Centex Focuses on Private Sector Commercial Development

FAIRFAX, VA-Centex Construction’s Washington area office has been an active building contractor for the federal government. It just finished the Air Force Memorial, located next to the Pentagon in Alexandria. It also worked on the Federal Court House, located next to the U.S. Capitol. Last year, Centrex worked on the Capitol Visitors’ Center. And in early November the Dallas-headquartered firm expects to break ground on the FDA’s new campus in White Oak, Md., part of a $1 billion expansion and consolidation project for the government agency that has been ongoing for a few years. This project, though, is likely to be among the last major government-backed projects that the company will do in the DC area for a while, DC Division President and CEO John Tarpey tells GlobeSt.com.

“Our involvement in the federal sector is decreasing now, mainly because there is less federal work available this year,” he says. Tarpey cites budget cuts “probably due to the war and [Hurricane] Katrina. At any rate, there have been a lot of projects shelved over the last year.”

Tarpey says government work cycles out of favor every three years or so for various reasons, so the drop off is not unexpected or a setback to the company. Centrex is shifting to the private sector.