Sluggish AMU Lowers Town Growth
Tue, May29, 2007 - Category: Town
Bradenton Herald - May 24, 2007
Interview with Michael J. Beaumier, VP of West Coast Operations with Suffolk Construction, builder of Ave Maria Town.
Excerpt:
Company officials hosted a gathering of about 200 local business people at a networking event Wednesday afternoon [in Lakewood Ranch].
In 2003, Beaumier moved about 30 of his Suffolk staff to Ave Maria near Naples to begin what he thought was a decade-long building project at the first new Catholic university in 40 years.
But Ave Maria hasn't grown as fast as projected, Beaumier said, noting that the university has about 400 students.
Beaumier, whose firm will have eight buildings at the university ready to open to students for the first time on August 15, didn't panic.
Instead, his company, which has built in Boston, West Palm Beach, Miami, Los Angeles and Washington, D.C., adjusted and decided to redirect some of those 30 staffers to the Gulf Coast's growing construction market, including what they hope will be new schools in Sarasota and Manatee, hotels, assisted living centers and condos, Beaumier said.
Interview with Michael J. Beaumier, VP of West Coast Operations with Suffolk Construction, builder of Ave Maria Town.
Excerpt:
Company officials hosted a gathering of about 200 local business people at a networking event Wednesday afternoon [in Lakewood Ranch].
In 2003, Beaumier moved about 30 of his Suffolk staff to Ave Maria near Naples to begin what he thought was a decade-long building project at the first new Catholic university in 40 years.
But Ave Maria hasn't grown as fast as projected, Beaumier said, noting that the university has about 400 students.
Beaumier, whose firm will have eight buildings at the university ready to open to students for the first time on August 15, didn't panic.
Instead, his company, which has built in Boston, West Palm Beach, Miami, Los Angeles and Washington, D.C., adjusted and decided to redirect some of those 30 staffers to the Gulf Coast's growing construction market, including what they hope will be new schools in Sarasota and Manatee, hotels, assisted living centers and condos, Beaumier said.