Our History
John P Allen’s lifetime career in construction management began under his father’s tutelage and guidance in the family owned Construction Company. He grew up in Austin Texas where he graduated from Sidney Lanier High School and went on to graduate from Southwest Texas State University. His extensive project management experience spans a variety of projects, including but not limited to approximately 1,500 hotel rooms (over 1 million sq.ft.), over 1.75 million sq.ft. of industrial space, over 30 million sq.ft. of office space, over one half million square feet of food/retail stores, and several million sq.ft. of interiors and other construction projects in the United States and in Central America.
In 2007 Renaissance Development Company had several projects in the development pipeline. During that time the principals of Renaissance sought out the services of a seasoned construction professional to help them achieve their goals of bringing on line the projects. John’s background with Renaissance Development and its partners dates back to working with them to analyze the potential uses of the Texas and Pacific Terminal building and the adjacent Post Office building. His construction modeling was used to create the basis for various financial models. From the fall of 2007 until now John’s expertise has been focused on project costs and delivery as well as finance structuring and interface between Renaissance and its various clients. He has kept the John P. Allen Company in place to provide construction, management, roofing and other services to clientele that seek out a contractor that is known for integrity, honesty and his knowledge of design build and construction building techniques.
From 2005 through the fall of 2007, he led the company he founded, the John P. Allen Company, in rebuilding landmark Gulf Coast properties hit by hurricane Katrina. His expertise was called on by several roofing firms bringing back to life battered properties such as the 35 story Imperial Palace Hotel and Casino and the Boomtown Casino (Biloxi, MS), Casino Magic Hotel and Casino (Bay St. Louis, MS), Hancock County MS historic court house (Bay St. Louis, MS), Jackson County, MS court house (Pascagoula MS), educational properties of the Biloxi and Hancock Co. School Districts, the Chevron Refinery, and other notable projects. John was responsible for on-the-go thinking and project management to supervise round-the-clock operations to get properties up and going. The most notable of all the restoration/roofing projects was the stately Biltmore Hotel and Resort in Coral Gables Florida hit by both hurricane Rita and Katrina during 2005. Responsibilities included project management, procurement, and clientele interface, daily on site visits and meetings and serving as liaison with the contractors and hotel operations staff and engineers. The project coordination was very critical high profile in that during the construction there were no less than five heads of foreign nations visiting the hotel, the Secretary of Defense of the United States, President Bill Clinton, Senator Hillary Clinton, and several more dignitaries. Working with staff and security the project was coordinated and delivered on time.
From 1999 to 2005 as Vice President of The DeMoss Company, his duties included competitive bid construction from hard bids through coordination of field staff and subcontractors to certificates of occupancy. Diverse projects completed included a major hospital annex facility for JPS Health System, a corporate headquarters building for the Centennial Corporation, construction of a major 1,900 seat Catholic Church, renovation and redevelopment of Casa Mananna a live theater, construction of a Heritage National Bank and retail work.
From 1997 to 1999 as Regional Vice President for HCI Construction and Design (New Orleans) John was responsible for renovation and redevelopment of Fort Worth’s historic Blackstone Hotel into a 250-key Marriott. Acting as the head of the construction and project manager, his duties ranged from conceptual estimating, interface with historic foundations and interface with all city departments involved in the project to day to day operations. Over 300,000 square feet of renovated and new construction was involved in the project on a tight schedule in a difficult to access central business district.
From 1995 to 1997 John was Senior Project Manager for a major Fort Worth construction firm Haws & Tingle. Duties included but were not limited to scheduling and monitoring job costs for all projects undertaken. Other duties included helping set up systems for sales and marketing. Projects included the redevelopment of the twenty-two story historic Texas Electric Building in downtown Fort Worth, an addition to the University of Texas Student Affairs building in Richardson, Texas and a retail center in Las Colinas as well as a 100,000 square foot industrial facility for Xerox Corporation in southwest Fort Worth.
From 1988 to 1994 when John was recruited to relocate to Fort Worth, he was President of Allen/McGregor Construction, Inc. in Houston, Texas and responsible for management of all day to day operations from owner and banking relations to managing and bidding projects. Completed projects ranged from those in and around the Houston area to construction of a 200 room hotel in Belize, C.A.
From 1976 to 1988 John was Vice President/Partner and Senior Project Director for McGregor Construction Company, Inc. during which time he built several retail shopping centers and industrial buildings, several major office buildings including One Capitol Plaza in Austin, TX, The Design Center of Houston, the Alfred C. Glassell School of Arts in Houston, the CRS office building on West Loop, 3320 West Alabama, Two Greens Point, 500 Post Oak, and most notable, the now famous 1.3 million square foot 65 story Enron Tower; the twin thirty-two story Warwick Towers Condominiums in Houston, J.E. Sirrine Office Complex in Houston, Bellaire Office Complexes for John Hansen investments, Bellaire Office Complexes for Rick McCord Interests and multiple multi-family apartments in Texas, Oklahoma, Colorado and Arizona; hotels including the Beaumont Hilton Hotel and Conference Center, the College Station Hilton Hotel and Conference Center, renovations to the Houston’s Hilton Hotel West, the Airport Hilton Hotel and Conference Center, the Inn on the Park Hotel.