July 14, 2008

New heavy marine construction company opens in South Park

Photo courtesy of Pacific Pile and Marine [enlarge]

Pacific Pile and Marine bought this Hitachi EX1200 with an extended reach digging boom and an environmental clam bucket to do environmental cleanups. With other improvements and GPS equipment added, it will cost more than $1 million. The firm also has four cranes, three barges and other support vessels for marine construction.

Pacific Pile and Marine, with offices along the Duwamish River in Seattle, is a new heavy-marine construction company. The company offices are at 582 S. Riverside Drive in the South Park neighborhood.

Eric Reichelt, 51, and Wil Clark, 47, are partners in the company and have long experience in the construction industry. They were owners of Hurlen Construction Co. from 1995 to 2002 and together have more than 50 years of experience.

Clark said the two decided to start a new firm despite the economic slowdown because they feel it is important to be in position when the market improves. “We're definitely betting the farm on the future,” he said. “We've made a real commitment and believe in our people.”

He said they see continuing demand for cleanup projects in Puget Sound and along the Duwamish that will proceed despite the downturn. Other marine work like dredging will be needed because no matter what economic conditions are, Clark said, “Mother Nature does her thing.”

The Alaska market also looks promising because of the oil business and Clark said Pacific Pile and Marine plans to move into that area.

Pacific Pile and Marine will do marine construction including wharves, dredging, stone columns, bulkhead dock restoration and pile driving. Upland work will include foundation, pile driving, tunnels, auger-cast concrete piling, pin piles and sheet pile shoring. Other services will be provided such as design-build, value engineering, environmental dredging and open-cell construction.

Reichelt and Clark are engineers. With their former company they participated in projects such as Puget Sound environmental dredging, U.S. Coast Guard Pier 36 reconstruction, Ivar's dock repairs and state ferry repairs. They also have worked in Canada and Mexico.

Chris Willis, chief estimator, and Mike Mansfield, chief financial officer, are limited partners and each have more than 25 years of experience within their field. Willis worked with international construction companies as a project manager and estimator in heavy-marine and heavy-construction. Mansfield was a tax partner with accounting firms in Seattle, specializing in strategic planning for contractors.

Pacific Pile and Marine now has a backlog of work valued at more than $25 million, according to Clark. In addition to Alaska, it plans to expand into Oregon and California.

Clark said he and Reichelt wanted to get back into the business because they “have entrepreneurial genes.” They sold Hurlen in 2002 to American Civil Constructors of Denver and had planned to get into other kinds of work after they helped with that transition.

“If I had to repeat our history we probably wouldn't have sold,” Clark said. Their goal now is to create a business that they can pass on to family and key employees, many of whom have worked with them for 10 or 20 years.

Clark said they'd like to get to about $40 million in annual sales.