James T. Tim Welsh, president of Spokane-based Garco Construction Inc., has bought the concrete-paving assets of the former Acme Materials & Construction Co., of Spokane, from CPM Development Corp. and has formed a new company here called Acme Concrete Paving Inc.


The new company will bid on concrete-paving projects of all sizes throughout the Pacific Northwest and expects to employ as many as 80 people during peak seasonal periods, Welsh says. Terms of the asset purchase werent disclosed.


We felt it gave us some lateral movement for our people (at Garco Construction) to grow, and were real excited about it, he says. We do a lot of flat concrete work in conjunction with the jobs we do, so were comfortable with it. Garco Construction does a lot of work in different states, so that fits.


Concrete paving is an alternative to asphalt paving and is used extensively in freeways, high-traffic urban intersections, and airport runways.


Garco Construction, which Welsh started in 1978, is one of Spokanes largest general contractors. It employs more than 220 people and had contract revenue of more than $85 million last year.


Some of the large projects it currently is working on include the new $26.3 million Central Valley High School; the $14 million McEuen Terrace office-and-condominium tower in Coeur dAlene; the $30 million Benton County Justice Center in Kennewick, Wash.; and the $19 million Eastmont Junior High School in East Wenatchee, Wash.


About three years ago, it began offering development services through a new affiliate company called Garco Development Services.


CPM Development is the Spokane-based holding company for Inland Asphalt Co. and Central Pre-Mix Concrete Co., also both of Spokane, and Interstate Concrete & Asphalt Co., based in Coeur dAlene.


CPM acquired Acme Materials, a longtime major concrete and asphalt supplier here, in July 2000, then folded that operation into Inland Asphalt.


Dan Murphy, CPMs top executive, says, The problem with it frankly was we found ourselves competing with our customers (contractors, including Garco Construction, to whom CPM companies supply products), so it just wasnt a good fit with our business.


The transaction had no effect on Inland Asphalts continuing asphalt-paving business, since the concrete-paving division was operating essentially as an autonomous unit, with its own four-person management staff, Murphy says.


Welsh says all of those employees, including Robert Seghetti, who managed the Acme Materials operation for the last nine years, have joined Acme Concrete Paving.


CPM, through its operating entities, now employs a total of about 1,200 people and has annual revenues of about $300 million. Its owned by Oldcastle Inc., a North American unit of CRH plc, of Dublin, Ireland.