PS&S CEO and President John Sartor
By Joshua Burd
PS&S, the Warren-based professional services firm, has acquired the assets of a New York-based consulting practice involved in some of the region’s largest infrastructure projects.
According the companies, the addition of B. Thayer Associates will mark a major expansion of PS&S’ presence in and around New York City, bringing new offices and another 40 employees under the 60-year-old firm’s umbrella. It will also provide PS&S with a greater role in public works amid what’s slated to be continued federal funding in the sector.
Firm executives cited B. Thayer’s role in high-profile efforts such as the rehabilitation of the Brooklyn Bridge, the modernization of the Mets-Willets Point subway station and the Van Wyck Expressway and JFK Access project.
“B. Thayer Associates has a reputation for excellence in New York City, on Long Island and in New York State and is highly regarded by government agencies, especially those responsible for public transportation and infrastructure improvements such as roads and highways, utilities, resiliency and other public works projects,” said John Sartor, PS&S’ CEO and president.
Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
Sartor’s team said B. Thayer Associates, founded in 1990 by Barbara Thayer, has built a strong reputation for building and infrastructure design capabilities in the greater New York area, particularly in the fields of street-scaping, green streets, waterfront development and other sustainable projects. The firm is a founding member of the Institute for Sustainable Infrastructure, with offices in Woodbury and Long Island City, New York, joining forces with a PS&S team that offers architecture, engineering, design, surveying and environmental services.
Thayer has worked with virtually every New York City and state agency, especially those involved with transportation and infrastructure, and many others on Long Island and in New York’s Hudson Valley region, according to a news release. The firm is currently part of the MTA’s Penn Station Access project, with responsibilities including lidar and conventional surveying of the 19-mile rail corridor, architectural and structural design support for the mainline structures and civil engineering and landscaping design of the redeveloped infrastructure.
With an estimated completion date of 2027, the $2.8 billion design-build project will bring Metro-North trains into Penn Station.
“I have long been familiar with PS&S and its multidiscipline approach,” said Thayer, who is also the firm’s president. “As part of PS&S, my firm will now have the advantage of a much larger team, more disciplines in house, greater capital resources and the scale needed to compete as a prime contractor in today’s environment. I could not be more pleased that B. Thayer Associates has joined PS&S and look forward to actively working with leadership to take the firm to the next level of growth.”
Thayer will have an active role in leading and growing PS&S’ presence in the New York market, working closely with management to oversee the firm’s expansion of resources and capabilities in the region. Post-acquisition, PS&S will have a headcount of about 310 and 10 offices throughout the Northeast, North Carolina and Texas.
“PS&S has set an ambitious five-year strategic growth plan for itself which involves expanding into new geographic areas with new capabilities and partners — especially in areas targeted for rehabilitation and modernization as part of President Biden’s $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill,” Sartor said. “The acquisition of B. Thayer — with its skills, talent and reputation — is a major step forward in that plan, and we are delighted that Barbara and her team are now part of PS&S.”
