonnets
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www.constructionnews.net
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(210) 308-5800
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Volume 19
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Number 4
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APRIL 2017
Phoenix takes flight
Picking up the mic
L-R: Chardae Mollere Rodriguez and Annette Mollere recently opened their own survey supply company, Phoenix Geosystems.
In auditioning for The Voice, Jennifer Swinney might be leaving the local construction industry behind for a singing career.
hough Annette Mollere and her daughter, Chardae Mollere Rodriguez, tragically lost husband and father James Rodriguez in 2015, they have strived to return to the business to which he introduced both of them. That’s why the mother-daughter team opened Phoenix Geosystems at 12746 Cimarron Path, Suite 145, in April. “Though Chardae and I have suffered great emotional losses, we continued to work towards our family goals,” says Annette. “Hence the name Phoenix Geosystems; Chardae and I have decided to pursue a life that can only be described as arising from the ashes. To say that it was a tragedy for my daughter and I to lose him is an understatement.”
James and Annette started dating when they were 17 and were married for 38 years. Starting in 1997, she worked closely with him in developing market segments such as BIM, UAVs, MEP, machine control, and public safety as well doing marketing, sales, customer support and managing their location. Before working with her husband, Annette taught CAD and 3D modeling at UTSA, SAC and other area colleges. Chardae, an aerospace and industrial systems engineer, has worked with NASA in robotic systems, Johnson Controls in HVAC, and Turner Construction as a business development engineer. continued on Page 24
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hat started out as a joke has turned into a potentially lifechanging path for Jennifer Swinney, executive director of the American Subcontractors Association (ASA) San Antonio Chapter. Since she’s always singing around the office, around the house, on road trips, and has sung in high school musicals and at churches, a few of her friends suggested she should audition for The Voice. She dismissed it as a joke, knowing that that you have to be outstanding to even have a shot at those singing competitions. “Then, I realized that it’s not about the races that you win; it’s about the races that you’re brave enough to run,”
says Swinney. “So I thought, ‘Why not?’ “I’ve been singing since I was a little girl! I can remember dancing around my room singing the hits of Dolly Parton, Olivia Newton-John – in her Grease and Xanadu years – and ABBA (we lived in Germany when I was younger).” Though she’s never sung professionally – unless putting on concerts for her parents counts, she says with a laugh – she has been blessed to receive encouragement and support from all of her friends and family as she prepares for the audition. “Since the first audition is completely a cappella, I wanted to show vocal range as well as good pitch, so I picked ‘Words continued on Page 24
Craftsman brings new look to Woodlake
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ince Dale Culbertson, president of EIB Contractors, has been doing James Avery Craftsman Inc. jewelry stores for more than 20 years, building the James Avery at Woodlake Crossing, 6914 Highway 78, was like second nature to him. Culbertson has built more than 100 new James Avery stores across the country and has done countless repairs and upgrades for the jeweler, and so he knows these stores inside and out. A few years ago, James Avery completely redesigned their stores, but Culbertson has already done several in the new style, including stores in Houston, Dallas, Austin and the first one in the new design in San Antonio, built at South Park Mall in 2014. The Woodlake location is the second in San Antonio to be built in this new style, which Culbertson describes as brighter with a high-end finish out.
Completed by EIB Contractors, the James Avery store at Woodlake Crossing is the second location in San Antonio to be built in the jeweler’s new design style.
As project manager for the job, Culbertson estimates it takes about three months for them to do a James Avery store. Always located in shopping malls or centers, James Avery turns a lease space over to EIB for demo of the former occupant’s store and build of the new James Avery. The Woodlake location is 3,224sf, and EIB built the sales area, a break room, two restrooms, and a product care room where they can repair broken jewelry that anyone brings in. James Avery furnishes a polish machine that EIB installs for them as well as custom-built sales and stock counters for the sales area. EIB does the cabinets for the back room, break room and work area. “When I first started building the stores, I dealt directly with Paul Avery, who is James Avery’s son,” recalls Culbertson. “Now, I deal with their project continued on Page 24