Although trouble may lie ahead for the nonresidential construction industry, 2008 proved to be a productive year in many sectors. From manufacturing masterpieces and much-needed military upgrades to themed resorts and ultra-sustainable offices and residences, the nation is home to a bevy of new landmarks.
Collaboration continues to flourish as well, with design-build project delivery, joint venture contracting teams and public-private partnerships taking center stage.
Construction Executive shines a spotlight on some noteworthy projects of 2008.
In July, President George W. Bush joined members of the U.S. Department of Defense in breaking ground on the new $641 million Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Md.
As a result of the 2005 Base Realignment and Closure program, the new state-of-the-art medical center will merge with the existing National Naval Medical Center to treat and care for all members of the armed services. Clark Construction Group, Bethesda, Md., and Balfour Beatty Construction, Fairfax, Va., entered into a joint venture to lead the project under a design-build contract.
The project includes 690,000 square feet of new medical office, emergency room and patient care construction; 450,000 square feet of renovations to the Naval Medical Center’s existing facilities; more than 20,000 square feet of new utility and material handling tunnels and circulation corridors; and a parking garage.
The new facility, to be completed in 2011, is designed to achieve LEED Silver certification.
The Christman Company looked to the past and to the future for its new headquarters in Lansing, Mich. Not only did the construction firm meticulously restore an 80-year-old building on the National Register of Historic Places, but it also achieved a first in sustainable construction: double LEED Platinum Certification for commercial interiors and core and shell.
The Art Deco building boasts historic features such as Pewabic tile in the main stairway, a steel stair railing with a verdigris bronze finish, mica shade light fixtures and exterior limestone detailing. Blended with the old are high-tech meeting spaces, a contemporary conference room and workspaces arranged in quads to encourage collaboration.
Sustainable elements include water-efficient fixtures and plumbing, materials with low emissions of volatile organic compounds (VOCs), and energy-efficient lighting, heating and cooling systems. Ninety percent of occupants have a view of the outdoors; 92 percent of the existing walls, roof and floors were reused in the renovation; and 70 percent of construction waste was reclaimed and recycled.
Detroit-based SmithGroup designed the project and, in addition to being the owner, Christman served as the construction manager. Other Michigan subcontractors and suppliers involved were H&H Painting Co., Inc., Kalamazoo; Modern Roofing, Inc., Dorr; Architectural Metals, Inc., Portland; S.A. Morman & Co., Grand Rapids; and Technical Energy Solutions, Byron Center.
Several public-private partnerships provided funding for the nearly $12 million project.
On 70 acres along the Nubanusit River in the Monadnock Region of southwest New Hampshire, construction ended last month on a green residential development consisting of 29 condominium homes, a Common House, an organic farm and professional office space in a restored historic farmhouse—all within walking distance of the town center and rural trails.
Nubanusit Neighborhood & Farm has achieved the U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED Platinum certification for its duplex homes.
Residents own their homes, but share common farm and living space on the development. The homes feature energy-saving elements like triple-glazed windows and seven inches of recycled insulation, and the neighborhood is heated by a wood-fired boiler that uses wood pellets from a neighboring town. Air exchange systems facilitate low-energy ventilation, and roofs are oriented to the south to accommodate future solar panel installation.
The property dates back to the mid-1800s, when it was the site of an inn, dairy farm and homestead of a former governor. It was abandoned for years until Robin and Shelly Hulbert and another couple purchased the land in 2004.
Bruss Construction, Inc., Bradford, N.H., which previously built the first LEED Gold building in New England, acted as the construction manager for the project.
The Smoky Mountain vacation destination of Pigeon Forge, Tenn., is closing out 2008 with the grand opening of the $114 million Belle Island Village—a 26-acre themed development with retail, hospitality and entertainment venues. Located on an island created by a split in the Little Pigeon River, the owner estimates hosting 2.1 million visitors annually.
The development team and lead contractor Killian Construction Company, based in Springfield, Mo., overcame site challenges early on in the project. Raising the island by nearly nine feet in some spots, Killian constructed the buildings on a cantilevered foundation supported by vertical concrete piers to accommodate water flow and to plan for possible flooding.
Anchor attractions at the pedestrian-friendly complex include the Debbie Reynolds Hollywood Motion Picture Museum, which displays the world’s largest private collection of Hollywood memorabilia in a steamboat-shaped structure; Darrell Waltrip’s Racing Experience, which gives racing fans an inside look at the world of NASCAR; and the Knoxville Zoo’s Otter Cove. Themed as a 1930s river town, Belle Island Village also includes more than 90 specialty shops, three major restaurants, an arcade, family rides and several stages for live entertainment. Resort lodging totals 130 rooms, with another 300 to be added in 2009 when the Belle Island Inn opens adjacent to the island.
With alternative energy sources like solar power taking the spotlight this year, a polysilicon manufacturing facility with an annual capacity of 4,000 metric tons is a welcome addition.
Hoku Materials, a wholly owned subsidiary of Hoku Scientific, Inc., awarded an engineering, procurement and construction management (EPCM) contract to Shaw Energy & Chemicals in August 2007 to build a polysilicon facility in Pocatello, Idaho. Polysilicon (polycrystalline silicon) is the base material for solar energy applications as well as LCD screens and computer chips.
The approximately $390 million facility is on target for the first reactors to be operational in the first quarter of next year, with mechanical completion and product deliveries in the second quarter of 2009.
In this fast-track project, Shaw needed to address the integration of several licensed technologies, purchase long lead equipment in a busy market and complete engineering deliverables in a short time frame. The construction contractor, JH Kelly, Longview, Wash., has been challenged to perform work through the winter months.
The Fairbanks, Alaska, office of Osborne Construction Co. is ahead of schedule on a $117 million U.S. Army family housing development in Fort Wainwright, Alaska. The first phase (28 units) of the nine-phase design-build project was turned over to the Army in October. The remaining 182 units will be complete next summer.
The housing units are being constructed in four-plex slab-on-grade configurations with radiant floor heating. Eighteen units feature five bedrooms while the others feature three bedrooms in three different designs. (Eleven are adaptable for soldiers with accessibility needs.)
Two large mechanical buildings connect the project utilities—direct-buried water, storm, sewer, electrical, communications and glycol heating piping systems—with existing base utility services.
Denali Village is designed to achieve a SPiRiT Gold rating for sustainability. The project is the last to use military financing for Army family housing; in January, Fort Wainwright will privatize its housing.
Amid a growing population and a correlating upswing in construction activity, Raleigh, N.C., opened its new $222 million state-of-the-art convention center in September. The 500,000-square-foot structural steel building is the most sustainable project the city has ever built. (It’s currently seeking LEED certification.)
Leading the iconic project was a joint venture between the Raleigh offices of Skanska USA Building and Barnhill Contracting Company. Local involvement branched out from there, with a Raleigh artist designing the convention center’s Shimmer Wall—a mural of an oak tree that moves as the wind passes through each of the 66,528 metal panels. Carpet and ceiling designs reflect aspects of the city’s economy as well.
To accommodate Raleigh’s "Livable Streets" program (i.e., buildings must be pedestrian-friendly and cannot overwhelm the downtown skyline), the project team minimized the building’s profile by placing the exhibit floor 10 feet to 50 feet below groundwater. The 150,000-square-foot exhibit hall is 50 percent larger than the city’s previous convention center, which was imploded in February 2006.
The project also consists of a grand lobby with floor-to-ceiling windows, a 30,000-square-foot ballroom and 20 meeting rooms. A 1,500-space parking garage topped by a 400-room Marriott Hotel adjoins the Raleigh Convention Center.
Altogether, the project created 250 jobs and is estimated to infuse $80 million annually into the local economy.
Sony Electronics, Inc. is looking to make itself even more at home in Rancho Bernardo, Calif., with the construction of its new $160 million corporate headquarters. The company, which began transitioning its North American electronics division from New Jersey to southern California in 2004, expects the 11-story Class A office building to be completed by summer 2009. The building Sony currently uses as its headquarters will be converted into an engineering center.
San Diego-based Pacific Building Group and the San Diego office of Sundt Construction comprise the joint venture team working to build the 455,000-square-foot office. Projected to accommodate 1,450 employees, the building will include a two-story lobby, a 700-seat auditorium, a fitness center, a top-floor cafeteria and an adjacent six-story parking garage connected via a pedestrian bridge. One of the project’s nearly 9 acres will be devoted to a central garden.
The project team is seeking LEED Silver certification.
Nestle USA’s California-based beverage division opened its $359 million liquid processing facility in the spring, providing 300 new jobs in Anderson, Ind.
The Stellar Group, Jacksonville, Fla., was the design-build contractor for the 880,000-square-foot facility, which supports sterile food manufacturing and distribution as well as computerized warehouse functions for Nestle’s flavored milk and liquid creamer products.
Subcontractors Gaylor, Inc. and Dilling Mechanical of Carmel, Ind., joined the project team to break ground in August 2007 on the 190-acre Nestle site. Facing a 17-month fast-track construction schedule, Gaylor stepped in to perform the $20 million electrical contract with only 30 percent of the electrical design completed. At times, the project required crews onsite six days a week and 10 hours a day in order to complete the facility on time. To meet U.S. Department of Agriculture food processing installation requirements, all electrical devices needed to be surface-mounted and sealed with food-grade caulk, and many conduits needed to be made of stainless steel and offset from the wall to allow for cleaning.
The city of Anderson financed a new electric substation and a rail spur, and improved site drainage and sewer capacity, to support the new facility. Using high-speed equipment conveyors, the bottle manufacturing line can produce up to 46,000 plastic bottles per hour on five production lines.
In January, Great Wolf Resorts, Inc. opened the doors to an impressive 450,000-square-foot family resort in Grapevine, Texas, built in only 17 months.
Turner Construction Co. was the general contractor for the hotel and water park shell, and The Neuman Group of Beaver Dam, Wis., built the aquatics and water park features.
On a 52-acre site, the project team overcame difficult soil conditions by excavating the entire water park footprint and replacing it with conditioned structural fill.
The $160 million lodge stands eight stories tall, with a five-story open atrium space including themed restaurants and a central fireplace. Guests can take advantage of 402 suites and 10,000 square feet of meeting and banquet space.
The 80,000-square-foot indoor water park includes 11 waterslides and seven pools, uses 435,000 gallons of heated water and filters more than half a million gallons of water per hour. Laminated wood beams and steel girder trusses support the water park’s all-wood ceiling. The resort also offers an outdoor water park, a spa, a fitness center and a video arcade.
Dallas-area subcontractors included Baker Drywall Dallas, Ltd.; Bratton Steel; Chamberlin Roofing and Waterproofing, Ltd.; WM Masters & Associates; Overhead Doors; Resource Flooring Group; Schindler Elevator Corporation; Sigma Marble; System Electric; Trainor Glass Co.; Tri Dal Excavation, Ltd.; Urban Concrete Contractors, Ltd.; Valleycrest Landscape Development and Woodhaus, Inc.
Turner currently is wrapping up construction of a 203-suite expansion and additional conference space to open in January 2009.
This fall marked the completion of the nation’s first memorial commemorating the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the United States. Seeking input from the families of the 184 Pentagon and American Airlines Flight 77 victims, Kaseman Beckman Amsterdam Studio, winner of the memorial design competition, created a contemplative 2-acre Memorial Park adjacent to where the plane hit the building.
The memorial includes 184 stainless steel cantilevered benches, with names inscribed for each victim, lit by glowing pools of water underneath. The tree-lined park is organized according to the victims’ ages, with 59 name engravings facing the sky to represent the people on the plane, and 125 facing the Pentagon to represent those who worked in the building.
Balfour Beatty Construction (formerly Centex), a Fairfax, Va., general contractor, and Lee & Associates, a Washington, D.C., design and landscape architect, comprised the project’s design-build team. The Pentagon Memorial Fund, a nonprofit organization established by the victims’ families, raised $22 million for construction and $10 million for a lifetime endowment. Balfour Beatty donated $100,000 to the fund.
Suffolk Construction, West Palm Beach, Fla., is in the midst of building Met 2, a dual-tower building that is changing the Miami skyline and adding another vibrant element to the city’s urban lifestyle.
Met 2 will offer 753,000 square feet of Class A office space in a 47-story tower linked to a 42-story, five-star J.W. Marriott Marquis Hotel with 376 guest rooms. It is part of a mixed-use development named Metropolitan Miami, a partnership between MDM Development and The O’Neil Group, a real estate development and consulting company owned by basketball star Shaquille O’Neal.
The tapered towers rise from an 18-story podium that includes the office and hotel lobbies, 18,000 square feet of column-free ballroom and meeting space, retail shops, a restaurant and a 1,500-car parking garage.
Suffolk broke ground on this $325 million project in 2007 and plans to wrap up work in 2010, achieving LEED Silver certification.
When complete, the development also will include Met 1, with 447 luxury condominiums and views of the city and Biscayne Bay; Met 3, a 74-story tower with 696 residences and a Whole Foods Market; and Met Square, with 13 movie screens, shops and services.
Suffolk is overcoming difficult jobsite logistics, with Met 2 bordered by a construction site to the south, a state highway to the west, an elevated people mover transit system to the north and an active sales center to the east. The careful staging of cranes, hoists and materials has required precision in planning and project execution.
On this unique project built to provide affordable rental housing for transitional homeless and low-income families, FCI Constructors Inc., Longmont, Colo., followed sustainable guidelines to build on a 1.43-acre site in Denver’s River North district.
Once home to rail yards and industrial buildings, the district is being redeveloped by groups like the Colorado Coalition for the Homeless, the owner of the Renaissance Riverfront Lofts project.
The lofts, designed by Christopher Carvell Architects in accordance with Enterprise Green Communities’ guidelines, promote environmentally friendly construction and energy efficiency. The development is pedestrian-accessible and adjacent to public transportation.
FCI Constructors broke ground in December 2007, incorporating low-VOC paints, sealants and carpeting, ENERGY STAR-rated appliances and compact fluorescent lighting into the community’s 100 residential units. The roof uses 141 solar-powered photovoltaic panels to generate energy.
The site also includes management and residential amenities, such as a mailroom, exercise area, laundry room, common kitchen, technology lab, counseling suite and a courtyard overlooking the South Platte River.
The project was mostly funded by an Enterprise Green Communities grant issued through Denver’s Housing and Neighborhood Services.
Renaissance Riverfront Lofts will be complete in January 2009.