Just as the first wave of the coronavirus pandemic began shutting down the economy in March 2020, a trio of construction industry veterans decided to walk away from their steady jobs at an established general contractor and start up their own small firm.
It was nothing if not optimistic. But six years later, Trine Builders has eight employees, $12 million in annual revenue and a growing reputation for revitalizing historic buildings in New Orleans, a city with no shortage of 19th- and early-20th-century structures.
Among the projects to the firm’s name are the renovation of a Warehouse District building on Julia Street anchored by Peche restaurant and several art galleries; the former Riecke Cabinet Works building on Tulane Avenue, which a generation of New Orleanians will remember as the Lighting Inc. showroom; and, more recently, the multiphase renovation of Rayne Memorial Methodist’s Uptown campus…