San Antonio-based Goetting & Associates Consulting Engineers has purchased the Dallas office of O’Dea, Lynch, Abbattista Consulting Engineers for an undisclosed sum.

Goetting said the management and staff of the Dallas office won’t be changed.

Goetting CEO Louis Rowe said his firm decided to make the acquisition to help fulfill clients’ needs, because of North Texas’ strong economy and to take advantage of the availability of experienced professional engineers.

Goetting & Associates is a 33-year-old mechanical, electrical and plumbing design firm with 75 employees, including 21 professional engineers.

It has been consistently ranked by the trade publication Consulting Specifying Engineers as one of the largest design firms of its type in Texas and the nation.

The purchase price was not disclosed. Fred Schroeder Jr. will continue to manage the Dallas operation for Goetting & Associates. Goetting bought the office from parent company O’Dea, Lynch, Abbattista in Hawthorne, N.Y.

Goetting & Associates President and CEO Louis Rowe says the decision to buy the office was prompted by several factors, including favorable market conditions in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex, the needs of existing clients and the availability of highly skilled licensed professional engineers.

The new office also strengthens Goetting & Associates’ position in the marketplace for providing mechanical, electrical and plumbing engineering design services throughout Texas and the United States.

The deal officially closed on Sept. 29, although officials with Goetting have only begun releasing details Wednesday.

Founded in San Antonio in 1973, Goetting & Associates today is consistently ranked by industry publication Consulting Specifying Engineers as one of largest MEP design firms in both Texas and the nation.

News Release

Associate Principals Named At Goetting & Associates

Goetting and Associates Consulting Engineers is pleased to announce the promotion of five individuals to Associate Principal. Louis E. Rowe, P.E., President and C.E.O, announced the well-deserved selections last month during Goetting and Associates’ monthly staff meeting. “We our extremely excited about the growth of Goetting & Associates and the superb professionalism and commitment this group brings to our clients and the firm.” “These individuals are leaders in their field.” said Rowe.

Joining the executive team is:

Steve Boase, CFO – Steve is a Certified Public Accountant and graduated with an MBA with a concentration in Finance. Steve began his professional career in public accounting with KPMG. He has served as Controller and CFO in Marketing Services, Hi Tech and Engineering firms in Texas and North Carolina. At Goetting & Associates, Steve is responsible for Finance, HR, IT and Office Services.

John Ferencak, P.E., LEED AP - John joined Goetting and Associates in late 2004 as Project Manager and Mechanical Engineer. He earned his B.S. from the University of Texas at San Antonio in 1998 and an M.S. in Management of Technology in 2004. Mr. Ferencak has over 6 years of professional experience and demonstrates exemplary standards in his management of projects. John’s successful track record includes commercial, healthcare, government, hospitality and educational facilities. His most recent work includes projects for USAA, University Health System, and The City of San Antonio.

Adrian Lozano, P.E. LEED AP – Adrian has over 12 years of professional experience and has proven successful in providing electrical design system services for numerous project types, including hospitality, commercial, educational, healthcare, correctional and religious facilities. He earned his B.S. from the University of Texas at San Antonio and joined Goetting and Associates in 1996 as Project Manager and Lead Electrical Engineer. Adrian is currently providing the electrical design for a new facility at the corporate headquarters of Zachry Construction with a goal of obtaining Platinum LEED rating.

John Mills, P.E., LEED AP – John joined Goetting and Associates in 1996 as a Project Manager and Senior Electrical Engineer. He earned his B.S from the University of Texas at San Antonio in 1995. John’s management and leadership skills have proven successful during his time at Goetting and Associates earning him his new role as Associate Principal. With over 19 years of professional experience, John’s resume encompasses a variety of project types with an emphasis on sustainability. John is currently working on the design of the new DPT Laboratories facility at Brooks City Base.

Jose Rodriguez, P.E. – Loyal to Goetting and Associates, Jose joined the team in 1989 as Mechanical Engineer. He earned his B.S. from the University of Texas at San Antonio in 1994. Mr. Rodriguez has over 17 years of professional experience and has proven successful in providing mechanical design system services with an emphasis on major government and health care facilities around the country. Jose is currently working on a new medical office building in Boerne, Texas for Methodist Healthcare System as well as multiple projects for the United States Corps of Engineers.

Firms engineer their way out of everyday problems

Whether they are working with electrical power outages or attempting to improve bridge construction on Texas highways, San Antonio engineering firms say their latest projects came with design and functionality challenges that pushed them to use and develop their innovation and creativity. Here are few of the problems they encountered and how the they addressed them:

UTHSCSA Electrical Model

When the staff at Goetting and Associates were contacted by officials from the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio (UTHSCSA) to find a long-term solution to a recent series of power outages, the Alamo City firm knew they were facing a tough challenge.

“We were dealing with electrical power issues on a campus that covers roughly 2 million square feet of space and has a service capacity of 10 megawatts of electricity,” says Louis Rowe, president of the firm. “Right away we knew that this project was going to need more than just an immediate solution.”

After isolating and replacing a series of surge arrestors earlier this year that were the immediate cause of the recent outages, Rowe says he and his staff rolled up their sleeves and began to look for a means of preventing future power disruptions before they affected the overall mission of UTHSCSA.

“We ended up stepping outside of the traditional engineering box and began to look at the big picture in regards to electricity use on the campus,” says John Mills, a project manager for the firm who worked with Rowe on the project. “Today that search has evolved into a computerized model that will be used to manage the entire campus electrical system.”

Once it is completed in six to eight months, the pair say the model will help on-site managers at UTHSCSA avoid most electrical disruptions and better cope with those that do occur.

“The model we are working with will allow officials at the Health Science Center to look at the entire system when they are trying to decide what equipment can be used to isolate overloads and faults at the lowest level of the system,” Mills adds. “In addition, it will help the campus isolate equipment that needs to be replaced as they continue to upgrade their electrical infrastructure.”

Rowe credits the development and implementation of such a plan to the leadership of UTHSCSA.

“They knew what power outages meant to their mission of education and medical research and set a goal of developing an approach that would protect that mission from future electrical outages and blackouts,” he explains.

John F. Waldron is a San Antonio-based free-lance writers.