Builder builds up client list

Halfacre Construction, one of the most established locally owned commercial builders in the Sarasota-Manatee region, scored two major victories recently.

One project is a new United States Department of Agriculture research and development facility in Manatee County. The 28,210-square-foot building, on 3.5 acres at 7525 Commerce Court, Sarasota, will be used to protect the area's agriculture industry from non-indigenous insect outbreaks, according to a release. A $6.3 million project scheduled for completion in fall 2017, the building will replace the existing Sarasota-area facility on 57th Street and DeSoto Road.

The prototype building, say officials, will also allow for an increase in production and is equipped as an emergency facility to combat multiple outbreaks. It will house laboratories, cook and emergency rooms, two large walk-in coolers and an elaborate heating, ventilation and air conditioning system.

“There is no other building like it in the world,” says Roger Osborne, CEO of North Florida Government Properties in the statement. “In the current facility, we release 1 million sterile male fruit flies every week. The new facility will allow us to release up to 200 million a week.”

Halfacre also recently won a contract to renovate and retrofit a 136,000-square-foot building in West Chester, Ohio, that will become the headquarters of Ohio Eagle Distributing, an Anheuser-Busch distributorship. John Saputo, who owns Gold Coast Eagle Distributing in Lakewood Ranch, bought the Ohio distribution facility in early 2015. Halfacre Construction built Gold Coast Eagle's sprawling facility in 2009. The six-month Ohio Eagle building renovation is scheduled for completion April 1.

Lakewood Ranch-based Halfacre was founded in 1970. It had $33 million in revenue in 2015 and has around 25 employees.