Sam Andras | Architect, Founder & Principal | 40+ Years Experience
Sam Andras & 3rd Act Architecture and Consulting, PA is a sole proprietorship. On 02 January 2001 two business partners and I opened 2WR of Georgia, an architectural and interior design firm. In 2012 we expanded, with the addition of a new business partner we opened 2WR of Colorado. In 2014 we created the trade name 2WR + Partners and opened a subsidiary company, MJ12 Design Studio. In 2017 we opened an office in Massachusetts. In 2021 both entities, 2WR and MJ12, were sold to urban-gro where I worked until 2023. On January 2nd 2024, 23-years to the day after opening 2WR, 3rd Act Architecture and Consulting, P.C. was formed.
Meet Sam Andras
I was 10 years old when my parents, who had started Andras Engineering and Construction, a residential construction company in Lakeland, Florida, began taking my brother, Jeff and me, to project sites for weekend inspections. I remember the early mornings, my alarm clock snapping to life with the music from Q105 at 6:15 am. Our visits were to homes in various stages of construction from raw sites with preliminary earthwork to completed jobs with “For Sale” signs in the yard. I found the progress fascinating as the foundations were laid, under-slab work installed, slab placed, walls erected, trusses set, and onward through to completion. My favorite point in the process was the completion of setting trusses. The raw wood and concrete block stood stark in the morning light while fully defining the home’s form.
President of 3rd Act Architecture and Consulting, P.A.
Throughout high school I worked bouncing back and forth between construction during the summer months and architecture during the school year. These years were foundational in my education around drafting, detailing, and the correlation between drawings and field conditions. In 1993 I completed my Bachelor of Architecture at Florida A&M University. During my five years at FAMU I worked with several different architectural firms along with one year as an OPS student with FAMU’s Physical Plant office. I gained an exceptional understanding of the process of document development while also experiencing firsthand the expectations from the ownership side of the fence.
Once licensed, in 1996, I began working for a Tallahassee, Florida firm with an office in Columbus, Georgia. In 1998 I moved to Columbus as Vice President of the firm and manager of the Georgia office. I learned valuable lessons about running a firm including how to properly plan and staff projects, financial planning and forecasting, the intertwining and importance of business development, marketing, and high-quality delivery of services, and the approaches to properly planning for firm growth aligned with a defined vision. On January 2nd, 2001, I opened a new office in Columbus as a branch of a Montgomery, Alabama based firm. I brought in two partners, Michael Starr and Scott Allen. In 2010 we purchased the Columbus operation and started 2WR + Partners.
Over the next several years we opened branch offices in Colorado (2012) and Massachusetts (2017). The company’s work focused primarily on the government sectors of local, state, and federal projects along with a handful of others. In 2014 we ventured into the cannabis industry. We saw this as an exceptional opportunity to expand our business nationwide. We created a subsidiary company, MJ12 Design Studio, and dove into the industry quickly becoming the nation’s leading cannabis design firm. In 2020 we were approach by urban-gro, a NASDAQ company. Their desire was to expand their service offerings to include architecture. In 2021 we finalized the deal and 2WR + Partners and MJ12 Design Studio became a part of urban-gro.
On December 31st 2023 I left urban-gro. On January 2nd, 2024, I started my plans for 3rd Act Architecture and Consulting, P.A. A vast majority of my work remains in the cannabis industry. However, as illustrated in this website, my career and industry experience is vast.