Celebrating 50 Years!

Sifting through boxes of what feels like endless photos of years past brings back the nostalgia of a legacy in the making. Eyes glazing over aged memories capturing moments of laughter, deep conversation, banter, megawatt smiles, and a spectrum of emotions in-between, it dawns on you that the people really are what shape organizations. And for HMH, that’s what happened between the brainstorming of the brilliant minds that birthed the firm— Jim Harper, Ed Miller and Ken Hankins. Thanks to their vision, HMH was born. But specifically, credit goes to the evolution of ownership, staff, and services for making an indelible impression in the Northern California and Central Valley communities. HMH, you did it. You reached 50. Happy 50^th anniversary.

Celebration is in order for achieving such a milestone! Our growth has endured ups and downs, like any other company. Uncertainties plagued us at times, economic turmoil in the 1990s, the mortgage/banking uncertainty in 2008, and recently, the COVID 19 pandemic, but we pulled through to come out better than ever. Testaments to our resilience are the staff allocation/collaboration between HMH, Ruth & Going, and Charles W. Davidson Co. back in 2021 and the establishment of our Central Valley and Pleasanton offices, expanding our service reach. The addition of the team members from these engineering firms and a regional growth mindset has strengthened HMH’s repertoire, with more to come.

Through the years we have become a formidable force to be reckoned with, staking our presence into the Bay Area and recently, the Central Valley as well. Initially, our main services consisted of land use entitlements, master planning, public and private development, land surveying and mapping. The last couple of decades we reached into focused land development civil engineering, transportation engineering, local public works projects, pedestrian, trail and bike infrastructure, highway interchanges, landscape architecture, arboriculture, stormwater compliance, and an expanded office in field land surveying operations with much success.

Many of our most notable projects include Communications Hill, Santa Clara University, Bay 101, Santa Clara Square, Club Auto Sport, Shoreline Sports Park, Regional Medical Center, Samaritan Medical Campus, Morgan Autism Center, Oakland Unified School, Don Callejon School, ACE Charter School, Santa Clara Valley Medical Center, Silicon Valley BART Extension, VTA Capitol Expressway Light Rail, Vasona Light Rail Corridor Extension, Santa Clara Alum Rock BRT, El Camino Bus Rapid Transit, San Jose Mineta International Airport, Market Park Berryessa, The Ranch on Silver Creek, Rivermark, Villas on the Boulevard, The Platform, Spyglass, Willow Glen Spur Trail at Falcon Court, St. Elizabeth Park, Berryessa Road Improvements, Y Road, US-101/Bailey Avenue Interchange, Santa Clara County I-680 Corridor Study, and US-101/Capitol Expressway/Yerba Buena Road Interchange, among thousands of others. Naturally, having been formed in 1976, a deep dive into HMH’s history and projects, even during the primitive years, would warrant a novel to tell the whole story.

Rather, we can all reminisce about the past even as we continue forward into, hopefully, the next 50 years. Today, HMH carries the torch, having learned from the leadership of the greats from years past. And as part of its legacy, we’d like to make special mention of an individual who was a major part of HMH’s success—Mr. Raymond T. Hashimoto. Having been one of the longest tenured leaders of the organization, and former president, his extensive knowledge of the land use entitlements, master planning, policy understanding, and the number of personal and professional relationships he curated throughout his illustrious career before his passing in 2025, continues to inspire current leaders and the budding professionals that were privileged enough to have known him and experience his work ethic and inviting aura. Ray, we couldn’t have reached 50 without you.

The future is now held by fresh perspectives that have learned from the best, combining their expertise to sow new seeds that can continually extend the benchmark of multidisciplinary design excellence. Clearly defined departments fostering that growth, namely Land Use Entitlements and Planning, a team focused on offering comprehensive project management for site planning through permit approvals; Land Survey, a team focused on measuring and mapping land or properties for projects to define their boundaries, structures, natural features and help construct the ideas we create; Public Works Engineering, a team focused on building safer transportation infrastructure for the people in our cities; Land Development Engineering, a team focused on designing solutions for projects that maintain, plan, and enhance the physical and built environment that supports the everyday user; Landscape Architecture, a team focused on site aesthetics, sustainability, and beautification or our public spaces using design, planning, societal input, horticulture, and arboriculture; and last but not least, Stormwater Compliance Engineering, a team focused on designing solutions that adhere to regulations on managing the quality and quantity of stormwater runoff to protect water resources from pollution—all come together to create an award-winning and sustainable ecosystem.

Most importantly, HMH extends its heartfelt gratitude to consultant partners and clients that stayed by our side all these years, working alongside us to deliver fruitful projects and build prosperous futures together. No company can excel and sustain without intelligent and creative minds, and the willingness to truly work together. There’s strength in numbers, after all.

We are ecstatic to celebrate with all of you on this momentous occasion!