Bently Enterprises manages companies in industries ranging from ranching to real estate, all tied together with a common theme: to be environmentally friendly, use innovative technology, and to preserve the history and community of the areas served by his businesses.
I see no sense in building new structures when we have beautiful historic properties left abandoned. We need a sense of tradition and worth brought back to our culture. A disposable world just won’t do.
Christopher Bently, CEO, Bently Enterprises
Christopher first began his career in music and sound production. Through his late twenties, he thrived as a musician before switching gears to his other passion: architecture and historical buildings. In 2001, he created Bently Holdings, purchasing a historic art deco building on Union Square that had survived the 1906 earthquake for its first project. The start of many successful property investments, the treasured building was brought back to life and awarded LEED Gold Certification. In 2005 he purchased the former Federal Reserve Bank Building of San Francisco renovated it to LEED Silver CI standards, creating Bently Reserve.
An ardent environmentalist, Christopher sought to build companies that embody his vision for the future, insisting on nothing less than exemplary green operating fundamentals throughout each of the Bently Enterprises companies. Along with producing biofuels and investing in green technology, Christopher is in the process of creating a fully organic and sustainable ranching practice in Nevada’s beautiful Carson Valley.
In addition to many accolades praising his dedication to the arts and environment, Christopher currently holds several honorary positions to related causes, and has served on many boards including the Black Rock Arts Foundation, the Burning Man Project, Global Green, and the Point Reyes Bird Observatory.
He is currently President of the Bently Foundation in addition to serving as CEO of Bently Enterprises. Christopher manages and is expanding Bently Enterprises’ dynamic roster of companies including property management firm Bently Holdings, historic San Francisco venue Bently Reserve, luxury apartments Bently Nob Hill, sustainable farm Bently Ranch, and estate distillery Bently Heritage.
Ken was hired in November of 1983 to establish landscape areas for the new Science Park, including the Recreation Park. He decided to stick around for a while.
Growing up on a farm in Hilmar, CA, he’s always enjoyed making things grow. Ken received an Associates of Science degree in Ornamental Horticulture, and has held both General and Landscape contractor’s licenses.
Ken was drafted into the army in 1972 and served in the military police. He reached the rank of Sergeant, and had duty as Guard Commander and Employment NCO. He received the Provosts Marshals Award for Exceptional Service.
Ken’s hobbies include reading, fly fishing, fly tying, backpacking, camping, hunting, and cooking. But mostly his ten grandchildren keep him occupied.
Larry worked in and around construction most of his life, starting with his dad in the garage who taught him the basics — including a lesson on how to keep his fingers… so far so good! Larry’s career was typical of a construction guy until going to work for Bently Nevada Corporation. The entire time (over twenty years) he has worked for the Bently Companies has been an educational experience. The opportunities they have provided are tremendous, and Larry’s grateful to the Bently Family of Companies, and to his Dad!
There are many people who make the Farmers Bank Building a special place — learn about them at Bently Enterprises.
J. P. Copoulos, Architect has managed a diversified Architecture practice since opening for business in 1989. The firm has pledged to maintain a small business practice committed to servicing a few clients at a time in an attentive manner. The firm has been extensively schooled in programming and research allowing it to tackle any unique building type with confidence and the knowledge that the project will be technically correct within the most economical design.
J. P. Copoulos, A.I.A. has managed a diversified Architecture practice since opening his firm for business in 1989. The firm has pledged to maintain a small business practice committed to servicing a few clients at a time in an attentive manner. J.P. Copoulos, A.I.A. studies solutions from multiple scenarios and lets the client, together with the design team, decide on the most appropriate solution taking into account environment, aesthetics, costs, and maintenance. This assures successful projects that maintain their time line toward completion.
Project management within his firm is the positive link that connects the talents of the various consulting disciplines to a building project, and foremost is the communication that takes place within the team to achieve success.
Ferrari Shields & Associates is a Structural Engineering firm established in Reno, Nevada in 1979. The company has an excellent record of providing its clients with structural designs that are functional, innovative, and economical. FSA Structural Engineers’ project team consists of licensed engineers who have attained Master’s Degrees in Structural Engineering. FSA’s highly-skilled engineers average 25 years of design experience in the field of Structural Engineering. FSA has significant design experience on Industrial Facilities, Public Safety Facilities, Emergency Operations Facilities, and Detention Facilities serving private corporations, cities, counties, states, and federal agencies.
Mr. Ferrari has worked on many projects throughout Nevada, including Piper’s Opera House, Virginia City, Nevada; Fourth Ward School, Virginia City, Nevada; Thompson Opera House, Pioche, Nevada; Virginia City Convention and Visitor’s Bureau (Crystal Bar) Virginia City, Nevada; Nevada, California and Oregon Railroad building, Reno, Nevada; Virginia Street Bridge, Reno, Nevada; Saint Mary’s in the Mountains Catholic Church seismic retrofit, Virginia City. The Saint Mary’s project was awarded the State of Nevada seismic safety award for historic structure seismic strengthening. He has been awarded a Historic Preservation Award from both the City of Reno and Carson City. Mr. Ferrari also has over 35 years of experience in the structural engineering of a wide variety of structures and construction types.
NicholsBooth Architects shapes interior environments you’ll remember. Not because they reflect us or our signature look (we don’t have one), but because they scream you. NicholsBooth designs spaces that your company culture will sculpt. Today’s workplaces require flexibility; they need to attract people and invite them to stay; they need to look like they belong exactly to the company that fills them. To that end, NicholsBooth doesn’t just listen. They hear. And what they hear is what you dream of for your space, how you want it to be used, and how it should evolve — what will be memorable for you. That’s what NicholsBooth designs.
We didn’t want to frame the project as a choice between preserving a past architectural design that no longer serves any function, and efficient modernization that would cost the building’s heritage. Embalming vs Efficiency. If the success of evolution is by mechanism of adaptation, can’t architecture also adapt its existing “genetic” material to survive when conditions naturally change? This project is conceived as a kind of recombinant historicism; the game here is to use as many of the de-utilized historical aspects as possible by combining them with new parts and new applications to give them purpose again. Evolution takes advantage of previous successes, discarding only what is unnecessary. When you walk around the Farmers Bank you will see many examples of the bank’s original “genetic” material recombined to serve new purposes such as teller windows that still separate staff from public areas, and massive vault doors relocated or used as a meeting table where new plans can be hatched. Sometimes entirely new adaptations are required to survive, but like a plant, they too will only last if they can thrive within their immediate ecosystem. So when this building needed to get more energy efficient, we added a symmetrical wing of photovoltaic panels that soar into the sun. New mini-wells installed below the street provide an almost effortless source of heating and cooling. 100 years ago, H.F. Dangberg, or so the story goes, used the old penthouse structure on the roof to take a sip, play cards and look out over operations at the Mill building across 395. Our hope is that 100 years from now the Farmers Bank will still be well adapted to it’s environment, an inspiring place to look out over a prospering valley and with electric bills that look like they are still from 1906.
Lyndon loves all things futuristic and cutting-edge. So when it came to working under Daniel’s design direction on the historic Farmers Bank, Lyndon tried to utilize as much of the latest 3D building modeling technology available for analysis and the creation of construction documents. Retaining the historic bank’s elegance while achieving modern sustainability wasn’t an easy task, so Lyndon digitally modeled the entire bank (including its historic elements) to collaborate with the construction team and mechanical engineer, as well as to analyze solar and daylighting strategies.
Based in Carson City, Miles Construction has long been a leader in the construction of pre-engineered steel buildings throughout Northern Nevada and the Tahoe Basin. Today, Miles is a diversified general contractor, design build, design assist, and construction management firm licensed in the majority of Western US states. But nearly all of their projects are in Northern Nevada, and they’re regarded as a leader in Northern Nevada commercial construction. Miles Construction prides itself on working for repeat clients doing mostly negotiated work. More than 90% of their projects are negotiated and the majority of their clients are either repeat clients or referrals from past clients.
Frank entered the construction industry over thirty years ago after graduating with a Bachelor of Arts Degree from Penn State University. He owned a construction business in both Alaska and Arizona. Frank has been the qualifying employee on commercial construction licenses in New Mexico, California, Arizona, Alaska, and Nevada. He has managed projects that vary in scope including pre-engineered metal structures, custom homes, large big box retail, medical centers, and light industrial with contract values up to $20 Million. As part of the Miles Construction team, Frank plays a unique role of fulfilling many project management duties while providing site supervision. His years of experience enable him to carry out many of the financial and procedural aspects of a project while being responsible for the execution of the physical construction of the project. Frank routinely supervises difficult flagship projects for Miles Construction.
As a partner in Miles Construction, Cary is responsible for managing all project management, estimating, and business operations. Cary has been instrumental in the over seven-fold growth of Miles Construction since he joined the Miles team. The controls and procedures that have been implemented allow Miles Construction to perform a wide variety and scale of construction projects. Cary’s national construction experience coupled with his degree in Civil Engineering provides him with a broad range of construction knowledge and problem solving techniques. His ability to assemble and lead a team from project conception through completion is one of his key attributes. His attention to detail and ability to understand the owners’ perspective provides Miles Construction with an advantage in our field.
As a Project Manager at Miles Construction, Jim is responsible for all project management tasks including: financial, scheduling, submittals, design coordination, communication with owner, subcontractor management, and coordination with superintendent. With his educational background in architecture, Jim is able to understand the design intent of the Architect and Owner. Combined with his MBA education, he is then able to find ways to match the intent of the architect to the budget and deadlines of the contract. Prior to Miles, Jim worked for one of the largest general contractors in the Northern Nevada region as the Director of Project Management and in the San Francisco area for a nationally ranked general contractor specializing in high-rise residential construction.
The Bently Farmers Bank Building