Chicago-Based Contractor Opens 1st Florida Office In Tampa

TAMPA, FL — Nicholas & Associates, a full-service contractor providing clients comprehensive general contracting, construction management and design/build services, has announced the grand opening of its first office in Florida at 109 N. Brush St. in downtown Tampa.

Founded in 1978, the family-owned firm also serves as the construction management arm of Wingspan Development Group, the developer of two Class A rental buildings in Tampa’s North Hyde Park neighborhood — NICHE at North Hyde Park, a 251-unit building, and Jade at North Hyde Park, which is currently leasing its 192 luxury apartments.

Nicholas and Wingspan will use the Tampa office to serve its existing local clients and further expand its work in Central Florida. With a history of successful PK-12 education developments in the greater Chicago and Milwaukee areas, Nicholas also plans to bring its construction management, design/build and general contracting services to Florida’s PK-12 education market. Besides NICHE and Jade, Nicholas and Wingspan already has five additional sites in various stages of analysis, negotiation or purchase in Florida.

“Our new Tampa office will make it much easier for us to deliver our typical high-quality construction management services to our current roster of projects in Florida, while giving us an ideal location for further expansion,” said Anthony Hansen, director of marketing for Nicholas and its affiliated businesses, including Wingspan. “Tampa’s pace of job and population growth — the area saw a surge in relocations due to the pandemic and shows no signs of slowing — make it one of the hottest markets in the country right now for education, residential and commercial development.

Hansen and seven other team members have relocated to Tampa to staff the new office. Nicholas & Associates expects to rapidly expand in the market and add more staff, just as it has in its Chicago office, where it has doubled staff from 60 to 140 since 2019 and completed over $1.5 billion in projects since 2015.

Nicholas has modeled the interiors of its Tampa office, located in a former 1920s glass factory, to match the modern architecture and aesthetic of its Mount Prospect, Illinois, headquarters.

Founded in 2016, Wingspan initially focused on suburban Chicago multifamily developments and is expanding into Wisconsin and Florida multifamily and mixed-use projects.

Tampa led the state of Florida in private sector job growth in 2022, adding 68,300 new jobs," Hansen said. Total non-farm employment grew by 5.3 percent last year. And according to a cost-of-living index created by the Tampa Bay Economic Development Council, Tampa is projected to be more affordable than many other large metro areas including Atlanta, Denver, Phoenix, Dallas and Austin.

The Tampa metro area remains a popular relocation destination for companies, noted Hansen. The Tampa/St. Petersburg/Clearwater area added 40,000 people between 2020 and 2022, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. More job opportunities combined with the appeal of Tampa-St. Petersburg is expected to continue to attract new residents. Hansen noted these numbers will exponentially drive the need for additional construction in the areas of education and housing.

For more information about Nicholas & Associates, visit nicholasquality.com, and for more information about Wingspan Development Group, visit Wingspan Development Group.