Westwood Contractors, Inc. has established a new East Coast Division Office located in Raleigh, NC. This office will complement the company's existing headquarters location in Fort Worth, TX and its West Coast Division Office located in Federal Way, WA. This additional location will further enhance Westwood's ability to service its national clientele in the retail and hospitality industries, particularly those with significant development activities on the East Coast. As in its other locations the Raleigh office will offer a full array of construction management services to its retail and hospitality clients including preliminary cost estimates, value engineering analysis, permitting services, project management, multiple location roll-out program management, brand repositioning surveys and property improvement plan execution. Robert D. Benda, President of Westwood stated "We are very excited about the opportunity to increase our ability to serve our client's East Coast construction needs through the opening of this new facility. This new office represents our long term commitment to be responsive to our customer's and to grow in a manner consistent with the principals of quality and sustainability which have always been a cornerstone of our business philosophy."
Additionally, Westwood has announced the appointment of Robert Janni as Division Manager for the Raleigh office. Prior to joining Westwood, Mr. Janni served as Senior Project Manager of Design & Construction for MeriStar Hotels & Resorts. He has extensive experience in hospitality and retail construction management both on the owner and contractor sides of the business. Mr. Janni holds a B.Sc. degree in Architecture from the University of Texas and a Master of Architecture degree from Harvard University Graduate School of Design. In his new capacity Mr. Janni will direct all operations of the Raleigh office, including estimating, project management and customer service. Mr. Janni stated "I look forward to the challenge of providing the same level of quality service for which Westwood has become known to the clients of our office. I
believe the timing is particularly good for the expansion of Westwood's services, especially in the hospitality industry where the market has put such a premium on cost effective renovations and brand repositioning. I believe our clients can benefit from my experience on the owner side of the business and the perspective which it has given me of the importance of effective coordination of the design, construction and purchasing activities to their overall strategic plan."
Westwood's client list includes specialty and department store retailers such as Abercrombie & Fitch, Banana Republic, Belks, Eddie Bauer, Gap, The Container Store, The Disney Store and Saks. Hospitality projects have included the Hampton Inn, Hilton, Holiday Inn and Marriott brands.

SOURCE Westwood Contractors, Inc.
-0- 07/16/2001
/CONTACT: Guy Thornberg, Director-Customer Relations of Westwood Contractors, Inc., +1-817-877-3800, ext. 135, or guyt@westwoodcontractors.com/
/Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/19981208/DATU017
PRN Photo Desk, 888-776-6555 or 212-782-2840/
/Web site: http://www.westwoodcontractors.com /