Hearn, Nolan merge with Sacramento contractor

Thursday, August 26, 2010, 7:01 pm

By Jeff Quackenbush, Business Journal Staff Reporter

VACAVILLE — Napa Pacific Inc., known as commercial general contractors Hearn Construction and Nolan Construction, has merged with Sacramento-based Tricorp Construction to form Tricorp/Hearn.

Fred Hearn, who founded Hearn in 1978 and acquired custom-home and winery specialist James Nolan Construction of St. Helena in 2006, inked a deal with Tricorp principals Steve Hunter, Ken Cohen and Tony Moayed to combine the resources of both companies.

The combined company will pick up Hearn’s and Nolan’s expertise in hospitality, government, health care, education, multifamily residential, retail, industrial and winery construction and Tricorp’s experience in public and higher-education projects, especially ones using private-public partnerships, lease-leaseback and other complex public project contracting configurations.

“I have been looking forward to scaling back my day-to-day management responsibilities, and this merger provides me with the perfect opportunity to focus more of my attention on our valued clients that we have developed over the years,” Mr. Hearn said in a statement.

Mr. Hearn will move into a marketing role, and Hearn’s offices in Vacaville and Southern California will remain open. An undetermined number of administrative positions will be relocating to Tricorp’s Sacramento office, according to Hearn spokeswoman Jamie Healer.

Hearn Chief Operations Officer Dave Bruss will be vice president of estimating and business development for Tricorp/Hearn. Mr. Cohen, Tricorp vice president, still will oversee field operations, according to the announcement. Mr. Hunter remains president. Mr. Moayed, currently chief executive officer, will “carry out the company’s strategic plan.”

The Tricorp/Hearn combination follows the merger of two of the North Bay’s largest general engineering contractors — Ghilotti Construction of Santa Rosa and North Bay Construction of Petaluma — earlier this summer. One of the stated motivations for that deal was North Bay Construction founder John Barella’s desire to devote more time to real estate development projects, in addition to allowing the company to survive in a significantly contracted construction environment.

Similarly, Mr. Hearn would like his construction companies to “maintain consistent growth for many years to come,” according to the statement. Also he wants devote more time to his Northern California commercial development projects in the works and his 500-case-a-year Oakville wine brand, according to Ms. Healer.