flexiblefullpage
billboard
interstitial1
catfish1
Currently Reading

NELSON joins forces with Cope Linder and KA

Architects

NELSON joins forces with Cope Linder and KA

More growth ahead, as NELSON expects to double its workforce and revenue this year.


By John Caulfield, Senior Editor | June 2, 2017

The 773,000-sf W and Element Hotel, which is scheduled to open in Philadelphia in 2018, will be one of the first projects completed under the combined company formed by the merger of NELSON with Cope Linder Architects. NELSON has also merged with KA Architecture, which with Cope Linder will form a core-and-shell practice within the firm. Image: Cope Linder Architects

NELSON, the Philadelphia-based interior design firm celebrating its 40th anniversary this year, has merged with two other firms, Cope Linder Architects and KA Architecture, to position itself as a full-service architectural and design outfit across multiple nonresidential building types.

The combinations became effective on June 1.

Founded in 1977, NELSON has steadily expanded for more than 15 years, primarily through acquisitions. In the past two years alone, it bought EHS Design and Marvin Stein Associates in Seattle, AAI in San Jose, and VeenendaalCave in Atlanta.

John “Ozzie” Nelson, Jr., NELSON’s Chairman and CEO, tells BD+C that his company’s marriages with Cope Linder and KA are the first of a series of mergers that NELSON plans to announce this year. Nelson says his company in 2017 would double its revenue to around $200 million and its workforce to “north of 1,200” from 625 at the start of the year. 

Nelson and Ian Cope, AIA, LEED AP, Principal with Cope Linder Architects, had been talking, on and off, for 27 months about bringing their respective companies together. Cope says his firm had also been approached by two other suitors—including a Canada-based engineering firm—which it ultimately rebuked, he says, because it feared it might lose its identity with clients “who are concerned about all of this massive absorption of AEC firms” going on in the industry.

The addition of 50-year-old Cope Linder, also based in Philadelphia, makes NELSON that city’s third-largest studio, with more than 125 employees there. Cope Linder is best known for its work in the commercial, hospitality, gaming, and entertainment sectors. One of the first projects to be completed under the combined company will be the 51-story, 773,000-sf W and Element Hotel in Philadelphia, which opens next year.

Craig Wasserman, RA, Executive Vice President at KA Architecture, says his firm has been predominantly a core and shell builder and planner. It has tried to diversity on its own, “but it never worked out,” he explains. The merger with NELSON, on the other hand, “is the perfect compliment,” and allows KA to go to market as a full-service firm. “We’ve been telling our clients about this merger, and their reaction has been fantastic,” says Wasserman.

Cleveland-based KA Architecture—which was founded in 1960 and, prior to the merger, was into its third generation of ownership—has lent its design services to, among other projects, retail centers, mixed-used developments, and hospitality. Its merger with KA represents Nelson’s third location in the Midwest. The 1.3-million-sf Liberty Center in San Francisco will be the first major project completed under the new brand KA Architecture, A Nelson brand. (KA is the Executive Architect on this project.)

KA and Cope Linder are also forming a core-and-shell practice within NELSON, says Wasserman. Nelson states the combinations place NELSON more competitively into the high-rise architecture market.

The mergers also allow NELSON to launch a newly formed Hospitality Practice, and to beef up its Retail Practice.

Merging for the right reasons

Diversification is certainly one of the drivers behind NELSON’s acquisitive streak.  For example, it is close to announcing another acquisition of a firm in New York that surveys and inspects buildings. Under Title 11, buildings over six stories high are required to be surveyed every five years. The firm NELSON would acquire already handles 800 of the 14,500 buildings in New York that fall under that regulation.

NELSON also runs a $13 million MEP engineering firm under a separate brand. But Nelson has never been a believer in combining architecture with other disciplines, such as engineering or building surveying, under one roof. He thinks the better solution to integrate vertically is to create holding companies to run those businesses separately, as it will the core-and-shell entity.

“Culture trumps everything else” when it comes to merging companies, says Nelson, speaking from experience. “It’s important for companies to look at the complete nature of coming together, and to be realistic.” He observes that, too often, smaller firms want to merge with larger firms just to take advantage of their marketing and sales clout without giving enough thought to how such a move might impact their employees and customers.

Nelson confirms that the managements of Cope Linder and KA are remaining with the company. He says NELSON looks for acquisition partners whose managements want to stay on with the combined firm.

When asked why so much AEC consolidation seems to be happening all of a sudden, Nelson says that relationships between firms and their clients don’t matter as much as they used to. “Everything has become a beauty competition,” and size, he says, has become a more important criterion to be considered for certain projects.

In the future, he says that NELSON will be looking to strengthen its position in Texas and the Washington, D.C. market.

Tags

Related Stories

Multifamily Housing | May 1, 2023

A prefab multifamily housing project will deliver 200 new apartments near downtown Denver

In Denver, Mortenson, a Colorado-based builder, developer, and engineering services provider, along with joint venture partner Pinnacle Partners, has broken ground on Revival on Platte, a multifamily housing project. The 234,156-sf development will feature 200 studio, one-bedroom, and two-bedroom apartments on eight floors, with two levels of parking.

Mass Timber | May 1, 2023

SOM designs mass timber climate solutions center on Governors Island, anchored by Stony Brook University

Governors Island in New York Harbor will be home to a new climate-solutions center called The New York Climate Exchange. Designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM), The Exchange will develop and deploy solutions to the global climate crisis while also acting as a regional hub for the green economy. New York’s Stony Brook University will serve as the center’s anchor institution.

Market Data | May 1, 2023

AEC firm proposal activity rebounds in the first quarter of 2023: PSMJ report

Proposal activity for architecture, engineering and construction (A/E/C) firms increased significantly in the 1st Quarter of 2023, according to PSMJ’s Quarterly Market Forecast (QMF) survey. The predictive measure of the industry’s health rebounded to a net plus/minus index (NPMI) of 32.8 in the first three months of the year. 

Sustainability | May 1, 2023

Increased focus on sustainability is good for business and attracting employees

A recent study, 2023 State of Design & Make by software developer Autodesk, contains some interesting takeaways for the design and construction industry. Respondents to a survey of industry leaders from the architecture, engineering, construction, product design, manufacturing, and entertainment spheres strongly support the idea that improving their organization’s sustainability practices is good for business.

Codes and Standards | May 1, 2023

Hurricane Ian aftermath expected to prompt building code reform in Florida

Hurricane Ian struck the Southwest Florida coastline last fall with winds exceeding 150 mph, flooding cities, and devastating structures across the state. A construction risk management expert believes the projected economic damage, as high as $75 billion, will prompt the state to beef up building codes and reform land use rules. 

| Apr 28, 2023

$1 billion mixed-use multifamily development will add 1,200 units to South Florida market

A giant $1 billion residential project, The District in Davie, will bring 1.6 million sf of new Class A residential apartments to the hot South Florida market. Located near Ft. Lauderdale and greater Miami, the development will include 36,000 sf of restaurants and retail space. The development will also provide 1.1 million sf of access controlled onsite parking with 2,650 parking spaces. 

Architects | Apr 27, 2023

Blind Ambition: Insights from a blind architect on universal design

Blind architect Chris Downey shares his message to designers that universal design goes much further than simply meeting a code to make everything accessible.

Design Innovation Report | Apr 27, 2023

BD+C's 2023 Design Innovation Report

Building Design+Construction’s Design Innovation Report presents projects, spaces, and initiatives—and the AEC professionals behind them—that push the boundaries of building design. This year, we feature four novel projects and one building science innovation.

Mixed-Use | Apr 27, 2023

New Jersey turns a brownfield site into Steel Tech, a 3.3-acre mixed-use development

In Jersey City, N.J., a 3.3-acre redevelopment project called Steel Tech will turn a brownfield site into a mixed-use residential high-rise building, a community center, two public plazas, and a business incubator facility. Steel Tech received site plan approval in recent weeks.

Multifamily Housing | Apr 27, 2023

Watch: Specifying materials in multifamily housing projects

A trio of multifamily housing experts discusses trends in materials in their latest developments. Topics include the need to balance aesthetics and durability, the advantages of textured materials, and the benefits of biophilia.

boombox1
boombox2
native1

More In Category


Urban Planning

Bridging the gap: How early architect involvement can revolutionize a city’s capital improvement plans

Capital Improvement Plans (CIPs) typically span three to five years and outline future city projects and their costs. While they set the stage, the design and construction of these projects often extend beyond the CIP window, leading to a disconnect between the initial budget and evolving project scope. This can result in financial shortfalls, forcing cities to cut back on critical project features.



Libraries

Reasons to reinvent the Midcentury academic library

DLR Group's Interior Design Leader Gretchen Holy, Assoc. IIDA, shares the idea that a designer's responsibility to embrace a library’s history, respect its past, and create an environment that will serve student populations for the next 100 years.

halfpage1

Most Popular Content

  1. 2021 Giants 400 Report
  2. Top 150 Architecture Firms for 2019
  3. 13 projects that represent the future of affordable housing
  4. Sagrada Familia completion date pushed back due to coronavirus
  5. Top 160 Architecture Firms 2021