Firm that recently expanded into Utica plans more growth

Just months after opening a satellite office in Utica, architecture and engineering-design firm CSArch has inked a new partnership deal that will fuel more growth at the Albany–based firm. CSArch finalized a partnership deal on Oct. 31 with Signal Hill Equity Partners, a Canadian middle-market private-equity firm that focuses on investing in regulated and essential-service businesses. The deal adds Signal Hill as an owner of CSArch, keeping the firm’s existing owners along with the firm’s name, employees, and corporate culture. “It’s a good time for CSArch,” Dan Woodside, company president, tells CNYBJ in an interview. The partnership makes the firm the first of what Signal Hill plans to be a nationwide platform of companies that provide similar as well as complementary services, he adds. What that means for CSArch is the creation of a network of experts that can work and grow together. That network will help expand the services the firm can offer to its existing clients, Woodside says, because CSArch will be able to reach out to other companies in the network when it needs their expertise. Those same companies can also reach out to CSArch. “The other piece is being able to grow into new markets as well,” he adds. CSArch has been open to opportunity for several years now, Woodside says, but none of the companies that have approached the firm were the right fit. With Signal Hill, all the pieces aligned. It was important that CSArch can continue to operate independently, Woodside notes. During the due-diligence process, he says the firm learned that Signal Hill has crafted a similar network in Canada with much success. “Nothing changes in terms of the overall management of the company,” he says. Woodside remains president while Rich Peckham remains CEO and Tom Ritzenthaler continues as VP. “It was obvious from our first conversation that CSArch would be key to our plans in the United States,” Signal Hill Managing Director Ahmed Abdel-Saheb said in a statement. “It has all the core traits we look for in private companies that can grow into truly exceptional businesses. I look forward to working alongside the CSArch team as we build on their well-earned reputation, and Signal Hill’s 30 years of collective experience, investing in the architecture, engineering, and consulting sector of the U.S.” CSArch started its growth initiative earlier this year when it opened a satellite office in August in Utica. That office will be headquarters for the company’s growth across central New York, Woodside says. “We’ve already done a lot of work at Binghamton University,” he notes. The Syracuse area is ripe with opportunity as Micron moves forward with plans to build in that area. With strong roots in the education sector, Woodside says CSArch has naturally transitioned into work in advanced manufacturing as colleges seek to add workforce-training facilities to serve that growing industry as well as designing STEAM spaces. “That’s our natural fit into the manufacturing world,” Woodside says. Some of the CSArch projects of note include Binghamton University’s 84,000-square-foot baseball stadium and field house, a $106.5 million capital-improvement project for the City School District of New Rochelle, and the transformation of the former Albany High School into the University of Albany’s College of Nanotechnology, Science, and Engineering. As the first company to under Signal Hill Fund IV, CSArch also gets to play a guiding role going forward. “We get to shape what other companies become part of the platform,” Woodside says. CSArch currently has 70 employees across its locations in Albany, Newburgh, and Utica, but Woodside expects that number to grow as the network builds momentum. Founded in 1991, the architecture, engineering, and construction-management firm specializes in K-12, higher education, civic, corporate, and advanced-technology facilities. Signal Hill Equity Partners, which has raised more than $500 million in long-term capital, has U.S. offices in Washington, D.C.