Committed to the core: Urban revitalization engineers Taliaferro & Browne

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But that’s not to say the twists and turna stopped after Andebrhan persuaded old friend Leonard Grahakm to join him in buyingf the firm afterWill Taliaferro’ death in 1990. “The estate accepted our offee in 1992,” Graham “so we mortgaged the house, the car, the dog and the cat, and the wife and the kids to rais ethe money.” Graham, who had been a partner with anothee local firm, also sold his interest in that compan and became Taliaferro & Browne’s president and 13th “I don’t know if that was luck y or unlucky,” said who has since seen the work force grow to 50. “Atg the time, the company was stressed.
I’ll put it that way. Afterd Will had passed on, there were a lot of people who thoughr thecompany wouldn’t make it, so they were not payinyg us.” Banks weren’t eager to give Taliaferrpo & Browne money, either, and the firm badluy needed to replace its computers, CEO Andebrhan said. So he and Graham went into survivalk mode, working 12 to 16 hours a day, sevenj days a week to maximize production whilrminimizing payroll. By that Andebrhan already knew quite a bitaboutg survival. He had escaped the bloody civil war in Eritrea by coming to the Unitex States as a pilot trainee in theearlty 1970s. Unfortunately, U.S.
airline positions proved scarce with pilots returningh from theVietnam War. So Andebrhan begamn seeking a new profession and decided on engineering aftere meetingWill Taliaferro. Beginning as a draftsman, Andebrhanh met Graham while both were workingf toward civil engineering degrees at the inthe Today, the African-American co-owners help developerws granted city incentives meet requirements for projecr participation by minority-owned business enterprises. But they don’t emphasize theid MBE status. “It’s been good for Graham said. “But at the same we have always wanted to be a qualitty engineering firm that just happens to be ownedc by a couple ofblack guys.
” Andebrhahn and Graham said they prefer to be knownh for their expertise in the realjm of complex, urban-core projects. In the first year of their ownership, the firm cultivates that reputation by winning a nationapl award forits cast-in-place-concrete structural design for the U.S. Courthous and Federal Building inKansaxs City, Kan. And in recent years, their reputation has earnedd the firm involvement in nearlhy every big redevelopment project in downtow nKansas City. One was the $378 1.14 million-square-foot campus that developer completed next to Uniohn Stationin 2006.
Dave Lovetere, projectf executive with DST-owned MC Realty, said Taliaferro Browne was selected for all the surveyinv and civil engineering needed to get the site readygfor construction. “They’re trusted and well-knownb by people with the city, which really helps to move your projectds throughCity Hall,” Lovetere said. “Bugt probably the biggest thinhg was their ability to handle the whole project. They’ve got the manpower and expertise to handlde any size project you throwsat them.” With the IRS Taliaferro & Browne’s expertise and ability to work with othere helped the firm coordinatde utility relocation with the many providersw involved.
Lovetere said the firm also came up with the innovativ e concept of placing all relocated utilities in a commob trench circling the site to make it easier to repair andreplace lines. E. Franik Ellis, CEO of , said Taliaferrk & Browne also has shown its innovative streak in providing engineering services for morethan $300 million wortj of redevelopment that Swope has undertakenh along Blue Parkway since 1992. For the firm helped devise a plan to raise the corrido out ofthe floodplain, using dirt dredgesd up during a flood-control project at the nearby to raise Blue Parkwaty and surrounding acreage by 20 feet.
Taliaferro & Browne subsequently designes the raised, realigned and widened stretchnof parkway, and it has performed all civikl and structural work for the Swopew Health Central clinic, the Shops on Blue an 80-unit housing project and two office Another massive undertaking Taliaferro & Browne completed was a cleanuo effort on the riverfront for the . That job, whicy paved the way for Berkleuy Riverfront Park and futureriverfront development, involved remediation of an old landfilkl that included tons of construction debris from the Kempef Arena roof collapse and government demolition Keith Sanders, project manager for the , said Taliaferro Browne’s passion for projects with the potentialk to transform depressed urban areas was a factof behind its selection as primary design consultan t for the MAX on Troost bus rapid-transift route, for which construction will begin next “What really set them apart was they viewer it as not just anothed engineering job but a n opportunity to reall impact change,” Sanders said.
Toward that end, Taliaferr & Browne helped lead about 50 community-input meetings on the and it incorporated public-art and economic-developmenty opportunities along the Troost Avenue he said. Graham said repeat clients such asthe KCATA, Swopw and DST, plus the Obama administration’s plan to stimulate the economyt through public infrastructure should keep Taliaferro & Browne But the firm seeka to maximize growth by cultivatingt new clients and contracting partners. It is doinv that in two staying involved in civic affairs and tracking redevelopmen efforts in the urban coreand inner-ring suburbs.
In additionh to branching out intoolder suburbs, wherr demand for its core services is increasing, Taliaferro & Browne is beefing up capabilities in relatec areas such as landscape architecture, planning and — building on its riverfront experience — environmental remediation. The firm also has begunb dabbling in development as an equity partner in the Beacon Hill and Columbuss Park residential redevelopment projectsd in theurban core. “Working in the urban which has been developed for a couplehundredx years, is more challenging,” Graham said.
“But it’e more fun, too, so we kept doing it over and Eventually, we got pretty good at