Builders
Published
Be it residential or commercial, historic renovation or new construction, from small-scale, mixed-use developments to massive interstate highway projects, these are some of the many professionals who are leaving their imprint on Virginia’s landscape.
Luke Allison, Entrepreneur, Pulaski
Luke Allison is team leader for a group of 20 motivated millennials known around Pulaski as the Tribe or the Crew. They’re investing in commercial ventures, as well as buying and refurbishing blighted houses they rent to local workers and Virginia Tech graduate students. About a dozen have formed a property group called Kethanos, which has bought about 15 houses, surpassing $1 million in appraisals. They take advantage of a collective skill set to solve any problems that arise. “Cooperation and optimism are our strengths,” says Allison, 27, a Tech graduate. He also works with Steven Critchfield at MOVA and West Main Development, which in October unveiled renovated apartments and businesses that are the first phase of a downtown revitalization project. Allison also is beginning to work on a second-chance program to provide housing for former inmates to keep them from becoming homeless, “but also to help close the gap between prison release and being a working member of society.” •
Daniel Huertas, CEO, Washington Capital Partners, Falls Church
As he saw property values crash in the 2008 Great Recession, Daniel Huertas launched his career as a hard money lender. Seeing opportunity in the steep losses, he co-founded a company that provides investment services for real estate developers in the Washington, D.C., region. A native of Ecuador, Huertas initially worked full time originating traditional mortgages and flipping houses on the side. But he saw a need for investment capital, and what started as a skeleton operation has grown to a firm with 48 full-time employees that has originated more than 1,750 loans and provided $645 million in capital. •
Dave McCormack, President, Waukeshaw Development, Petersburg
Dave McCormack has worked as a writer and musician, but these days you probably know him best as a developer who renovates and adapts historic buildings in Virginia’s small towns. Based in Petersburg, McCormack started Trapezium Brewing Co. there and Beale’s Brewery in Bedford, along with numerous residential projects from Cape Charles (where he lives with his family) to Madison Heights, often started in rundown, occasionally termite-infested industrial buildings. Next on McCormack’s agenda: a boutique hotel in Bedford and a second Beale’s Brewery location in York County. •
Lucas Thornton, Managing partner, Hist:Re Partners LLC, Roanoke
Lucas Thornton hails from Fincastle, north of Roanoke, and he decided after graduating from the University of Virginia in 2006 to be a big fish in a small pond. “Guys like me have to make a living,” he says, and after studying landscape architecture, urbanism and philosophy, Thornton became “a real estate guy.” Fellow millennials seek to create lives for themselves in urban settings, but with technological advances connecting people, they don’t have to be located in major metropolitan areas, he says. Thornton’s development company is completing the headquarters for Pinnacle Financial Partners and, in the first quarter of 2020, Hist:Re plans to break ground on a multiuse development at Campbell Court. •
David Yergin-Doniger, President, WG Construction, Manassas
David Yergin-Doniger is president of a construction company responsible for high-profile projects in Northern Virginia, such as the widening of Interstate 66 and work on pedestrian tunnels for the related Outside of the Beltway project. But he’s also building the next generation of skilled workers through his roles as president of the Heavy Construction Contractors Association and founder of its Leadership Institute for industry professionals. In addition to workshops, the group provides community service that has totaled nearly $1 million in charitable construction improvements in the region. Members also raise money for scholarships and work with students through SkillsUSA. •