Photo: PixabayBrightView’s Sports Turf Division has been named Major League Baseball’s (MLB) official field consultant.
BrightView Sports Turf has worked with the MLB for multiple years as a consultant for field design and construction for games outside the league’s 30 existing ballparks. This includes a two-game series at Puerto Rico’s Bithorn Stadium.
“Our role as field consultant to Major League Baseball covers various functions for the many initiatives the Commissioner’s office manages both domestically and internationally,” says Murray Cook, president of BrightView Sports Turf. “The core of our involvement is renovating and managing fields for international events, which can also include designing and coordinating construction projects.”
Aside from field development initiatives, BrightView has also performed a number of site and ballpark reviews. The company has worked closely with MLB’s international department to evaluate sites seeking to host games, including the Olympic Games and Olympic qualifying tournaments.
“Through our relationship with BrightView and Murray Cook, Major League Baseball has expanded our efforts to play games in different parts of the world on a big league caliber baseball fields. That relationship will continue this summer when we work with Murray and his team on bringing MLB games to London for the first time ever.”
Texas schools install 340,000 square feet of Porous Pave XL
The North East Independent School District (NEISD) in San Antonio, Texas, used Porous Pave to create Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) compliant walking tracks for 44 elementary schools.
Photo: Porous PaveThe 9-feet-wide, 675-feet-long walking tracks provide an outdoor recreation source for both the schools and nearby neighborhoods. Porous Pave XL uses 50 percent recycled rubber chips and 50 percent aggregate mixed with a liquid binder on site.
“The project required a surface with superior flexibility so that serviceability cracks, caused by horizontal or vertical movements of the underlying soils due to expansion and contraction, would not create problems,” says Jorge Cabello, senior director, construction manager, NEISD. “In addition, we needed a workable and proven material that we could use both to construct new walking tracks and to overlay existing asphalt tracks which had excessive ‘alligator’ cracking.”
The new 37 walking tracks have a two-inch Porous Pave surface on top of a six-inch base of #57 crushed stone with an underlying geogrid system installed over the substrate. Six-inch header curbs were integrated into the tracks. Contractors repaired seven previously installed tracks with severe cracking by pouring a two-inch layer of Porous Pave over the asphalt.
R.L. Rohde General Contracting, Inc., based in Adkins, Texas, and Jerdon Enterprise, L.P., based in Stafford, Texas, were the primary contractors on the two-year paving project
“All contractors bidding on the project were required to attend an on-site training class and get certified as an installer,” says Randy Rohde, project manager for R.L. Rohde. “This was our first time using Porous Pave. Once we figured out how to scale up the installation process, we could install each track in a day.”
Arborjet & Ecologel forms new turf product sales division
Rebecca KnappArborjet and Ecologel have announced it is forming a new Turf Products Sales Division which will include three new hires.
“This expansion will broaden the expert resources both companies already have and allow Arborjet & Ecologel to significantly enhance their position in the marketplace, making a direct impact on turf science, sales and distribution across the country,” says Mark Andrews, Arborjet’s director of commercial sales.
Eric SteffensenRebecca Knapp joins the company with 15 years of experience in the industry, having worked for Major League Baseball and Major League soccer teams. Prior to her time in professional sports turf, she worked for a lawn care operator as an account manager and contact administrator.
Knapp has a degree in turfgrass science from Penn State University. She will support Arborjet and Ecologel products in the golf, sports turf and nursery markets; develop new business; and provide technical knowledge and support across the western region covering Arizona, Southern California and Nevada.
Carin PrechtlFellow new hire Eric Steffensen will be responsible for the Southeast region of the country expanding sales and distribution of turf products. He also has a degree in turfgrass science from Penn State. He has 20 years of experience in the industry, including operating his own residential turf business.
The third hire Carin Prechtl will serve as the regional sales manager for the Hawaiian Islands. She has a bachelor’s degree in landscape architecture from the University of Delaware. She has worked as a nursery manager and a landscape designer.
Pine Hall Brick promotes Doug Rose
Industry veteran Doug Rose has been promoted to the new position of paver sales manager for Pine Hall Brick Company.
Doug RoseTed Corvey, Pine Hall Brick’s vice president of sales and marketing says Rose is well-qualified for this leadership role in the growing market of pavers.
“We are fortunate to have a person with Doug’s experience in the industry to lead this important part of our business,” says Corvey. “In segmental paving, Doug has been a paving contractor, paver territory manager for a large concrete paver manufacturer, commercial paver sales manager for one of our best distributors and co-owner of a hardscape distributorship in New Jersey.”
Rose is a multi-level ICPI Certified Installer. He is also an active member of the Brick Industry Association’s Landscape and Paving Council, which he joined in 2004. He started working for Pine Hall Brick in 2015, overseeing paver sales and marketing in a 27-state territory in the northern U.S.
Central Turf & Irrigation named distributor for new product line
Wholesale distributor of irrigation and landscape supplies Central Turf & Irrigation Supply has been named an authorized distributor of Baseline Irrigation Control Solutions.
Central will sell Baseline’s products across its 46 locations. These products include soil moisture sensors and two-wire technologies, remote control platforms and intelligent-irrigation controllers.
“Our goal is to help our customers grow their businesses with sophisticated solutions across irrigation, landscape and more,” says Bernardo Luciano, president of Central Turf & Irrigation Supply, Inc. “With the addition of Baseline to our product offerings, we continue to offer the most innovative components being used with today’s new irrigation systems. We’re proud that our in-house specialists will be able to make this new technology accessible for a larger number of customers.”
Central has an IA certified design team that can help irrigation contractors and designers with creating water-efficient irrigation plans for projects of all sizes.
Apex by Fecon names representatives for the Southeast
Apex by Fecon has appointed Earth & Turf Reps as their channel partner in the Southeastern U.S. territory. Based in West Columbia, South Carolina, Earth & Turf Reps provides a range of erosion control products to customers in Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Mississippi, Tennessee, Louisiana and Florida.
“We’re excited to partner with the ETR team in the Southeastern US,” says John Imm, Apex by Fecon director of sales. “They offer their customers the best equipment as well as education and resources to help them attain the highest profit on each project, especially those in harsh environments with abrasive mixes where the Apex excels.”
