Winston Churchill once remarked, “A nation that forgets its past has no future.” The same can be said for a company, and on the occasion of its 75th Anniversary, Merritt & Harris, Inc. is taking this opportunity to be reminded of its history.
In 1937, the lenders at the Bowery Savings Bank realized they had a problem. A common saying among the bank’s staff at the time was, “Why would criminals rob a bank when they could just walk in with a roll of plans and the bank would give them the money?” To solve the problem of the lack of scrutiny over construction loans, the bankers suggested that John Merritt and his son-in-law, Elliott Harris, II, form a company that could watch over the construction loans that the bank was funding. The men heeded the suggestion, and Mr. Merritt and Mr. Harris began a firm that is believed to be the first company formed solely for the purpose of monitoring construction loans.
The new company established its operations in the Bowery Bank’s headquarters building at 110 East 42nd Street in mid-town Manhattan. The bank was subsequently sold in 1985 to Richard Ravitch and his partners. They, in turn, sold the bank in 1992 to H.F. Ahmanson for $200 million, and it became Home Savings of America. In 1995, the bank was bought by Green Point Savings and, later, North Fork Savings, which was eventually absorbed into Capital One Bank. Shortly after the North Fork purchase, the landmarked building, designed by the noted architectural firm of York and Sawyer, was vacated by the bank. Its towering Romanesque banking floor became Cipriani’s, one of New York City’s grandest and priciest restaurant event spaces. The firm of Merritt & Harris, however, remained headquartered on the building’s 12th floor until 2005, when the company moved to 90 John Street in Manhattan’s financial district.
In 1969, the firm was incorporated in the State of New York.
In 1970, its founding president, Elliott Harris, II, died of pancreatic cancer, and Roger Maynard, a licensed professional engineer, was appointed by the Harris family as the firm’s president. Elliott Harris’ son, Elliott Harris, III, affectionately known to all as Buzz, had graduated with a civil engineering degree from Lafayette College in 1967, and he began his career at the firm of Cauldwell-Wingate Construction Co. Buzz eventually joined his family’s firm as a project manager in 1971 and began his lengthy stint as its President & CEO in 1978.
The firm continued to remain true to its founding focus of providing construction monitoring for lenders. In the late 1970s, lenders and institutional investors realized the need for professional evaluations to be performed on the existing buildings they were contemplating purchasing. As a result, Merritt & Harris, Inc. formed a dedicated Property Condition Assessment (PCA) Group.
In 1991, after a year of searching for the ideal location, the firm opened its first branch office in Glendale, California, a Los Angeles suburb.
Buzz Harris was an avid fisherman and longed to spend more time angling on Long Island Sound from his Riverside, Connecticut, home. In 1996, he made it known that he desired to sell his majority shares in the firm. Two of the company’s Senior Vice Presidents and minor shareholders, Thomas C. Richard, AIA, a Pratt Institute trained architect and Fordham University graduate, and William J. Doody, the firm’s CFO whose engineering degree and MBA were from Cornell University, arranged for Mr. Harris to sell the company to them and a group of senior employees. The new principals joining Richard and Doody were Manny P. Kratsios, a Columbia University educated civil engineer with an MBA from St. John’s University; Jack Kagan, head of the mechanical engineering group and a Pratt Institute Graduate; Bruce Peterson, RA, a Pratt Institute educated architect; Neil A. Rowland, an experienced and expert construction consultant; and Robert G. Weiland, AIA, a Penn State University graduate. The new management members selected Mr. Richard, who had been the Senior Vice President of the firm’s PCA Group, to become the President & CEO.
The firm began to expand its operations under the new management team, opening branch offices in Dallas, Texas, and Deerfield Beach, Florida in 1996 and 1997, respectively. In 1997 the principals added Michael J. Dwyer, the company’s chief cost estimator and leader of its Cost & Review Group, and Mark Robison, an architectural graduate of Oklahoma State University and the firm’s Dallas Branch Manager, to the shareholders group. In 2001, Donna K. Musial, AIA, M&H’s South Florida Branch Manager, became a principal. Ricardo Flores, the company’s Los Angeles Branch Manager, became a principal in 2003. Peterson, Robison, and Musial, subsequently, left the firm to pursue other opportunities. Mr. Weiland retired from the firm on December 31, 2010.
In 2004, the Dallas office was closed due to unfavorable business conditions, but the California and South Florida branches continue to be active.
In 2010, a planned succession was executed to allow Mr. Richard to semi-retire. Manny P. Kratsios, who had been with the firm since 1984 and who had previously served as the Chief Operating Officer, was promoted to President & CEO. Mr. Richard remains with the firm as a principal and its Director of Marketing.
On January 27, 2011, members of the firm were saddened to learn of the death of their former president, Elliott “Buzz” Harris, who died of cancer at the age of 65. It was Buzz’ talent for encouraging the employees to strive for excellence and his success in establishing a sense of family among them that continues to define the firm’s character. In January 2012, the tenure of employees at Merritt & Harris, Inc. averaged 12.5 years, with 40% having more than 20 years of service. This is a testimony to the company’s ability to attract and retain people who cherish the values that Buzz established and that the current leadership team has embraced.
In addition to Merritt & Harris’ Construction Monitoring and PCA groups, the firm has added several other specialized groups. Its Cost & Review Group, based in the New York headquarters, consists of architectural plan reviewers, structural engineers, mechanical engineers, and cost estimators. It was formed in 1996 to focus on the document and budget review process. The members of the group have no field responsibilities, allowing their dedication to the production of specialized reports without interruption. The group has been under the direction of Mike Dwyer, Principal, one of the country’s top construction cost experts, since its inception.
The firm began monitoring the construction of a string of sports facilities for lenders and bondholders with the construction of Boston’s Fleet Center (now TD Garden) in 1993. Actually, Merritt & Harris, Inc. had monitored its first sports venue in 1970 when Schaefer Stadium (later named Foxboro Stadium) was built for the NFL’s Boston (later New England) Patriots, but no further sports venues were monitored until 1993. Soon other sports facilities were added to the firm’s work schedule, and the M&H Sports Group was formed to handle the influx of stadiums, ballparks, and arenas. Since 1993, M&H Sports Group has reviewed and monitored at least one professional sports venue every year, including the replacement of the original Foxboro Stadium with the new Gillette Stadium. Among the firm’s 32 professional sports projects have been AT&T Park (MLB Giants), the NFL Dallas Cowboys’ Stadium, MetLife Stadium (NFL Giants and Jets), and American Airlines Arena (NBA Miami Heat). M&H Sports Group’s current projects include Barclays Center (NBA Nets) and the country’s first purpose-built Formula 1 race track, Circuit of the Americas, in Austin, Texas.
The Latin America Group was formed in 2006 in response to the need to review documents and drawings prepared in Spanish for banks located in the US, but lending in Latin America. The monitoring of the projects, also, required an understanding of the development and construction process in Latin America and a fluency in the Spanish language in order to deal with the personnel on site. Merritt & Harris, Inc.’s Principal and Los Angeles Branch Manager, Ricardo Flores, was ideally suited to head the new group, as he had studied engineering at the National University of Mexico City, Mexico. The group’s slogan became, “Working in Spanish – Reporting in English.” Most of the group’s work has involved the construction of five-star resorts, including the Esperanza and the One and Only Palmilla resorts in Cabo San Lucas, the Banyan Tree Resort in Acapulco, and the Capella resorts in Ixtapa and Cabo.
The M&H Caribbean Group grew out of a desire to formalize the firm’s activities on the islands, which has been on-going for many years. Merritt & Harris, Inc. has been heavily involved in the construction of hotels and resorts in Puerto Rico. Neil Rowland, a Merritt & Harris Principal, has represented the Government Development Bank for Puerto Rico’s Tourist Development Fund and several Puerto Rican banks as the monitor on most large resort projects for the past 18 years. In addition to Puerto Rico, the M&H Caribbean Group has recently had assignments on Tortola, Anguilla, Saint Martin, and in the Bahamas.
Another specialized Merritt & Harris group is its M&H Workout Group. The group’s work is directed towards assisting lenders on projects that have gone bad. The assistance includes the assessment of the project (physically and financially), the formulation of a plan of action to accomplish the completion of the project, the establishment of the cost of completing the project, and the on-site monitoring of the work as it goes forward.
From its humble beginnings in 1937 to its well deserved national and international reputation, Merritt & Harris, Inc. proudly celebrates “75 Years of Excellence.”
Principals in 2012
Manny P. Kratsios, President & CEO
William J. Doody, Chief Financial Officer
Michael J. Dwyer, Cost & Review Group Leader
Richard Flores, Los Angeles Branch Manager and Latin America Group Leader
Jack Kagan, LEED GA, Mechanical Engineering Group Leader
Thomas C. Richard, AIA, Director of Marketing
Neil A. Rowland, Caribbean Group Leader
Senior Associates in 2012
Edward J. Bellavigna, AIA, PCA Group Leader
Carmine Carpentier, RA, LEED AP, South Florida Office
James Cockinos, AIA, Construction Monitoring Group Leader
James L. Mako, PE, LEED AP, South Florida Branch Manager
Joseph J. Marciano, PE, LEED AP, Mechanical Engineering Group
Debra McKay, Construction Monitoring Group