by Chris Wilson

AKEA, Inc. and its partner J2 Engineering also held an open house and ribbon cutting at the new facility on September 18. Check out the following videos from the event (it was a windy day, so please forgive some of the sound difficulties):
Newberry Mayor John Glanzer welcomes AKEA & J2 Engineering to the community.

AKEA's Anthony Kwan & J2's Jose Morales open the new facility.

After building an impressive new “green” office facility in the Newberry

Commercial Park (25401 NW 8th Pl.), the engineering firm that helped with the project decided to move into the new building. Anthony Kwan Engineering Associates, Inc. (AKEA), a full-service architectural and engineering firm, moved into the facility a couple weeks ago from their former Willow Walk Business Center location. AKEA and its partner J2 Engineering held an open house on September 18, to show off its new building.

AKEA was founded by Anthony Kwan, a retired U.S. Air Force major and civil engineer, as a minority- and service disabled veteran-owned small business. The company does most of its work through government contracts, including jobs for the Defense Logistics Agency, the Department of Defense, the National Parks Service, the U.S. Air Force, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, U.S. Navy and the University of Florida. The company has done its work all around the world, including throughout Europe, the Bahamas and all over the United States.

After graduating from Texas A&M, Kwan spent his 20 years in the Air Force flying B-52s and doing civil engineering work. Kwan’s mother is of Mexican descent, his father is Chinese and he grew up in Texas.

AKEA’s staff includes civil, mechanical and electrical engineers, architects and plumbing experts. The company’s specialty is providing comprehensive engineering and environmental and industrial hygiene services.

As far as their new facility goes, AKEA and J2 Engineering, a Tampa-based construction company owned by José Morales, a friend of Kwan’s, were commissioned by the LNM Development Group, LLC, with the design and construction of an office building in Alachua County.  After looking throughout the area, it was determined that the Newberry Commercial Park would be the most ideal location.

AKEA designed the building following the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Green Building Rating System and J2 Engineering managed the construction of the facility.

LEED is the nationally accepted benchmark for the design, construction and operation of high performance green buildings. LEED gives building owners and operators the tools they need to have an immediate and measurable impact on their buildings’ performance. LEED promotes a whole-building approach to sustainability by recognizing performance in five key areas of human and environmental health: sustainable site development, water savings, energy efficiency, materials selection and indoor environmental quality.   

AKEA and J2 Engineering were so pleased with the facility that they have chosen to move their offices into the building.

The elements of AKEA’s headquarters that are most noticeable, in terms of its environmental efficiency, are the irrigation, which uses recirculated and collected rain water, its “zeroscape,” a low-maintenance landscaping done with native plants that does not require extra watering, and sensors in the office that make the lights go on when people enter the room and turn off when everybody leaves the room.

Kwan says it takes time  and a lot of work to have the building LEED-accredited, but AKEA’s facility should be accredited within a year. He says it will be one of the first commercial buildings in the country that earns the accreditation.

For more information about AKEA, Inc., visit http://www.akeainc.com or call 333-9694.