H.J. Russell & Co.

Atlanta-based Minority Contractor has Attained National Stature as Contractor, Program Manager.

By Bea Quirk

H. J. Russell & Co., one of the largest minority contractors in the country and among Atlanta’s major construction players, is no newcomer to the world of construction and real estate development.

The Atlanta-based African-American firm traces its history back to 1952 when company founder Herman Russell bought a vacant lot in the city where he built his first property. A few years later, while a construction major at Tuskeegee University, he founded a plastering company.

The company was formally incorporated in 1962, and the next year, it won the plastering contract for Atlanta Fulton County Stadium. Then in 1968, when the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development began its building program, H.J. Russell got involved on the ground floor and became one of the largest builders of HUD housing in the Southeast.

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Son Michael, 42, is the company CEO, while son Jerome, 44, is president of the company as well as of Russell New Urban Development, the firm’s property management and real estate development arm.  For 12 years, the Russells’ sister, Donata Major, was president of Concessions International, a food services company Russell began in 1979. Herman Russell, now 76, remains chairman of the company, but is not active in its operations, instead focusing on his real estate investments, Michael says.

The construction and development sides of the family business are closely intertwined and integrated, as it often provides construction services for mixed-use projects being developed by New Urban Development. These projects include Sky Lofts, a $40 million project in Atlanta now starting its second phase, in partnership with Green Pastures; and the nearby $70 million Historic Westside Village, now under way with Trammell Crow of Atlanta

Michael, who became CEO in 2004, grew up in the construction side, beginning as an onsite laborer about 20 years ago. He has a civil engineering degree from the University of Virginia and an MBA from Georgia State University.

Jerome has also worked in the field, but he worked for a beverage distribution company for several years after earning his bachelor’s in business administration from Georgia State University.

“I came back to the family business on the real estate side, and I fell in love with it,” Jerome says. The LLC was formed about five years ago.

About 300 of Russell’s 500 employees work for New Urban Development, whose bread and better is managing a portfolio of affordable and workforce rental housing properties it owns.

The construction side is led by executive vice president Tim Wening. Its days of self-performing work are pretty much over, and Michael says about 95% of its projects are construction at risk. “We’ve been growing that part of the business for the last 10 years,” Michael says.

However, the company’s biggest current project is one in which it is acting as program manager at the Hartsfield Jackson Atlanta International Airport. H.J. Russell is part of a consortium of companies overseeing the construction managers of various components of the overall project, which includes adding a fifth runway, an air traffic control tower, international concourse, domestic terminal, ground access and a car rental facility, as well as the expansion of existing air cargo facilities, a central passenger terminal and parking facilities.

Russell is working on the fifth runway and the terminal.

“It’s the largest project management job we’ve had acting as the eyes and ears for the owner,” Michael says.

Hartsfield aviation engineer Kenny Goggins, who’s working with Russell at the airport, adds, “Anyone who takes on the spirit of Mr. Russell has a high level of commitment to doing a good job for the client.”

Last year, H.J. Russell completed work on another signature project, the $96 million expansion of the Woodruff Arts Center and High Museum in Atlanta, which was a joint venture with Skanska USA Building of Atlanta. The two companies have been working together for almost 20 years.

“They bring good people to the table and are good team players, highly knowledgeable and great to work with,” says Steve White, Skanska vice president/operation manager.  Their next joint venture together is a $200 million campus office for Blue Cross Blue Shield in Chattanooga, which is just getting started.

H.J. Russell also works regularly for Target Stores and completed six stores for the chain last year. Finishing touches are being put on a $21 million store in Atlantic Station in downtown Atlanta, which is a prototype urban facility for the retail giant. Russell has also worked extensively for Home Depot.

But multifamily and institutional housing is the firm’s strong suit. “We have competence in multifamily housing of all kinds and see ourselves playing in the space of student housing,” Michael says.

Among those projects are two recent public-private student housing projects for Georgia’s state university system: a 1,000-bed, $34 million project at Fort Valley State University and an 800-bed, $21.5 million project at Albany State.

The company is also involved in traditional multifamily with the recently completed $45 million, 27-story Manhattan finished last fall in the Perimeter area of Atlanta for Southeast Capital Partners of Atlanta.

H.J. Russell has a presence throughout the Southeast, but more than half its business is still in Georgia. Michael says the firm is looking at expanding into Charlotte, where it is starting work providing construction management services on Wachovia’s $880 million office tower in conjunction with another Atlanta firm, Batson-Cook Co.

Michael acknowledges that being a minority contractor can help when companies and governments are looking for diversity in awarding contracts, but it is not the way the company has grown – nor should other firms expect to.

“Being a minority contractor distinguishes you – and that can be good or bad – but you have to find a niche where you can grow your business,” he adds. “Like any company, you have to be good at what you do, do what you say you will and deliver.”

The Russells’ diversification beyond construction has helped, too. “Development is more dynamic in nature than construction and is a creator of opportunities,” Jerome says. “We have to be nimble to adapt to the marketplace. With the two aspects being fully integrated, we can anticipate where the market is going.”

The need for good management practices was apparent during the recent dramatic increases in building materials. “We educated our clients as much as we could and didn’t sugar-coat things,” Michael says. “If anything, we overcommunicated with them. We also minimized clients’ exposure by incorporating price increases in the budgeting, buying more material upfront and executing as quickly as we could.”

H.J. Russell has a long history of giving to the community to help people find opportunities to succeed. “We also see ourselves as an employment opportunity for young people and speak at career days in the schools,” Michael says. “By showing young people successful minorities, we are showing them they can make it in the business world.”

That has given the Russells a far-reaching legacy among Atlanta’s African-American community and in the city’s construction industry.