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Tuesday, December 21, 1999
Builders Association celebrates 50th birthday
Also, medical lab moves to Doddridge Plaza to have more space, higher profile
By Andrea Jares
Caller-Times
All of the toasting going on at the Builders Association of Corpus Christi offices last week had nothing to do with the millennium.
The excitement had more to do with the organization marking 50 years as an advocate for Corpus Christi homebuilders.
That's as long as the ink on the North Atlantic Treaty Organization has been dry, the People's Republic of China has had a communist government and Zambonis have been smoothing ice rinks.
When the Builders Association was in its infancy, South Padre Island Drive was a small street known as Lexington Boulevard, said Jule Pels, local custom home builder and 1961 president of the association.
Homes have changed, too. They once were much smaller, mostly one-story buildings, said Dickson Clements, executive director of the Corpus Christi chapter. Color and designs have changes with fashions and tastes.
Now, roofs slope more to accommodate more storage space, kitchens keep growing and buyers want offices for their computer equipment. Technology has helped build different types of homes that are more energy efficient and made with better building materials.
The Corpus Christi chapter was incorporated by the Texas Secretary of State on Nov. 29, 1949, and has grown to 220 members today.
The Builders Association achieves most of its visibility through the annual Parade of Homes it has coordinated annually since 1955. At the first show, near Airline Road and South Alameda Street, homes were smaller and were needed to address the issue of housing for the postwar generation.
In 1993, the association produced the first Home Expo, an event focused on items to put in a home after it is already bought and built.
Some of the Builders Association's original members are still major players in the real estate scene. They are Stewart Title, San Jacinto Title, Central Power and Light and Swantner & Gordon Insurance Agency.
Through the years, the organization has been a voice for homebuilders on issues such as zoning regulations. The largest of these issues to hit the Builders Association agenda came last fall, with the Texas Insurance Commission adoption of the windstorm code.
Pels and other homebuilders say it threw the building industry on its ear, causing construction costs to rise.
As homes continue to embody the notion of the American Dream and numbers associated with their construction tend to have a reflection of the health of a community, the Builders Association will continue to have work to do.
Lab's new location
Dynacare Hermann Laboratory Services, a blood processing laboratory, is one of Doddridge Plaza shopping center's newest tenants. The company is moving from Gordon Street, which will give it more space and a more visible address, said Denise Hyden of Landlord Resources.
The new location at 3749 S. Alameda St. has 1,177 square feet of office space.
The owners are Dynacare Inc. and Hermann-Memorial Hospital. Dynacare also has locations in Kingsville, San Antonio, Weslaco, Brownsville, San Juan and Edinburg.
On Real Estate is published every other Tuesday in the business section. Business writer Andrea Jares can be reached at 886-3678 or by email at jaresa@caller.com.
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