Pete Hallock, who co-founded the Prosser Hallock planning and engineering company in 1985, has been named regional manager of Tampa-based King Engineering Associates Inc.'s North Florida office. He started the position Tuesday.
Hallock had sold his ownership in Prosser Hallock in February 2010 and was recruited as a consultant to take over a project at JEA, the city's utility, to assist with its development services group.
Hallock, a licensed professional engineer in Florida and Georgia, had a two-year non-compete agreement with Prosser Hallock.
Hallock said he began a limited involvement with King starting July 1 to wind down his JEA work "so in October I would be able to jump in and rock 'n' roll."
King operates Florida offices in Tampa, Jacksonville, Miami and Sarasota and Texas offices in Austin and Dallas.
"My goal is to grow the office's portfolio of work and staff," he said. The office has about 10 employees but has been able to use services from other King operations.
Engineer Jennifer Harkleroad is the manager of engineering services and heads up business development.
Hallock said King has experienced a 60 percent increase in private-sector proposal requests and inquiries for engineering services.
Hallock said he understands the need for a balanced portfolio of public-sector and private-sector work. Private development dropped quickly in the recession.
He said multifamily housing began recovering, followed by single-family housing. The large warehousing, manufacturing, office and retail development hasn't picked up as much.
King Engineering's Jacksonville office is in Southside at 6500 Bowden Road. King came to town effective Jan. 1, 2002, when it bought Robinson Engineering Group from engineer Jim Robinson, who now is the Jacksonville director of public works.
During his 40-year career as a civil engineer, Hallock provided engineering services for Marsh Landing, Sawgrass Players Club and Palencia. Public project experience includes work with JEA, the Jacksonville Aviation Authority and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
Engineers are on the front lines of development plans, and Hallock said JEA has received a substantial increase in development review requests. He said there were 280 submittals, which are requests for review for housing developments of any size, in fiscal 2011 and 420 in 2012.
For fiscal 2013, which just ended, the number almost doubled to 800.
While much higher than the year before, he said the 2013 number remains well below the 2,000 in 2005 and 2006, the peak of development before the recession.
Before co-founding Prosser Hallock, Hallock worked with England, Thims & Miller and for Bessent, Hammack & Ruckman, which is now known as Arcadis.
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