[5] Rakolta received his bachelor's degree in civil engineering from Marquette University in 1970 and then studied smaller company management at the Harvard Business School.

[13] In 2015, Walbridge and partnered with Brazilian company Construcap in the construction of a new 6-million-square-foot Jeep assembly complex and supplier park in Goiana, Brazil, and were honored by Engineering News-Record with the publication's Global Best Manufacturing Project of the Year Award.

[15][16] Also in 2015, Walbridge began a multi-year transformation of the General Motors Global Technical Center in Warren, Michigan.

[17] In 2017, Ford Motor Company selected Walbridge to provide construction services for the redevelopment of its Dearborn, Michigan, world headquarters and campus facilities.

John Rakolta is also the uncle to Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna Romney McDaniel.

The gardens, designed by Jorge Sanchez, were given the Lesly S. Smith Landscape Award by the Preservation Foundation of Palm Beach in 2013.