Born in Sonsón, Colombia, in 1938, the late Jairo Alvarez was the second-born of 11 children. He and his siblings helped their Papacito, Mario, and Mamacita, Adela, tend to corn and potato crops and raise animals on their farm tucked against a mountain. Alvarez, one of Business Report’s 2025 Hall of Fame laureates, would eventually go on to found one of the state’s largest residential construction companies.
At 52 years old, Alvarez launched his construction company in 1991. As Alvarez Construction grew, his children—Carlos, Ana and Sebastian—all eventually joined their father and lent their strengths to expanding the business. With Alvarez at the helm, the family-run company built thousands of homes and then began developing subdivisions around the city.
“One of Dad’s goals was to be viewed as one of the biggest builder-developers around,” Sebastian Alvarez says, citing significant projects including the 400-plus homes at The Lakes at Jamestown set on 108 acres purchased during the 2008 recession. “It was a big risk for us, but we pushed through, and that really put Alvarez Construction on the map as far as volume and size.”
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