Swinerton Inc. is the holding company for several firms that handle all aspects of
construction including general contracting, project management and consulting,
and property management. Some of the most famous buildings in San Francisco--the
Opera House, the Public Library, the Pacific Telephone and Telegraph Building,
the Ghirardelli Square retail complex--were built by this company whose origins
go back to the 1880s and the dreams of a Swedish immigrant who had come to
seek his fortune.
California in the 1880s was a booming place. The
gold rush of 1848 had put California on the map, and the construction of new rail
lines set up a competition that made it ridiculously inexpensive to come West.
The first Santa Fe Railroad train pulled into Los Angeles in the spring of 1887;
thanks to the rivalry between the Santa Fe and Southern Pacific rail lines,
the rail fare from Chicago to Los Angeles dropped to a dollar.
In
1996, the Swinerton group was organized under the umbrella company Swinerton Inc.,
with Dave Grubb as chairman. In addition to the acquisitions above, Swinerton
Inc. also included Swinerton & Walberg, Swinerton Management & Consulting, Westwood
Swinerton (based in Oregon), and Swinerton & Walberg Property Services. |
