SEVA design build

Suffolk News Herald

Suffolk Architects Building Their Business

By Lauren Wicks

Friday, June 8, 2007 9:21 PM CDT

For all the growing, expanding, planning and building that the city of Suffolk currently is experiencing, there is a statistic that might come as surprising in light of it all.

The city has only one architectural firm: McEntire Davis Architects, located on West Washington Street.

Cathy McEntire worked in architecture firms for 20 years before starting her own firm, McEntire Design, in Portsmouth in 1999. In 2005, she moved the firm to Suffolk after watching Portsmouth city officials make big business their No. 1 priority.

"Small businesses are the lifeblood of the economy anyway," McEntire said. "We weren't getting anywhere in Portsmouth, trying to get into a (new) building."

She said the city was too focused on recruiting bigger businesses capable of employing hundreds of workers. So, McEntire, who grew up in Driver, began looking into Suffolk and, in particular, the comprehensive plan for the city.

"We've been working in the area for 20 years and thought it was time to bring it to Suffolk," Davis said. "It's kind of a homecoming for me. We saw the planned growth and we want to be a part of that. City officials have been very good to us, very kind."

After a call to Elizabeth McCoury, downtown development coordinator for the city, who returned the call that same day with a list of possible office spaces, McEntire moved the firm to Suffolk.

"You would not believe the flack I got for moving the business to Suffolk," she said. "'Why are you doing that?' 'Your business will fail' and I said, 'You just watch.'" McEntire laughs now that those same architects are now advertising new Suffolk phone numbers.

After McEntire moved into the old Chamber of Commerce building on West Washington Street, Otis Davis came on board to work alongside her. By December of 2006, he was named partner and in January of 2007, the firm officially became McEntire Davis Architects.

Now, Davis and McEntire help to create restaurants, banks, gates and homes all across the Hampton Roads region. The duo doesn't cling to a "type" of architectural design, but instead embraces the needs of the client.

"Our stock answer is buildings," McEntire said whenever she is asked what their type is. "We don't have a type. (We have) a lot of different types of projects."

Now, the firm has more than 25 projects in the works, under construction or being designed. These projects are based in Virginia Beach, Norfolk, Windsor and all throughout the area, and some of their projects have boasted budgets of more than $30 million. This is quite a feat considering it is done without a major marketing or advertising campaign backing the business.

"Our marketing plan is we answer the phone and say 'McEntire Davis,'" McEntire said. "It's all word of mouth." However, as busy as the firm is, the business within the city still is limited.
"Unfortunately, 99 percent of our work is outside of Suffolk," McEntire said. "We want to do more. We're still new in town (but) we're doing big stuff in every other city."

McEntire and Davis cite the misperception of small business as a major factor in the hesitancy to use their services.

"'You're a small business, you're a room over the garage,'" McEntire joked. "You get more attention from a small firm than a big firm. (If you go to a big firm), you'll get one architect and one draftsman. There might be 60 people in the firm, but you get two people."

At the firm, both Davis and McEntire work with three others in production and have two employees for administrative duties. Plus, McEntire, Davis and McEntire's husband, Joe, own ArchiStructures, a Class A contracting, design and build company - a venture that allows for architecturally-managed construction projects.

"We've been very fortunate in our work and our workload," McEntire said.

Proving they are more than capable to handle the big projects, the firm has been subcontracted to work with the Norfolk Light Rail Project. McEntire Davis will be responsible for designing all of the buildings that go along the new transit route, including all the stops along the more than 7 miles of track.

"Norfolk will be the gauge of success or failure of (the Light Rail Project)," Davis said. "Either way, it's good to be on the front end of it."

Plus, the firm is keeping busy with banks, "Banks are cool; there is a bank where there was a Popeye's Chicken and you cannot tell," McEntire said

Condominiums and custom-made houses also are a company favorite.

"Residential architecture is probably the most gratifying type of architecture," Davis said. "It's the most fun. The house is the biggest investment you're ever going to invest in your life. You are dealing personally with your client. It's really cool to see something though an abstract mental thought to a physical structure, (but) the coolest thing is six months later, seven years later, they're still calling to tell you how much they like it."

The partners are very adamant that whether it be a gate, a deck or a new custom home, it is the client's vision and their wants that dictate the work. In essence, they get to make the homes and places people will spend their lives in. We think we have the coolest jobs in the world," McEntire said.

For more information, contact McEntire Davis Architects at 923-9800.
Lauren.wicks@suffolknewsherald.com

McEntire Design, PLLC, is a full service architectural firm with the capability to provide service for any size project. Being a small business, certified woman owned business, and HUBZone certified, they offer the diversity and certifications to accept any project, large or small while providing the personal attention expected from a small business.