Company type | Private |
---|---|
Industry | |
Founded | 1929 |
Founder | George D. Auchter |
Defunct | December 31, 2007 [1] |
Headquarters | Jacksonville, Florida |
Area served | Western Hemisphere |
Key people |
|
Products | Buildings, bridges, towers and, in 1940s, ships |
Revenue | $750+ million (2007) [2] |
Number of employees | 150 (2007) [3] |
Footnotes /references The Auchter Company was acquired by Perry-Mccall Construction Inc. on March 26, 2007. |
The Auchter Company was established in 1929 [4] in Jacksonville, Florida, by George D. Auchter. The company was among Florida's oldest general construction contractors and built many of Jacksonville's civil and corporate buildings, including the City Hall. [5] and ranked among the top design/build firms in the US. [6] The Auchter Company also helped build ships needed for World War II, as part of the US Navy's Emergency Shipbuilding Program. After the war the shipyard closed in February 1946. The company went on to build many buildings and bridges until it was sold on March 26, 2007, to Perry-McCall Construction, Inc. [7] [8] [9]
George David Auchter was born on January 6, 1889, in Jersey City, New Jersey. The oldest of three children, his father was an engineer. Auchter also trained as an engineer at Rutgers College and was living in Red Bank, New Jersey, when his employer sent him to Florida to work on a bridge project in the early 1920s. At the time, construction in Florida was booming and Auchter saw an opportunity because Jacksonville was "The River City" and Auchter knew bridge construction. He received Florida engineering license #375 in 1922, and initially concentrated on bridges and overpasses, founding the George D. Auchter Company in 1929. [10] George Sr. died in 1974 when George Jr. was running the business.
The Auchter Company did design and engineering work for both on-site construction and pre-construction pieces shipped worldwide. It built office buildings, factories, bridges, warehouses, resorts, churches, museums, residential projects, hospitals, and power generating stations. The company built Jacksonville International Airport, military bases, courthouses, and jails. To support World War II, it built floating repair drydocks for the US Navy. He later sold the company to the Glass family. Dave Auchter, one of the founder's grandsons, later became a company executive.
For the war effort built pulpwood barges, floating repair drydocks, and concrete ships. After the war, he continued in civil construction and high-rise projects. Wishing to retire, George Auchter Jr. sold the company to an investor group in 1981. [11] He died in 1986.
One of the investors was Wilbur H. Glass Jr., whose father Wilbur H Glass Sr had been President of the Auchter Company for 14 years. Glass Jr also had a civil engineering degree, having joined the US Army as a field engineer in 1957. He worked at the Auchter Company, initially as a project manager and became a vice president in 1979. Glass bought out the other investors in 1993, and kept the Auchter Company name. The company continued its tradition of building Jacksonville's major works and expanded to other Florida locations. Glass also moved the company into retail service, such as Gate Petroleum convenience stores and three big-box Target stores in the North Florida area.
In 1999, the Auchter Company moved its headquarters to a First Coast Technology Park on the University of North Florida's campus. The new 3.36 acre headquarters helped build the company's relationship with the university. Glass's son, Brad Glass earned a degree in business administration from the University of North Florida and joined The Auchter Company in 1995. Jeff Glass, Wilbur's other son, started with the company in 1978. In 1993 Wilbur made both of his sons partners in ownership. Jeff retired in 2004 and Brad later went on to become president. In 2000, another of George Auchter's grandsons, Dave Auchter, became Director of Corporate Development after working as media director for World Golf Village and the National Football League's Jacksonville Jaguars.
In 2006, the team of Perry-Mccall Construction Inc. and the Auchter Company bid on the new Duval County Courthouse. They were initially awarded the contract, but when it was discovered that the Auchter Company had financial troubles, the contract was withdrawn. In an attempt to retain the contract, Perry-Mccall Construction purchased the Auchter Company on March 26, 2007. [12] [13] [14] [15] [16] [17] [18] [19] [20] [21] Jacksonville's General Counsel rejected their plan because the new company did not bid on the project. [22] The merger was terminated, and on December 31, 2007, Auchter closed its doors.
The Auchter Company built Auxiliary Floating Docks, Light (AFDL) for the US Navy. They were also called Auxiliary Floating Docks (AFD). AFDs were 288 ft long, had a beam of 64 ft (20 m), and draft of 3 ft 3 in empty and 31 ft 4 in (9.55 m) flooded to load a ship. A normal crew was 60 men. AFDLs displaced 1,200 tons and could lift 1,900 tons to take a ship out the water for repair. AFDLs were built as one piece, open at both ends. AFDLs had a crew of 30 to 130 men, living in a barge alongside the AFDL. Used to repair small crafts, PT boats and small submarines, all AFDs were reclassified AFDL after the war in 1946. [23] [7] [24] [25]
The third USS Ability (AFD-7/AFDL-7) was a small auxiliary floating drydock in the service of the United States Navy.
The Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard and Intermediate Maintenance Facility is a United States Navy shipyard located in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on 148 acres. It is one of just four public shipyards operated by the United States Navy. The shipyard is physically a part of Joint Base Pearl Harbor–Hickam.
USS ARD-10 was an auxiliary repair dock in the service of the United States Navy in World War II as an auxiliary floating drydock, built by Pacific Bridge Company. As was common with other auxiliary repair docks, the ship was only known by her designation and was not otherwise named.
USS Artisan (ABSD-1), later redesignated as (AFDB-1), was a ten-section, non-self-propelled, large auxiliary floating drydock of the United States Navy. The only U.S. warship with this name, Artisan was constructed in sections during 1942 and 1943 by the Everett-Pacific Shipbuilding & Dry Dock Company, in Everett, Washington; the Chicago Bridge & Iron Company, in Eureka, California; the Pollock-Stockton Shipbuilding Company, in Stockton, California; and the Chicago Bridge & Iron Company, in Morgan City, Louisiana. This ship was commissioned at Everett, Washington, on 10 May 1943, Captain Andrew R. Mack in command. With all ten sections joined, she was 927 feet (283 m) long, 28 feet (8.5 m) tall, and with an inside clear width of 133 feet 7 inches (40.72 m).
CB&I, previously Chicago Bridge & Iron Co, was a large engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) company with its administrative headquarters in The Woodlands, Texas. CB&I specialized in projects for oil and gas companies, and once employed over 32,000 people worldwide. In May 2018 the company merged into McDermott International. McDermott struggled to integrate its acquisition of CB&I. On January 21, 2020, McDermott announced that it had filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy due to asbestos litigation. A $22.5 million trust fund was made to handle asbestos claims.
An auxiliary repair dock (ARD) is a type of floating drydock employed by the U.S. Navy, especially during World War II. The Navy commissioned 33 ARD vessels: ARD-1 through ARD-33. ARDs were self-sustaining in World War II. ARDs have a rudder to help in tow moving, making ARDs very mobile, and have a bow to cut through waves. ARDs have a stern that can be opened or closed. The stern can be closed with bottom-hinged flap gate, operated by hydraulic rams. This stern gate can be lowered for ship entrance into the submerged dock, and then closed to keep out waves. ARDs were built by the Pacific Bridge Company, in Alameda, California.
USS Adept (AFD-23) was a AFDL-1-class small auxiliary dry dock of the United States Navy Auxiliary floating drydock built for World War II.
USS Endeavor was a 200-foot AFDL-1 Class Small Auxiliary floating drydock in service with the United States Navy during World War II. Built and delivered by Chicago Bridge and Iron in Morgan City, Louisiana in September 1943, she entered service as USS AFD-1. She was redesignated AFDL-1 on 1 August 1946. In 1986, she was decommissioned, struck from the Naval Register and transferred to the Dominican Republic and redesignated DF-1. She is currently in Active Service as of 2017.
An auxiliary floating drydock is a type of US Navy auxiliary floating dry dock. Floating dry docks are able to submerge underwater and to be placed under a ship in need of repair below the water line. Water is then pumped out of the floating dry dock, raising the ship out of the water. The ship becomes blocked on the deck of the floating dry dock for repair. Most floating dry docks have no engine and are towed by tugboats to their destinations. Floating dry docks come in different sizes to accommodate varying ship sizes, while large floating dry docks come in sections and can be combined to increase their size and lift power. Ballast pontoon tanks are flooded with water to submerge or pumped dry to raise the ship.
YFD-2 was an auxiliary floating drydock built for the United States Navy in 1901. The first parts were laid down in early 1901 at Maryland Steel Co. of Sparrows Point, Maryland. YFD-2 was the first of its kind, steel movable auxiliary floating drydock, used to raise large ships out the water for repair below the ship's waterline. YFD-2 had a 18,000 tons lifting capacity.
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USS ABSD-2, later redesignated as AFDB-2, was a ten-section, non-self-propelled, large auxiliary floating drydock of the US Navy. Advance Base Sectional Dock-2 was constructed in sections during 1942 and 1943 by the Mare Island Naval Shipyard in Vallejo, California for World War II. Her official commissioning ceremony took place on 14 August 1943 with CDR Joseph J. Rochefort in command. With all ten sections joined, she was 927 feet (283 m) long, 28 feet (8.5 m) tall, and with an inside clear width of 133 feet 7 inches (40.72 m). ABSD-2 had a traveling 15-ton capacity crane with an 85-foot (26 m) radius and two or more support barges. The two side walls were folded down under tow to reduce wind resistance and lower the center of gravity. ABSD-2 had 6 capstans for pulling, each rated at 24,000 lbf (110,000 N) at 30 ft/min (0.15 m/s), 4 of the capstans were reversible. There were also 12 ballast compartments in each section.
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