Gilbane, Inc. (Gilbane) is a national construction and real estate development firm. It is the parent organization of Gilbane Building Company and Gilbane Development Company. Gilbane, Inc. is a sixth-generation, family-owned business.

History

Founding and early history

Gilbane has its roots to 1870 when founder William H. Gilbane started a carpentry and general contracting firm. His brother Thomas Gilbane joined him and the officially formed William Gilbane and Brother in 1883. The company first focused on building homes and later expanded to churches, hospitals and other buildings. Some of the earlier buildings they constructed include the Roger Williams Park Museum of Natural History and Planetarium and the Holy Name Church. Despite a fire destroying the company headquarters in 1897, Gilbane continued in business and in 1900 constructed a home for then

Brown University Brown University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Providence, Rhode Island, United States. It is the List of colonial colleges, seventh-oldest institution of higher education in the US, founded in 1764 as the ' ...

president William Faunce. The construction established a relationship with the university by where Gilbane would later build an administrative building and the Brunonia Hall dormitory. By 1900, it employed more than 200 people. Gilbane was officially incorporated as Gilbane Building Company in 1908. William H. Gilbane’s sons, William J. Gilbane and Thomas F. Gilbane, joined the company as president and vice president in the late 1930s and in 1943 the company was awarded the Army-Navy “E” Award by Under-Secretary of the Navy,

James Forrestal James Vincent Forrestal (February 15, 1892 – May 22, 1949) was the last Cabinet (government), cabinet-level United States Secretary of the Navy and the first United States Secretary of Defense. Forrestal came from a very strict middle-cla ...

. Gilbane was involved with the construction of the

1964 New York World's Fair The 1964 New York World's Fair (also known as the 1964–1965 New York World's Fair) was an world's fair, international exposition at Flushing Meadows–Corona Park in Queens, New York City, United States. The fair included exhibitions, activ ...

, mainly the IBM Corporation Pavilion, the India Pavilion, the Hawaii Pavilion and the New England States Pavilion. In 1970, Gilbane formed Gilbane Development Company, a sister company for real estate development, financing, construction, operations and management.

2010 to present

In 2010, Gilbane acquired two separate companies: Innovative Technical Solutions, Inc. (ITSI), a California-based engineering and construction company on August 4, and W.G. Mills Inc., a construction management company based in Florida on November 15. In 2014, William J. Gilbane Jr. became vice chair and director of Gilbane, Inc. In 2015, Gilbane Building Company named Michael McKelvy its president and chief operating officer. McKelvy was appointed CEO in 2016, succeeding Thomas F. Gilbane Jr., who remained at the company as chairman. In 2016, Gilbane was named one of the top corporate charitable contributors by the Boston Business Journal. In 2018, Gilbane completed improvements to

Fenway Park Fenway Park is a ballpark located in Boston, Massachusetts, less than one mile from Kenmore Square. Since 1912, it has been the home field of Major League Baseball's (MLB) Boston Red Sox. While the stadium was built in 1912, it was substantia ...

. In 2020, William J. Gilbane III was named to the Gilbane Inc. board of directors. In 2022, fifth-generation Gilbane family members, Daniel M. Gilbane and Paul J. Choquette III, were named to new leadership positions with the company with Gilbane named as Managing Director and President and Choquette as Regional President. As of 2024, Gilbane has more than 45 offices within the United States and internationally. In 2024, Adam Jelen assumed the role of President and CEO of Gilbane Building Company. Notable projects from Gilbane Inc.'s subsidiary, Gilbane Building Company, include the

, the

1980 Winter Olympics The 1980 Winter Olympics, officially the XIII Olympic Winter Games and also known as Lake Placid 1980, were an international multi-sport event held from February 13 to 24, 1980, in Lake Placid, New York, United States. Lake Placid was elected ...

facilities in

Lake Placid, New York Lake Placid is a Administrative divisions of New York#Village, village in the Adirondack Mountains in Essex County, New York, Essex County, New York (state), New York, United States. In 2020, its population was 2,205. The village of Lake Placid ...

, the

Vietnam Veterans Memorial The Vietnam Veterans Memorial, commonly called the Vietnam Memorial, is a U.S. national memorial in Washington, D.C., honoring service members of the U.S. armed forces who served in the Vietnam War. The site is dominated by two black granit ...

and the

National Air and Space Museum The National Air and Space Museum (NASM) of the Smithsonian Institution is a museum in Washington, D.C., in the United States, dedicated to history of aviation, human flight and space exploration. Established in 1946 as the National Air Museum, ...

Washington D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

, and the

clubhouse improvements in

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

. Notable projects of Gilbane’s other subsidiary, Gilbane Development Company, include facilities in Campustown for

Iowa State University Iowa State University of Science and Technology (Iowa State University, Iowa State, or ISU) is a Public university, public land-grant university, land-grant research university in Ames, Iowa, United States. Founded in 1858 as the Iowa Agricult ...

students and the first “purpose-built” student housing, 257 Thayer, in Providence, Rhode Island.

Partial list of projects

References

{{reflist, 2 Companies based in Providence, Rhode Island Real estate companies of the United States Privately held companies of the United States Construction and civil engineering companies of the United States Companies established in 1870 1870 establishments in Rhode Island 1870 establishments in the United States Family-owned companies of the United States