News + Ideas

Sourced from Commercial Observer
by Nicholas Rizzi – December 5, 2023

Alex Casey found his passion for engineering at a young age, playing with Legos and always trying to build something as a kid. But he’s doing it on a much larger scale now.

The senior project manager at MGAC has his hands on several projects with the D.C. Department of General Services (DGS), recently wrapping up managing the construction of the $65 million John Lewis Elementary School in Ward 4, the first public school in the country to be considered net-zero for its energy consumption.

“That was a great learning opportunity,” Casey said. “The client was going through it for the first time. It was a whole host of lessons learned.”

And Casey quickly needed to use those lessons on another project.

One of the two other schools he’s working on for the DGS is the $90 million Truesdell Elementary School. The project consists of restoring a historic structure and adding a new property to it — and it also will be a net-zero building. “It has been designed from the jump to be laid out as efficiently as possible,” Casey said. “It will represent where we are heading for the next little while.”

But, first, he’s working on the $65 million modernization of the Dorothy I. Height Elementary School that’s set to come online for the next school year.

Through all these projects, Casey has to coordinate with the D.C. government and face the scrutiny of local media and community members, all while making sure the lights turn on in time for the school year.

“That’s the most unique part of what our portfolio is,” he said. “We’re always communicating and we’re always advertising and we’re always working with our clients.”

Casey graduated from Assumption University with a degree in physics and math and then the University of Notre Dame with a bachelor’s in structural civil engineering. The Massachusetts native landed a job at Clark Construction fresh out of college and left nearly five years ago to take a position at MGAC.

He lives in Arlington, Va., with his wife and their bluetick hound, and spends his free time golfing and going on ski trips with his family during the winter.