Chaney Enterprises’ newest Maryland plant fills prime area along Washington, D.C./Interstate 494 periphery
Chaney Enterprises, a Maryland-based ready mixed concrete, sand, gravel and block producer, has an unrivaled organic growth and acquisition record over the past five years along the Atlantic Seaboard markets, leading to a portfolio of 125 sites in six states, including Washington, D.C., and nearly 1,300 employees.
Organic growth is reflected in four greenfield ready mixed plants, starting in 2019 with a Lorton, Va. operation along Interstate 95 (“Ultimately Welcome,” Concrete Products, March 2020). The second and third plants rose in Leesburg, Va. and Powell’s Point, N.C., a charter Carolinas site for Chaney Enterprises. Concurrent with the greenfield developments, the producer grew its Virginia and North Carolina footprint exponentially through a series of acquisitions. Deals since 2020 have netted Virginia’s GreenRock Materials in Richmond, Superior Concrete in Harrisonburg, and Allied Concrete in Charlottesville, plus the Hampton Roads market assets of Branscome Inc.; and North Carolina’s DPD Team Concrete in Greenville and Chandler Concrete Co. in Burlington. The latter brought 44 ready mix sites and four concrete block plants concentrated in North Carolina and the Commonwealth.
The Chandler Concrete acquisition was announced weeks prior to the official start-up of a fourth greenfield ready mixed plant, District Heights, located five miles southeast of Washington, D.C. in Prince George’s County, Md. Chaney Enterprises acquired the six-acre parcel in 2017 due to its proximity to the Interstate 495 Beltway and the two state routes linking Prince George’s County to the nation’s capital.
A May 2024 District Heights plant dedication ceremony drew representatives from the offices of U.S. Senator Chris Van Hollen (MD) and Congressmen Steny Hoyer and Glenn Ivey (5th, 6th MD), plus a contingent of state, county and local officials. Chaney Enterprises Chief Operating Officer Ryan Jacoby confidently reflected on the lengthy development of the District Heights site and the sustainable technology and products featured throughout the new facility. Against the backdrop of the site’s fully enclosed, drive-through batch plant, extensive concrete pavement and 15-ft. high wall and fence treatments adding to thick perimeter vegetation, he assured guests: “Our mission is to be the best company and best neighbor in the construction materials industry.”
The District Heights plant design, aesthetic treatments and environmental management provisions, he added, are indicative of priorities for an operation serving a county that is home to more than 100 of Chaney Enterprises’ team members. In addition to District Heights and neighboring Maryland towns, the new operation complements a Washington, D.C. plant acquired earlier this year from Monumental Concrete. It also positions the producer along an I-495 Beltway arc, much like the Lorton site on the other side of the Potomac River.
The Command Alkon-equipped District Heights plant office affords operators full view of mixer truck staging and material delivery, along with enclosed washout and drive-through loading activity. Securing mixer washout and charging under roof is partly attributable to space utilization efforts like placement of the Treyco dust collector over the main belt.
The weir and Hydro Innovations filter, treatment and storage system handle all District Heights plant process water. The egg-shaped vessel (below, lower right) houses a 30-micron sand filter whose maintenance requirements are limited to occasional back flushing of captured gray water solids. The 1,000-gallon storage tank (behind filter) can be rapidly replenished per peak batch water requirements and is piped for direct weigh batcher supply or to the Pearson hot water tank. A carbon dioxide tank is placed at the rear of the Hydro Innovations container for spontaneous adjustment of filtered water pH.
ULTIMATE CLOSED LOOP
An efficiently scaled batch plant situates the District Heights site area for optimal mixer, dump and tanker traffic. A streamlined enclosure building footprint frees up space for four outsized stockpiles contained by cast-in-place partitions matching base perimeter walls along the rear property line.
Pennsylvania’s Treyco Manufacturing customized an Outlaw Series transit mixed model plant bearing a four-compartment, 200-ton overhead aggregate bin and 375-ton cement silo. Working with the Chaney Enterprises operations team to maximize space utilization, Treyco nestled a central dust collector above the main conveyor belt, freeing up floor space at the base of the plant iron.
The batch plant structure and drive-through mixer charging alley frame the District Heights plant’s most unique and technologically advanced aspect: An enclosed truck washout and four-stage weir feeding a next generation process water recycling system from Hydro Innovations. When raising the four weir overhead doors—revealing familiar concrete pits aligned with a containerized filtering, treatment and recycling assembly—a seasoned ready mixed concrete observer is challenged to envision a more compact, logical configuration for process water management.
Chaney Enterprises has worked with North Carolina-based Hydro Innovations on pilot recycling installations over the past five years, culminating in development of the market-stage system premiering at District Heights. Hydro Innovations founder Rickie Grooms, a veteran of Continental Mixers in Kentucky and (pre-Titan) S&W Ready Mix in North Carolina, eyed an extension of concrete production process water treatment to a potable or near-potable water threshold. He patented a method in which gray water drawn from the final of four settling weirs is piped through a 30-micron sand filter, netting water whose total suspended solids (TSS) characteristics suit ASTM C94, Standard Specification for Ready-Mixed Concrete. Filtered water is stored in a 1,000-gallon or other suitably scaled tank, where a gauge triggers a carbon dioxide sparge to maintain a 6.4 pH level. The result is the ultimate closed loop system for a concrete plant, as the pH and TSS metrics equate to potable water.
“Achieving water quality within ASTM C94 parameters will allow Chaney Enterprises to recycle 100 percent of its wastewater,” says Chief Integration Officer Tom Pittman. “This will eliminate any need for offsite discharge and significantly reduce the need for fresh water to meet production demands. This process quickly pays for itself where water is expensive, and conservation is necessary.”
A high rate of process water recycling augments an environmental value proposition underlying Chaney Enterprises’ Ever Concrete Series. Ever Concrete mixes have less carbon-intensive binders than portland cement-only alternatives and enable customers to address the Buy Clean requirements or preferences emerging in public and private construction markets. The Chaney Enterprises technical services team is equipped to customize mixes to targeted carbon reduction levels and support each contract with Environmental Product Declaration submittals.
“We proudly produce Ever Concrete brand carbon-reduced concrete mixes at District Heights and many other plant locations,” notes Chaney Enterprises Director of Quality, Research & Sustainability Jan Golden. “Leveraging District Heights’ sustainable plant operations, strategic location, locally sourced materials, and ample storage for future recycled content, we’re building not only stronger structures but also a more sustainable future—all while supporting our local workforce.”
