LeChase Construction acquires Albany, New York, contractor

Dive Brief:

Rochester, New York-based LeChase Construction Services announced on April 14 that it acquired Sano-Rubin Construction Services, a family-operated firm with more than 100 years of experience managing projects in the Albany, New York, region. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Local operations will be merged over time to help with the transition. Sano-Rubin will now operate as Sano-Rubin, a division of LeChase, under leadership of its current president, Dave Hollander. He and the company's 70 employees will continue to work with existing clients from their office in Albany, while LeChase's 50 area employees will continue to operate from their office in Schenectady, New York, led by LeChase Vice President Neil Schiavi.
LeChase annually manages more than $1 billion in construction across its operations, according to the release. The firm's previous acquisitions in the state include Syracuse's Northeast Construction Services in 2010, the New York Metro firm C.W. Brown Inc. in 2015 and the Upstate New York operations of Lendlease Americas in 2016.

Dive Insight:

This move will allow LeChase to accelerate its plan for long-term growth in the area, according to the release. While the firms generate a combined $125 million in annual revenue, the addition of Sano-Rubin will allow LeChase to pursue a wider range of projects, which include healthcare, education, industrial, multifamily housing and entertainment and hospitality, which align with Sano-Rubin's experience.

Additionally, Sano-Rubin's existing clients will benefit from LeChase's capabilities in preconstruction, scheduling and construction technology, according to the release.

"We're extremely proud of what LeChase has built in the Capital Region since opening our office here in 2003. Taking our local presence to the next level has been in our plans, and when the opportunity arose to bring in Sano-Rubin, we jumped at it," William Goodrich, CEO and managing partner of LeChase Construction Services, said in the release.

This merger comes on the heels of two other notable acquisitions in the construction industry. In November, New York City-based STO Building Group acquired Fairfield, New Jersey-based RC Andersen Construction. STO Building Group CEO Robert Mullen told Construction Dive at the time that the industrial building environment made it the right time for the merger to occur, as Cushman & Wakefield forecasted that the North American industrial absorption forecast from 2021 to 2022 calls for 461.39 million square feet.

Additionally, in January, Houston-based Satterfield & Pontikes Construction purchased Eagle Contracting, the Dallas/Fort Worth-based general contractor focused on the wastewater industry. Eagle Contracting's president at the time, Roy Ewen, said that the merger was mutually beneficial.