“JE Dunn is very excited to work alongside Paris Baguette to further their mission of opening 1,000 bakery cafes in the United States by 2030,” said Krizia Diaz, JE Dunn’s Food & Beverage Market Leader. “Bringing manufacturing capabilities stateside is key to that mission. As design-builder, we will be able to work closely and provide a customized solution unique to Paris Baguette’s needs. This project is also integral to JE Dunn’s continued growth in the food & beverage space.”

The fast-growing bakery brand, owned by SPC Group from South Korea, has 210 stores already open across North America, including 57 new locations added in 2024 alone. Paris Baguette hired general contractor JE Dunn and design partner CRB to build a 267,000 square-foot facility that will reduce the chain’s reliance on frozen dough shipped from Korea or China. Having localized production operations set up on 37 acres south of the Dallas-Fort Worth metro will ensure fresher baked goods, faster distribution, and the ability to meet growing demand in North America.

“Today marks more than the start of construction — it’s the foundation of Paris Baguette’s future in the United States,” Paris Baguette North America CEO Darren Tipton said. “With this $200M-plus facility in Burleson, Texas, we’re not just building walls and machinery; we’re building momentum, innovation and the ability to bring heart, joy and nourishment to even more communities across North America. This is a milestone on our journey to 1,000 cafés by 2030 — and a testament to the passion, dedication and vision of our team.”

“Partnering with Paris Baguette and JE Dunn on this facility is a tremendous opportunity to bring CRB’s food and beverage design expertise to an important project that will localize production and improve speed to market,” said Tom Rychlewski, CRB’s Vice President of Food & Beverage. “By integrating efficient process flows, advanced food safety design, and scalable infrastructure, JE Dunn and CRB are designing and building a plant that will support Paris Baguette’s operational goals from day one and adapt to future demand with speed and certainty.”

JE Dunn and CRB will work together with other food and beverage subject matter experts to further Paris Baguette’s mission to serve smiles daily. The new manufacturing facility is expected to be completed in the summer of 2027.

The post JE Dunn Construction, CRB break ground on first Paris Baguette manufacturing facility in U.S. first appeared on JE Dunn Construction.

A geographically central location, easy access to major airport hubs, and land supply paired with the state’s economic incentives are helping create a robust manufacturing ecosystem.

So how should the construction industry shift to support this need?

Kyle Masters, Senior Vice President at JE Dunn Construction, recently shared his insights on best practices for manufacturing clients and developers preparing for their next project.

#1. National Expertise Meets Local Insight

For complex, technical projects, national experts are indispensable.

“We have national teammates who are absolute experts in the nuance, complexity, and technical operational requirements of these facilities,” said Masters. “They must be engaged in these projects. There’s really no way around it.”

These teams bring a deep understanding of specialized systems, regulatory environments across different states, and innovative solutions tailored to advanced industries.

While national expertise helps manage a large project’s intricate technical details, a strong local team provides critical on-the-ground advantages. Local knowledge ensures smooth navigation of permits, zoning, and compliance with specific regional building codes, which can vary significantly.

“At a local level, we hold strong, longstanding relationships with community leaders and the local trade partner market,” he added.  “We understand all the authorities having jurisdiction in regulatory requirements.

#2. The Power of Early Engagement

For clients worried about speed to market, engage a contractor as early as possible in the project lifecycle.

As global companies expand into the United States, they bring their own set of designs and expectations, which typically need revision to meet the United States’ safety, ADA, and environmental regulations and permitting requirements.

“With foreign direct investment, many of these manufacturing plants have already been thoroughly designed overseas. But you can’t necessarily adapt that to the local U.S. market because our building codes are completely different,” Masters said

An early-engaged contractor can provide immediate guidance on critical items – site selection, constructability issues, material procurement, and scheduling – to prevent costly redesigns and delays long before work starts on the site.

#3. Better Guarantees with Self-Perform

Beyond early engagement, a contractor’s in-house capabilities can also set projects up for success.

“Self-perform allows us to use our own labor force to do concrete, steel, building automation, low voltage integration. We’re doing that on many of our manufacturing projects,” said Masters.

Contractors with self-perform capabilities provide the added benefit of being able to directly control quality, safety expectations, and procedures. Self-perform also helps provide a more stable workforce environment despite national labor shortages in the construction industry.

A company like JE Dunn can better manage and deliver on schedule when directly managing more of the work, particularly on projects that have incredibly fast schedules and complex designs.

#4. Achieving Cost

For clients concerned about budget certainty amidst a sometimes-volatile economic climate, make sure to partner with a trusted contractor with a track record of proactive, transparent communication.

” So many of the economic conditions we’re facing are relative to tariffs and ongoing escalation,” he said. “While we can’t change market conditions, we can be proactive and find ways to mitigate those external factors as much as possible.”

At JE Dunn, procurement team members that specialize in understanding supply chain and long lead items work to find clients the best solutions for mitigating impacts to costs and availability of material and equipment. Open communication of this information allows clients to make informed decisions while keeping the project in line with their budget.

“Your contractor should create an environment where everyone is supporting each other in creating solutions that are right for all team members while meeting the client’s goals,” Masters added.

To learn more about JE Dunn’s manufacturing work in Dallas and nationwide, visit https://jedunn.com/markets/industrial-manufacturing/

The post Manufacturing Boom in Dallas: How Construction is Keeping Pace first appeared on JE Dunn Construction.

Founded in 1976, The Advocacy Center is dedicated to promoting the healing of children and crime victims through advocacy, collaboration, prevention, and treatment.

“We are so thrilled and honored to receive this grant from JE Dunn Construction,” said Executive Director Aleigh Ascherl. “We are looking at significant grant budget reductions as we plan and budget for our next year, and JE Dunn has truly stood in that gap in funding for us.”

The Waco-based nonprofit will use the donation for their violence prevention programming. This initiative aims to reduce sexual violence by equipping K-12 students across six Texas counties with the tools to build healthy relationships and develop critical social-emotional skills through school-based group sessions and community outreach.

“Our Prevention and Education Department funding has been impacted the most, and this grant from JE Dunn will allow them to keep doing the important work they are doing in our schools, neighborhoods, and communities,” Ascherl added. “Educating young people, specifically, about healthy relationships creates healthier and safer communities, and we are so grateful JE Dunn is helping us continue towards that goal.”

The donation will support curriculum delivery, community engagement, and paid internships for local high school students, promoting both safety and economic opportunity.

The grant is part of JE Dunn’s Cornerstone Campaign, which expands the company’s existing annual giving by donating an additional $1 million+ each year. Charities across the United States were selected by employees and vetted by JE Dunn’s Community Impact team and national Cornerstone Committee.

JE Dunn employees chose “Access to safe and supportive spaces for kids in need” as the focus for the 2025 Cornerstone Campaign.

“We are thrilled to launch this new, employee-driven philanthropic strategy as part of our Community Impact. Our employees resoundingly chose to support organizations that create safe and supportive environments for kids in need,” said Nancy Phelps, JE Dunn Community Impact Director. “What an incredible honor to partner with our local communities in shaping a brighter future for the next generation.”

JE Dunn and its employees work to support the creation of safe spaces like community centers and youth clubs where children can socialize, develop, and engage in extracurricular activities. These efforts aim to reduce bullying and youth violence while fostering mental well-being and personal growth.

About The Advocacy Center

The Advocacy Center for Crime Victims and Children serves six central Texas counties by providing comprehensive services to victims of violent crime and child abuse and their families while creatively working to prevent those crimes from happening. Through advocacy, collaboration, counseling, and education, the center works to create true and lasting change to end violence and abuse. For nearly 50 years, the organization has been a trusted resource in Central Texas.

The post Waco Nonprofit Receives $50,000 Donation from JE Dunn Construction first appeared on JE Dunn Construction.

Founded in 2022 by Lorna Reddicks and Austin Bowyer, A-SOL’s mission is to empower youth in under-resourced communities through faith-based, comprehensive after-school programming.

Building on this foundation, the organization is becoming the first national affiliate of By The Hand Club For Kids, an after-school program in Chicago. This key partnership will expand A-SOL’s impact by enabling them to launch a comprehensive elementary-age literacy intervention program for Dallas students reading below grade level.

“This transformative gift from JE Dunn comes at a pivotal moment for our organization,” said Austin Bowyer, CEO. “South Dallas students facing literacy challenges need safe, supportive environments where they can grow academically, physically, and spiritually. With this generous investment, we’ll be able to welcome our first cohort of elementary students this fall and begin changing the trajectory of their lives. We’re profoundly grateful for partners who share our vision of creating opportunities for children to thrive.”

The grant is part of JE Dunn’s Cornerstone Campaign, which expands the company’s existing annual giving by donating an additional $1 million+ each year. Charities across the United States are selected by employees and vetted by JE Dunn’s Community Impact team and national Cornerstone Committee.

JE Dunn employees chose “Access to safe and supportive spaces for kids in need” as the focus for the 2025 Cornerstone Campaign.

“We are thrilled to launch this new, employee-driven philanthropic strategy as part of our Community Impact. Our employees resoundingly chose to support organizations that create safe and supportive environments for kids in need,” said Nancy Phelps, JE Dunn Community Impact Director. “What an incredible honor to partner with our local communities in shaping a brighter future for the next generation.”

JE Dunn and its employees will work to support the creation of safe spaces like community centers and youth clubs where children can socialize, develop, and engage in extracurricular activities. These efforts aim to reduce bullying and youth violence while fostering mental well-being and personal growth.

The post Dallas Nonprofit Receives $100,000 Donation from JE Dunn Construction first appeared on JE Dunn Construction.

Market Drivers

It’s a unique situation we are seeing in this part of the United States, and the nuances that created this amount of aviation construction include population growth, connectivity, and airport relationships with its city and local economy.

Population Growth

Austin-Bergstrom International Airport (AUS) is a prime example of airport capacity in relation to population growth. In May of 2023, Austin reached the top 10 most populous cities by the U.S. Census Bureau, which included Dallas, Houston, and San Antonio. In 2022, AUS’ enplanements, or passengers that boarded at the airport, was 10.5 million. This is an increase of 55% compared to 2021.

Just recently at the Design-Build Institute of America (DBIA)-SW Regional Conference AUS leaders stated that the airport’s 2040 master plan will realistically hit in 2030. Right now, the airport is operating outside of its capacity.

Connectivity

Where AUS is growing its capacity and role in aviation on a local and national level, Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport has been operating on a national and international level for decades. For the second year in a row, DFW was ranked the second busiest airport in the world, with 73+ million passengers in 2022.

Its need for construction isn’t tied to the growth of its surrounding cities – at least not how it was in its early years. Rather, the demand comes from being a major hub for airlines and connectivity to other airports. About 60% of its traffic connects to another flight. Modernization, efficiency, and traveler experience are all goals for its expansion and continued reputation in the aviation market.

Capacity

The explosion of aviation work in Texas and parts of Oklahoma does include a middle ground, where airports are naturally growing with their general areas and in response to future capacity needs. This includes San Antonio International Airport and Tulsa International Airport. These individual programs are in the billions of dollars and include large, complex work that will be managed and constructed over several years.

In comparison to AUS enplanements, Tulsa and San Antonio, have a more moderate trend – although still indicating increase in travel and passenger numbers for the future.

Cargo Services

Beyond travel, airports are building capacity for additional cargo services. This focus happened during the pandemic when demand for fast delivery of essential and non-essential goods exploded.

That level of demand has come down with recent global impacts, fuel prices, supply chain bottlenecks, and the ease of port congestion. But there still exists a need for goods to be delivered securely, fast, and in large quantities.

Boeing released its report on air cargo through 2040 and projects that North America will average a 4.3% increase over the next decade. This will be led by e-commerce and a rise in domestic manufacturing.

This is the type of work AUS is invested in, where air cargo totaled more than 310+ million pounds in 2022, up almost 30 percent from 2021. In the last year, JE Dunn completed excavation and foundational work for AUS’ new 99,000 square foot cargo warehouse. This was a fast-track design and construction effort to get the facility up and running as soon as possible.

This aviation boom will lead to incredible opportunities for firms in the AEC industry but will bring impacts to the following:

• Trade partner and overall skilled worker capacity
• Opportunities for Minority, Women, Small, and Disadvantaged firms that meet their current capabilities while helping them build work capacity and experience
• Competition for workforce, labor, and retention with other large projects and multi-year projects in the the data center, manufacturing, government and municipal markets

This is top of mind for JE Dunn as we look to purse work in the aviation sector. Aviation will continues to be a leading market for our South Central region and it’s our responsibility to deliver projects that are successful, provide an excellent experience, and support the growth of our industry for the future.

The post The Aviation Boom first appeared on JE Dunn Construction.

In addition to the 888 luxury guestrooms, the convention center includes over 123,000 square feet of ballrooms, spanning over a Grand Ballroom, Mid Ballroom, and Small Ballroom, 62,000 square feet of meeting spaces, resort-style amenities, including a resort pool with 100-seat pool bar, beach/splash pad, cabanas, spa, saloon, and fitness center. The project includes 22,850 square feet of commercial kitchen space over 3-stories with capabilities of servicing 25,000 guests. The facility is connected directly to a 7-level, 1,500-car parking garage that houses the primary loading docks for the convention center, also built by JE Dunn.

The post Loews Hotel and Convention Center first appeared on JE Dunn Construction.