Sandra McGlothlin has been involved in her fair share of building businesses. Her entrepreneurial experience includes founding Empire Holdings (real estate), Empire Disposal and Empire Roofing.
So, when her friend Matt McCoy – with his own impressive career in the real estate industry – wanted to launch Arete Construction, she was onboard.
Arete Construction is a commercial general contractor and construction management company serving Fort Worth and the surrounding North Texas region. Naturally, her background building and leading specialty construction companies brings expert operational knowledge and long-term local industry perspective to Arete’s foundation.
“Arete Construction is a new company, but it is not starting from scratch,” McGlothlin said. “It is built on experienced leadership, a strong understanding of commercial real estate, and relationships that have been built over many years.”
McCoy is a commercial real estate and construction professional with over 11 years of experience guiding commercial projects from initial planning and budgeting through construction and final delivery. Over the course of his career, McCoy has managed or supported more than 33 projects with over 1 million square feet representing more than $100 million in construction activity.
“Arete was created by Sandra McGlothlin, Bowie Holland (president of Empire Holdings) and me around the idea that a construction company can bring more value to a project than simply building what is shown on a set of drawings,” McCoy said.
McCoy’s experience includes having been project manager for Sun Valley Industrial Park and Campus Industrial Park – a role in which he will also serve for the upcoming Woodhaven Business Park for Empire Holdings.
He also previously worked for CBRE (formerly known as Coldwell Banker Richard Ellis), holding a Florida real estate license and serving as a construction owner’s representative. In that role he led multidisciplinary real estate and construction solutions for both tenants and landlords in the Jacksonville, Florida market.
McCoy has also worked with nationally recognized companies such as Grainger, The Home Depot, Raymond James, and McKesson.
“My background at CBRE was centered on helping landlords, developers, and tenants navigate pre-construction and construction so they could stay focused on their day-to-day businesses,” McCoy said. “That experience taught me the value of having someone on the construction side who understands not only how to build a project, but also the owner’s objectives, the tenant’s operational needs, and the financial and schedule decisions that must be made along the way.
“That is really what we wanted Arete to be. We are a general contractor, but our role can start well before construction. We can assist teams with early budgeting, programming, constructability, design coordination, scheduling, permitting, procurement, and evaluating options before significant dollars are committed.” McCoy said ultimately the goal is to simplify the construction process for Arete’s clients.
“We want to identify problems early, provide practical solutions, and allow the owner or tenant to focus on running their business while we manage the construction process from concept through completion,” he said.
McGlothlin and McCoy have known each other for about five years. She said their previous work together made her confident Arete would be a successful venture.
“Decisions made during planning and construction can affect the budget, the tenant, the operation of the property, and ultimately the long-term value of the investment. Matt brought that same broader perspective from his construction and commercial real estate experience, and Bowie brought his extensive business, real estate, and operational experience,” McGlothlin said. “Both Have the true meaning of Arete, ethics, morals, and excellence in the product they put out. This was why they were perfect to partner up with. Our strengths complemented one another, and we saw an opportunity to build a construction company around that combined perspective.
“The name Arete represents excellence and reaching your highest potential, which aligns with the way we want to approach the business. We want Arete to be known for accountability, strong relationships, communication, and for looking at every project through the eyes of the client.”
She said working with McCoy before gave her the opportunity to see how he approaches a project, communicates with everyone involved, works through challenges, and keeps the owner’s priorities at the forefront.
“What stood out to me was that Matt understands more than just the construction side. Because of his commercial real estate background, he understands how construction decisions affect the owner, landlord, tenant, budget, schedule, and ultimately the asset itself,” she said. “From an owner’s perspective, that is extremely valuable. Over those five years, we developed a great deal of trust and respect for one another’s judgment and abilities.”
Among major projects on the horizon for Areta, McCoy noted, “We have a very special owner-occupied project underway that is scheduled for completion in 2027.”
Arete is joining award-winning architect Droese Raney and landscape architect Hocker to create a unique dual-purpose family office and collectible storage facility near the Dallas Design District.
“It’s an exciting project because it blends highly functional, specialized space with thoughtful architecture and design,” McCoy said. “It’s the type of project that really fits Arete, one where early collaboration between the owner, design team, and contractor is critical to successfully bringing the vision to life.”
McCoy also paid tribute and gave thanks to his mentor, Terry Coyle, who he crossed paths with at CBRE and is retired now.
“His guidance taught me to look at construction from more than just a contractor’s perspective. He helped me understand how real estate, construction, operations, and the owner’s objectives all must work together for a project to truly be successful,” McCoy said. “A lot of the principles we’re building into Arete today, particularly the importance of looking at a project through the client’s eyes, come from lessons I learned from Terry.”