S/L/A/M Collaborative, the national architectural firm based in Glastonbury, Conn., on March 6 completed its acquisition of five Heery architectural design practices from CBRE. The terms of the purchase were not disclosed.
The practices—focused on healthcare, sports facilities, and justice—are now known as Heery Design, a SLAM Studio. CBRE had owned Heery International, a project management and design engineering firm based in Atlanta, since October 2017 when it acquired the business for $57 million from Balfour Beatty. After the deal with S/L/A/M, CBRE retains full ownership of Heery’s interior design and engineering businesses that are integral to its project management services.
About 70 of Heery’s employees are coming over in this deal, joining 210 S/L/A/M professionals. Heery’s healthcare practice is located in Denver, Iowa City, Iowa, and Philadelphia. Its justice practice is in Orlando, Fla. And its sports design practice is in Atlanta. Heery Design offices associated with these practices are also part of this acquisition, along with the firm’s architectural book of business.
“The professionals joining S/L/A/M in this transaction are returning to a traditional design firm that values creativity, and is passionate about design,” said Richard T. Connell, FAIA, S/L/A/M’s chairman, in a prepared statement. Those professionals include Heery Design’s managing directors Russ Sedmak, Mike Holleman, and Douglas Kleppin, AIA, LEED AP.
S/L/A/M’s design portfolio includes healthcare, education, corporate and sports facilities. The firm provides integrated landscape architecture, structural engineering, interior design and construction services, with offices in Connecticut, New York, Atlanta, Boston, and Los Angeles.
A source knowledgeable about this deal, who spoke on background, said that a third party representing CBRE had approached a handful of firms, including S/L/A/M, at the beginning of 2018 about their interest in acquiring parts of Heery. This source said that CBRE was primarily interested in finding a buyer willing to acquire all five of the practices it wanted to shed.
This source adds that what CBRE is holding onto from its Heery purchase is a “much larger” piece than what it is selling to S/L/A/M.
Related Stories
| May 17, 2011
Should Washington, D.C., allow taller buildings?
Suggestions are being made that Washington revise its restrictions on building heights. Architect Roger Lewis, who raised the topic in the Washington Post a few weeks ago, argues for a modest relaxation of the height limits, and thinks that concerns about ruining the city’s aesthetics are unfounded.
| May 17, 2011
The New Orleans master plan
At an afternoon panel during last week's AIA National Conference in New Orleans, Goody Clancy Principal David Dixon and Manning Principal W. Raymond Manning shared their experiences creating the New Orleans Master Plan, a document that sets a new course for the city, from land use and transportation planning to environmental protection.
| May 17, 2011
Do these buildings look like buffalo to you?
It’s hard to contemplate winter now that we’re mid-spring, but when the seasons change, ice skaters in Winnipeg will be able to keep warm in plywood shelters designed by Patkau Architects. The designers created temporary shelters inspired by animal behavior—specifically, buffalo bracing against the wind. Check them out.
| May 16, 2011
USGBC and AIA unveil report for greening K-12 schools
The U.S. Green Building Council and the American Institute of Architects unveiled "Local Leaders in Sustainability: A Special Report from Sundance," which outlines a five-point national action plan that mayors and local leaders can use as a framework to develop and implement green schools initiatives.
| May 16, 2011
Dassault Systèmes to distribute Gehry Technologies’ digital project
Dassault Systèmes and Gehry Technologies announced that Gehry Technologies’ Digital Project products will be integrated into the Dassault Systèmes’ portfolio and distributed through Dassault Systèmes. Digital Project is a suite of 3D BIM applications created by Gehry Technologies using Dassault Systèmes’ CATIA as a core modeling engine.
| May 11, 2011
DOE releases guide for 50% more energy-efficient office buildings
The U.S. Department of Energy today announced the release of the first in a new series of Advanced Energy Design Guides to aid in the design of highly energy efficient office buildings. The 50% AEDG series will provide a practical approach to commercial buildings designed to achieve 50% energy savings compared to the commercial building energy code used in many areas of the country.
| May 10, 2011
Google hires Ingenhoven Architects to design new Mountain View office
The current Googleplex is straining at the seams and yet the company is preparing its biggest hiring surge ever, so Google decided now’s the time to build its own office space—a first for the Internet giant. The company hired Ingenhoven Architects, a German firm that specializes in sustainable architecture, to create plans for what could be a 600,000-sf office.
| May 10, 2011
Solar installations on multifamily rooftops aid social change
The Los Angeles Business Council's study on the feasibility of installing solar panels on the city’s multifamily buildings shows there's tremendous rooftop capacity, and that a significant portion of that rooftop capacity comes from buildings in economically depressed neighborhoods. Solar installations could therefore be used to create jobs, lower utility costs, and improve conditions for residents in these neighborhood.
| May 10, 2011
Dinner is now served…atop the Lincoln Memorial?
Take a look at the temporary restaurant sitting atop Brussels’ historic Arc de Triomphe-Triomfboog. The Cube, by Electrolux, offers 18 diners a spectacular view of the Parc du Cinquantenair, and is one of two structures traveling across Europe, making stops at famous landmarks in Belgium, Italy, Switzerland, Sweden, and Russia. What do you think about one of these 60-tonne structures being placed on a U.S. memorial?
