Maregatti Interiors acquired by HKS architectural firm

Maregatti Interiors LLC, Indianapolis’ largest commercial interior design business, has been purchased by the national architecture firm that designed Lucas Oil Stadium.

Dallas-based HKS Inc. announced the acquisition Wednesday. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

HKS has 28 offices globally, which gives Maregatti access to a much larger client base, said Ana Pinto-Alexander, who founded Maregatti Interiors in 2002. HKS, in turn, gets an established commercial interior design firm to help it grow its health care practice.

“Because of HKS’ broad-based practice, and the larger geographical platform that they have, we’ll grow into an international market,” Pinto-Alexander said. “It has an unbelievable amount of knowledge and resources.”

Maregatti has 22 employees, including a handful in Chicago. HKS has 905. Outside the United States, HKS has offices in Brazil, the United Kingdom, United Arab Emirates, India and China.

The local firm is known now as HKS Maregatti Interiors.

Pinto-Alexander hung her own shingle after spinning off her interior design services from local architecture firm BSA LifeStructures. HKS Maregatti is still located at the Precedent Office Park on the city’s northeast side, but HKS President Ralph Hawkins said a move to other office space in Indianapolis could be in the offing to accommodate additional growth.

Pinto-Alexander, who has 25 years of experience designing health care facilities, will serve as HKS’ nationwide health care interior design director.

“Strategically, we’ve been looking at expanding our health care interiors group,” Hawkins said. “And we had a 10-year relationship with Maregatti. It was a very natural merger for her to become a part of HKS.”

In 2009, Pinto-Alexander was named one of the 25 most influential people in health care design by Healthcare Design magazine. Her work has received numerous awards for interior design and has been featured in national publications.

HKS Maregatti will be managed by Jamie Raymond, a Maregatti Interiors partner and a registered interior designer in Indiana.

Both HKS and Maregatti are completing design and architecture work at IU Health Saxony in Fishers and Riley Hospital for Children’s Simon Family Tower.

Maregatti and HKS first teamed in 2002 to complete IU Health West Hospital in Avon. The two also completed IU Health North in Carmel.

HKS has been working in Indiana for more than 20 years. In 1990, the firm provided architectural services for St. Vincent’s Indiana Heart Institute.

Its most notable project, however, is Lucas Oil Stadium.

“I think it’s changed the profile of downtown,” Hawkins said of the stadium project. “It’s hard to ignore.”