Meli Borrelli merges with SPGA Group

Real Estate Weekly, May 19, 1993

Meli Borrelli Associates, a full-service interior design/build firm, and SPGA Group Inc., an architectural and interior design firm, have merged to form SPGA/MBA, believed to be the only company offering architectural, design, engineering, construction, and project management services in-house.

The announcement was made by Rocky Meli and John Francis Borrelli, A.I.A., the founders of Meli Borrelli, and Sidney Philip Gilbert, F.A.I.A., the founder of SPGA Group Inc. and the owner of Walter M. Ballard & Associates, a 70-year-old specialist in architecture and interior design for the country club and hospitality industry. All three companies, which specialize in interior space design, are based in New York, and SPGA has an office in Moscow.

"In less than two years, Meli Borrelli Associates has experienced tremendous growth and rapid acceptance because its ability to control costs proved timely for clients in a recessionary era," said Meli. "Sidney Philip Gilbert, always a visionary, realized this concept was the wave of the future, and this merger with SPGA further broadens our reach with premier corporate clients."

SPGA/MBA is expected to be a powerful force in the architectural industry with over 100 employees and almost $200 million in construction volume. By bringing architecture back to its "builder" roots, Meli Borrelli Associates has demonstrated the value of its integrated services to Fortune 500 corporations.

Founded in 1991, Meli Borrelli has 86 employees and $120 million in construction volume. Through the design/build concept, which takes responsibility for every aspect of a project's architecture, design, budget, engineering and construction, and assumes associated liabilities, the firm has attracted 1.8 million square feet in projects. Its client roster includes Thomson Financial Services, Credit Suisse, Burlington Industries, Mattel Toys, Alitalia, John Hancock, General Reinsurance, Jefferson Insurance, CRT Services Inc., National Bank of Canada, and ING Bank.

Founded by Gilbert more than 26 years ago, SPGA Group Inc. was one of the first architectural firms to specialize in design of interior spaces. Its clients include Lazard Freres, The Conference Board, Parade Magazine, Paramount Communications, Warner Bros./DC Comics, Orion Pictures, Cosmair L'Oreal/Lancome, Wilhelmina, Loews Corporation, WNET 13, WWORFFV, Girl Scouts of the U.S.A. and the Flower Market in the South Bronx.

In 1985, Gilbert acquired Walter M. Ballard & Associates Ltd., a 70-year old firm that has designed more than 500 hospitality properties, including country clubs, some of the nation's most famous grand hotels, and ocean liner interiors. Together, SPGA and Ballard have 25 employees and over $60 million in construction volume.