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Tampa Bay construction manager overcomes political turmoil, language barriers

JE Dunn Construction project manager Maria Escalona is not one to let obstacles stand in the way of pursuing her true calling.


  • By Louis Llovio
  • | 5:00 a.m. July 7, 2023
  • | 0 Free Articles Remaining!
Maria Escalona is a project manager for JE Dunn who helped build a dome that's to be a part of The Dali Museum in St. Petersburg.
Maria Escalona is a project manager for JE Dunn who helped build a dome that's to be a part of The Dali Museum in St. Petersburg.
Photo by Mark Wemple
  • Tampa Bay-Lakeland
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Maria Escalona was working on the type of project that can only happen in Miami when she got the call that brought her to Tampa.

The now 35-year-old project manager for JE Dunn Construction was one of the leaders on the build out of a high-end independent living facility with bars, beauty salons, game rooms and party rooms. A memory care center was attached. This was a place aimed at Miami’s wealthy, artistic class and had been the kind of project that had helped Escalona prove herself. “It was like a party house, but with a lot of luxury in it,” she says.

 


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author

Louis Llovio

Louis Llovio is the deputy managing editor at the Business Observer. Before going to work at the Observer, the longtime business writer worked at the Richmond Times-Dispatch, Maryland Daily Record and for the Baltimore Sun Media Group. He lives in Tampa.

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