PrintPrintAn architectural firm with an office in North Charleston will be merging its operations with another firm headquartered in the Upstate. Pazdan-Smith Group of Greenville and McMillan Smith & Partners of Spartanburg said they will join forces under the name McMillan Pazdan Smith on Sept. 30. They will become the second-largest architectural group in the state, with offices in Spartanburg, Greenville and North Charleston.
By James T. Hammond
jhammond@scbiznews.com
Published Aug. 21, 2009
Two of the Upstate’s leading architectural firms are merging to form the largest such group in the Upstate and the second-largest statewide.
Pazdan-Smith Group of Greenville and McMillan Smith & Partners of Spartanburg said they will be joining forces under the name McMillan Pazdan Smith on Sept. 30.
The new firm will maintain the former McMillan Smith office at the Navy Yard at Noisette in North Charleston, where six architects are currently working. Their projects include a new church and school for Northwood Assembly.
The combined group will have 40 architects and 110 employees, with more than 100 active projects at a total construction value of more than $600 million.
In the Upstate, some of the firms’ signature buildings have been the Hubbell Lighting building on Interstate 85 and Lee Hall, home of Clemson University’s School of Architecture. They are currently developing a football stadium at the University of Richmond, and they recently finished the Children’s Museum of the Upstate in Greenville.
Pazdan-Smith has maintained an active practice in retail buildings for companies such as Hobby Lobby, Borders and Atlanta Bread Co. Expansion is a big motivating force for the firms.
“We’re interested in growing into Western North Carolina and Georgia,” said Joe Pazdan.
Another area of specialty for both firms has been medical buildings. Pazdan-Smith has long-standing ties with AnMed Health in Anderson, and McMillan Smith has worked for Spartanburg Regional Medical System.
The combined firms will complement each other’s expertise in the health field, said Brad Smith, principal with Pazdan-Smith.
Talks about a merger have been going on for several years, the architects said, and the slowdown in business caused by the recession allowed them time to move the talks to fruition.
“We see this as an excellent opportunity to take advantage of the future growing economy to create a stronger firm and to grow our market share and reach throughout the region,” Pazdan said. “We are probably known more as a Greenville firm while McMillan Smith has its roots in Spartanburg and Charleston, when, in fact, we collectively have projects reaching from Virginia to Georgia.”
McMillan Smith & Partners is headquartered in Spartanburg. The firm also has offices in Greenville and North Charleston. Pazdan-Smith Group is located in downtown Greenville. The new firm’s Greenville operations will be combined in that office.
“We are not expecting to lose any employee positions during the transition, and in fact, we feel that once the current economic climate turns around, we will be poised for growth within the company,” said Brad Smith, principal at Pazdan-Smith Group. “We believe that McMillan Pazdan Smith will be more competitive on a regional and national basis, which should also help us to recruit even more top-level talent to the Upstate.”
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