A couple of factors led Jenny Urcan to become a civil engineer.
She was good at math and liked problem-solving.
In addition, there were civil engineers in her family: a grandfather and two uncles, along with a few cousins, were licensed professional engineers with degrees in civil engineering.
Yet the career choice wasn’t automatic for Urcan, 40, who joined BGE Inc. in late summer to open the Houston-based engineering consulting firm’s Jacksonville office.
She previously spent a total of 15 years with Jacksonville-based planning and engineering firm Prosser Inc.
Urcan initially resisted what seemed like the logical path and thought she would try a different route.
When she started at the University of Florida in 2001, Urcan explored mechanical, landscape and architectural engineering. It helped her decide that civil engineering was indeed right for her.
Starting at Prosser
The Brevard County native graduated in 2005 with a civil engineering degree and came to Jacksonville to work as an intern at Prosser, which then hired her.
Her first stint lasted until 2009, when she was laid off as the company adjusted to the recession.
Urcan then joined Parsons Corp., a civil engineering firm based in Centreville, Virginia, as a project manager and contractor to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
Prosser rehired her two years later.
“I was the last to be let go and the first to come back,” she said.
PRIME AE Group Inc., a Baltimore-based engineering and architecture firm, bought Prosser in January 2022.
Urcan was an associate senior civil engineer at Prosser when she left in August to join BGE.
On to BGE
The move to become director of land/site development and launch the Jacksonville office for BGE was “an opportunity I couldn’t turn down,” she said.
“Being a team leader has been one of my professional goals. It’s a perfect fit for me,” she said.
“What I learned and experienced there (at Prosser) was definitely what carried me into the new position with confidence.”
BGE’s Jacksonville office is at 10151 Deerwood Park Blvd., Building 200, in space previously occupied by The Adecco Group, which relocated to the Florida Blue Campus.
Build-out for the facility is expected to be completed by June, Urcan said.
The city is reviewing a permit application for the estimated $809,133 build-out of about 12,808 square feet for BGE Jacksonville in Suite 200 of the Deerwood Park building.
When the build-out is completed, the office will be 15,000 square feet and have as many as 75 workstations, Urcan said.
The Jacksonville office has five employees. By the end of 2023, she expects it will have eight to 10.
Senior Consultant Jim Robinson has helped with recruiting and business development, she said. He has more than 45 years of experience as a civil engineer, according to his LinkedIn profile.
It is the fourth Florida location for BGE. The others are in Sarasota, Tampa and Vero Beach.
“We couldn’t be more excited to be expanding our presence in Florida,” said BGE Southeast Region Operations Leader Randy Randermann in an August news release about the Jacksonville office.
“Jenny has a great reputation in the Jacksonville market and we can’t wait to see what doors she’s able to open for us.”
‘Finding the right people’
In addition to Florida and Texas, BGE has offices in Arkansas, Georgia and North Carolina. The company was founded in 1975 and has 900 employees, according to the release.
BGE expansion is based on population growth and “finding the right people,” Urcan said. “They’re in it for the long haul.”
The long-term goal for the Jacksonville office is “to be the preeminent consultant of choice in 20 years. We’ll work back from that,” she said.
The immediate goal has been “setting up an all-star team.” With Robinson’s help, that has been accomplished, Urcan said.
The Jacksonville office is pursuing projects “reflecting a variety of the market and size,” from single-family and multifamily projects to industrial site and land development, she said.
While at Prosser, Urcan worked on projects such as the 1 million-square-foot Amazon fulfillment center (completed in 2017), the 1 million-square-foot warehouse and distribution center for online home-furnishings company Wayfair (completed in 2019), and the 278,000-square-foot Amazon fulfillment center (completed in 2021), all at Cecil Commerce Center in West Jacksonville.
She also worked on the Eden Arlingwood horizontal apartment development by Eden Living, a Miami-based apartment developer.
The concept offers “the look and feel of a detached apartment home with private entrances and backyard space,” according to Eden Living’s website.
The apartments and town homes are at northwest Tredinick Parkway and the Southside Connector.
“Being the first one in town for that (concept) was fun,” Urcan said.
The rewards of civil engineering include improving a community, from “developing an empty lot into a restaurant where the whole family can go,” and “developing a neighborhood that you can live in,” to “creating something that helps lead to the luxuries that we now have,” she said.
Urcan said she also enjoys working with public agencies involved in permitting.
“They are our partners in getting through this together.”