History in the Building Industry
Peter Doyle has a most impressive background in the Design & Construction Industry. He began his industry career with an education received at the University of Notre Dame where he received a Bachelor of Science in Architecture. During this time, he was honored to be received into the Tau Sigma Delta Architectural Honorary Society.
Upon graduation from Notre Dame, Peter first served time in the Army Reserve before beginning his architectural apprenticeship as a young Architect in New York City, while working for the firm of Smith Haines Lundberg & Wahler. His first project involved designing and planning for a multi-floor renovation of office space in One Wall Street. Following a year in New York, Peter decided to take time off to travel to Europe and he embarked on a seven-month (15,000 mile) educational sojourn to Europe where he set out to visit every historic building he had studied and every art museum of note. His travels ended, when he received word that he had been selected to receive an Assistant Teaching Fellowship at Rice University’s Graduate School of Architecture - where he received a Master’s in Architecture.
Following Graduate School, he then proceeded to complete his three-year apprenticeship, working for several notable Architectural firms in Houston before passing his professional exams in order to become a Registered Architect and a Professional member of The American Institute of Architecture.
With his interest in broadening his industry background, Peter then joined Linbeck Corporation, a respected Houston General Contractor, to take on the management of certain Real Estate Development projects – which included the design and delivery of two 100,000 Build-to Suit Office Buildings in Canton, Ohio. At the completion of these projects, Peter joined the construction side of the business – thus beginning a 25 year tenure with Linbeck Construction, where he worked up the ladder from Timekeeper to President. Over this period, the company, as Construction Manager/Builder, delivered well over 50 million sq ft of diverse projects in multiple states across the US and from coast to coast. He also served as Manager of Linbeck Middle East with projects in Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Iran. During this time, he lived in Tehran and Athens. Following his return from overseas, Peter created a separate Construction entity called LTB (Live to Build) where he served as CEO.
Overlapping his business activities, Peter also devoted considerable time to several Industry organizations. He was very active in the Associated General Contractors of America where in served as Chair of the Building Industry Division of AGC. Two Committees he created during this time, included the Quality in Construction Committee and the Contract Documents Committee, which had a direct interface with AIA’s Contract Documents Committee. Peter additionally served for four years as a Construction Industry Representative serving on the Board of the very important National Institute of Building Sciences – a Washington based public research entity. In his final year, he served as Chairman of that building industry organization. One of his public activities included serving as Board Member and Vice-Chair of the Development Committee for the City of Houston’s Convention Center Hotel Board. This entity was responsible for financing, designing and building a 1000 five-star Convention Center Hotel.
In mid-career, as a member of the American Institute of Architects, Peter received special recognition from his colleagues when he was elected to become a Fellow of the American Institute of Architecture. The recognition came with the following Jury comments - “Peter Doyle’s creative management skills have earned him & his construction company a national reputation for the integration of design into the construction and project delivery process. The entire industry is indebted to his efforts to create a better environment in which to design and build.” Of special note, he was the only Builder to ever receive this recognition.
Later in his career, he received a University of Notre Dame Alumni Honor Award from the School of Architecture. The commendation read – “For his impressive achievements in architecture and his initiation of innovative methods to better integrate the design and building phases of erecting buildings. These innovations, unique to the company he leads, encourage architects and builders to work together as a building team, resulting in projects of exceptional value.”
Following his tenure with Linbeck, Peter became a Partner in Songy Development, a Boca Raton based real estate developer, where he was active in delivering multiple projects – one was a very special project, because it was a Philip Johnson FAIA designed Office Building project for Sun Bank. Phillip Johnson, at nine-two, accepted the commission and this award-winning building was one of his last projects.
Over Peter’s career, he has had the unique opportunity to work collaboratively on projects designed by some of the world’s greatest Architects. Phillip Johnson, Pietro Belushi, I M Pei, Howard Elkus, Gary Handel, Greg Pasquarelli, David Schwarz, James Goettsch, Jeanie Gang, Bernardo Fort-Brescia, Rick Keating, etc. He has also collaborated with many of the country’s top architectural firms – Gensler, RTKL, SOM, HOK, KPF, HKS, PSP, PGAL, Architectonica, Hart Howerton, Johnson Burgee, Elkus Manfredi - to name a few.
After his time in real estate Development with Songy Partners, Peter accepted a role as a Regional President of one of the top national General Contractors in the country – J E Dunn Construction. Peter became responsible for building the company’s activities in Texas, Louisiana and Oklahoma. He opened offices in Houston, Dallas, Austin and Oklahoma City and grew the company to be a major competitor in that marketplace. Over that ten-year tenure, he was directly involved in the delivering well over $4 billion of projects Projects included Hospitals, Multi-family, Office, Industrial, Schools, Retail, Data Centers, Life Science, Healthcare and Public Facilities. In his last year with J E Dunn, he became the Chief Learning Officer and created the foundation for J E Dunn’s in house Corporate University.
In between serving as leader of multiple building industry entities Peter provided Project Delivery Consulting services to multiple Owners and Institutions.
Then, in 2010, Peter was recruited to join a team to prepare for a Real Estate Development Public Company public spinoff. The spin off came out of the restructuring of General Growth Properties. The entity was called The Howard Hughes Corporation which became the owner of four major Master Planned Communities (The Woodlands, Bridgeland, Columbia and Summerlin) as well as commercial development properties in Texas, California, Hawaii, New Jersey Arizona, Louisiana and New York. At the time of becoming a public company, the company had a value of about $2 billion dollars. Peter began as Executive Vice President of Design & Construction. After serving in this role for several years, he then became Executive Vice President of Development for the Houston Region and managed the strategic development projects for The Woodlands and Bridgeland. He later moved to hold a corporate support role, as Executive VP of Development, where he served as an interface with the five Regional Development entities as they planned, designed and built multiple strategic development projects. After fifteen years of service, Peter retired from the company in 2025.
Peter’s objective now, is to offer his services to the Building Industry as a ’Solutions Provider’. His vast and diverse experience and his collaborative philosophy have prepared him well to address a variety of challenges, conflicts, and hurdles that are present in the very complex building industry. As Architect, Builder, Developer, Owner and Industry Leader, he is ready to share his knowledge.