Sundt and Phoenix-based Andale Construction have teamed up as joint venture partners to build two barracks projects for the United States Marine Corps at Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune in North Carolina. The federal construction projects – worth a total of more than $70 million – are the result of a joint venture partnership that has been officially recognized by the U.S. Small Business Administration’s (SBA) Mentor-Protégé Program, a business development initiative that helps socially and economically disadvantaged Americans gain access to economic opportunity.
Andale Construction (pronounced ahn-dah-ley, which is Spanish for “hurry up,”) was founded in 2006 by Luis de la Cruz, an underground utility specialist who started his career in construction more than 34 years ago as a laborer in Los Angeles. After applying to the SBA’s program in 2010, Andale and Sundt were approved as official mentor-protégé partners last year. Since then they have been engaged in an in-depth process in which Sundt is helping Andale strengthen and grow its fledgling business. The Andale/Sundt joint venture, in which Andale is the majority partner, is a single entity that is officially recognized as a small/minority-owned business. As a result, the partnership is able to pursue large-scale federal projects that have been set aside for such enterprises.
Spanning more than 156,000 acres, including 11 miles of North Carolina coastline, Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune is home to several major Marine Corps Commands and tenant commands. Andale/Sundt’s design-build projects are located at the French Creek and Camp Johnson areas of Camp Lejeune and are valued at $31.5 million and $39.9 million, respectively. The project at French Creek is for bachelor enlisted quarters consisting of one, five-story building with 200 rooms. The project at Camp Johnson is a three-story, 170-room bachelor enlisted quarters that includes study areas, meeting rooms and ceremonial spaces to be used for education and training.