Education Projects Report Making Good Progress

Promoting education from public schools to universities, projects span the state; also, luxury residential, museum projects blossom.

ACC Selects SpawGlass to Build Proposed Round Rock Campus

The Austin Community College District Board of Trustees has selected SpawGlass’ Austin office as the construction manager-at-risk for the proposed ACC Round Rock campus.

ACC plans to build a new full-service campus in Round Rock, the first phase of which will include facilities for the delivery of general studies and health services curricula. The project may include facilities for advanced technology programs, computer science, fine and performing arts, and continuing education classes. The construction budget is estimated to be between $60 million and $80 million.

Programming already is under way with the Austin-based architect, Graeber, Simmons & Cowan, and construction will begin later this year if annexation is approved. ACC wants the campus to open in by the fall 2010 semester.

KAI Texas Designs Texas Woman's University Renovations

Dallas-based KAI Texas will serve as the architect and mechanical, electrical and plumbing engineer on a project to renovate a portion of the Texas Woman's University Denton campus.

Among the projects at TWU include the multi-purpose classroom and laboratory building. The project includes the complete renovation of three floors of the nine-story facility to accommodate classrooms, offices, laboratories and ancillary spaces. The cost of the renovations is estimated at $2.3 million, with construction expected to begin in November and completion in August 2009. A general contractor for the project has not been selected.

Construction Starts on The Village High School in West Houston

Houston-based Durotech Inc. began construction on the private Village High School in west Houston. Turner Partners Architecture LP of Houston designed the project.

The new high school will be open in time to celebrate the Village School's 40th year in operation. The facility is designed as a college preparatory school and will be open for ninth to 12th grades. The three-story project consists of 21 classrooms including four science lecture/labs, dance, music and visual arts studios, administrative offices as well as academic, commons, and performing arts structures - totaling 45,000 sq ft of new facilities.

Turner Partners Architecture also recently renovated The Village School's classroom and administrative buildings.

Gilbane Building Chosen for Education Village Construction

Houston-based Gilbane Building Co. was selected by Clear Creek ISD for its new Education Village – a first-of-its kind in Texas. As part of CCISD Bond 2007, the elementary, intermediate and high school will be built on the same property and share some common areas including the main kitchen preparation area, mechanical plant, and service yards, while

each campus will be separate. The site features a 105,000-sq-ft elementary school, a 176,500-sq-ft intermediate school and a 460,000-sq-ft high school. The elementary school will open in fall 2009; the intermediate school and high school opening is scheduled for fall 2010. Houston-based PBK Architects is selected as the architect of record. The project broke ground in May.

Build-to-Suit Office Space Planned for Austin Suburb

Dallas-based Koll Development Co. and Houston-based NewQuest Properties will jointly market 14 acres for corporate build-to-suit opportunities at Stone Hill Town Center, a master-planned development owned and controlled by NewQuest in Pflugerville.

Located 12 mi northeast of Austin, Stone Hill Town Center is situated next to one of the largest tollway projects in the Southwest, and serves as the center point for Pflugerville, Hutto, Round Rock and Taylor.

Stone Hill Town Center is a 196-acre mixed-use development with 1 million sq ft of retail and 36-acres of single-family housing, multi-family housing and office space. The retail portion is scheduled for completion this year.

San Antonio's SoFlo Studios Earns LEED Silver Certification

Alamo Architects and OCO Architects, both of San Antonio, earned LEED Silver certification from the U.S. Green Building Council for the firms' SoFlo Studios, a renovated industrial property on the southern edge of downtown San Antonio that house the two design firms. It is the first silver certified project in San Antonio.

SoFlo Studios was designed by the two firms to achieve LEED certification for energy use, lighting, water and material use as well as incorporating a variety of other sustainable strategies.

Trammell Crow to Deliver Austin's First Transit-Oriented Development

A rendering shows Austin’s future Midtown Commons at Crestview Station, a Crow Company, a mixed-use transit-oriented development scheduled for completion in February.

Construction started on Austin’s Midtown Commons at Crestview Station a mixed-use transit oriented development that will feature a combination of office, retail and a variety of Class A luxury residential units.

Austin-based High Street Residential - a Trammell Crow Co. subsidiary - along with San Antonio-based USAA Real Estate Co., are partnering on the project.

The 73-acre site is directly adjacent to a future Capital Metro commuter rail station that opens in the fall. The project delivery date is February 2009.

The first phase of the project, which will be oriented around the transit station, will consist of 316 residential units and 30,300 sq ft of retail space and 30,300 sq ft of office space. The development will include neighborhood public features such as a transit plaza, main street retail, pedestrian streetscapes and public bike paths alongside retail storefronts and main street facades.

Construction Under Way on Green Headquarters for Cemex in Houston

Houston-based Cemex Inc., the nation's largest cement and ready-mix company, signed a lease for its U.S. headquarters in a green-constructed building in Houston.

The new CEMEX USA headquarters will be the largest green building of its kind in Houston using Cemex's concrete. Much of the concrete will reflect more of the sun's energy during the day and does not radiate as much stored heat at night, which reduces the urban heat island effect as it decreases the building's energy usage and the demand on air-conditioning systems, especially in the summer.

The new facility is currently being constructed and will occupy 170,000 sq ft of the 325,000-sq-ft office building. The construction is expected to be completed in first quarter 2009.

Hanover Co. Purchases Land for Luxury Apartment Tower in Houston

Houston-based developer The Hanover Co. in partnership with New York-based MetLife Inc. has purchased a 1.45-acre trophy site within Houston-based Wulfe & Co.'s new BLVD Place mixed-use development.

The Hanover Co. plans to break ground on a 37-story, luxury leasable tower in the fall with construction scheduled to be completed in 2011. The project will serve as a key multi-family rental component for BLVD Place, which is now under construction in the heart of Uptown Houston at San Felipe and Post Oak.

Its 236 apartments will feature the fit and finish of a luxury home and average 1,650 sq ft. In the final planning stages, the building is being designed by Chicago architectural firm Solomon Cordwell Buenz.

Duke Realty Awarded Department of Veterans' Affairs Clinic Contract

The Government Solutions Division awarded the contract to develop and manage the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs' new Outpatient Clinic in Fort Worth to Dallas-based Duke Realty Corp.

The 213,029-sq-ft facility will be the largest clinical development currently scheduled by the VA. The two-story, build-to-suit facility will include surgical procedure rooms, outpatient recovery rooms and an energy monitoring system.

Construction on the Fort Worth Outpatient Clinic will begin in fourth quarter with occupancy anticipated for Veterans Day 2010.

Design team members for the project include Dallas-based PageSoutherlandPage and F&S Partners of Dallas.

Half-Million Sq Ft Flex Warehouse Project Starts Near DFW Airport

A joint venture between Dallas-based Jackson-Shaw and Chicago-based ORIX Real Estate Capital broke ground in early summer on a multi-phased 600,000-sq-ft flex/warehouse project on the border of Dallas Fort Worth International Airport.

The first phase of construction of Parc 114, a multi-phased flex/warehouse development in Irving is located at 6501 N. Belt Line Rd., south of SH 114 .

The development will consist of nine buildings containing nearly 600,000 sq ft of space. Phase one includes five buildings with more than 380,000 sq ft of space. MYCON General Contractors of McKinney will construct the project.

San Antonio's McNay Museum Reopens After $33.1-Mil Expansion

The McNay Art Museum in San Antonio officially reopened after a 45,000-sq-ft expansion, doubling its size. The $33.1 million Stieren Center re-opened on June 7. >> Jean-Paul Viguier, a French architect, served as the museum's lead architect. TBG, Texas' largest landscape architecture and planning firm, was responsible for designing the new outdoor sculpture gardens and other exterior features.

Other key project team members include the Paratus Group of New York, which directed the building project on behalf of the McNay; San Antonio-based Ford Powell & Carson Inc., a multi-disciplinary design firm, which served as the executive architect for the Stieren Center; and Pape-Dawson Engineers of San Antonio, which served as the consulting engineers.

Speed Fab-Crete Completes Construction of Fort Worth Church

Fort Worth-based Speed Fab-Crete recently completed construction of Christ Community Church Southwest in Fort Worth.

The 11,000-sq-ft facility contains a fellowship hall, classrooms and offices. Speed Fab-Crete's precast concrete wall building system was used to form the center's exterior.

CAMPO Approves Funding for 183A Bicycle and Pedestrian Pathway

Cedar Park's CAMPO Policy Board awarded $1.2 million in bicycle and pedestrian funding to the Central Texas Regional Mobility Authority to help fund phase one of a bicycle and pedestrian pathway along the 183A toll road in Williamson County. The $2.4 million dollar pathway will stretch from 183A at Brushy Creek to FM 1431 in Cedar Park. The balance of the funding will come from the Mobility Authority, which sold more than $227 million in bonds to build the 183A project.

The Mobility Authority has completed design work on the trail and is working to finalize the necessary funding agreements. The trail will be 10 ft wide and will have a concrete surface. Construction of the trail is expected to begin in the fall and should take less than a year to complete.

Ronald McDonald House of Dallas Breaks Ground

Construction started recently on the new Ronald McDonald House of Dallas. HKS Architects of Dallas designed the new 60-family, 66,000-sq-ft-house.

Omniplan Completes Second Phase of Watermark Church Master Plan

Phase two of construction of the 2,100-seat worship facility for Watermark Community Church in Dallas was recently completed. The facility was master planned and designed by Omniplan

Dallas-based Omniplan completed phase two of construction of a 2,100-seat worship facility for Watermark Community Church in Dallas. Master planned and designed by Omniplan, the expansion will accommodate worship services on an 11.5-acre campus where administrative, children's education and adult education occupy an existing eight-story office tower that was renovated.

Phase two of the interim worship building will convert into a children's education and worship building and a future worship building.

Phase three of the campus will be a 250,000-sq-ft complex of including a 3,500-seat worship auditorium, a 500-seat multi-purpose room, a 350-seat chapel, converted children's education building and 20,000-sq-ft town center-style lobby.

Consultants include Kimley Horn and Associates, civil engineers of Dallas; L.A. Fuess Partners, structural engineering, Dallas; Blum Consulting Engineers, mechanical, electrical and plumbing engineer of Dallas; Acoustic Dimensions, audio visual of Dallas; and Deshazo, Tang & Associates, traffic engineering of Dallas.

McCarthy Tops Out Dallas Center for the Performing Arts Theatre

McCarthy Building Cos. of Dallas recently topped out on the Dallas Center for the Performing Arts Dee and Charles Wyly Theatre, an 80,300-sq-ft multi-form theater facility. Upon completion, the 600-seat venue will provide a new home for the Dallas Theater Center, Dallas Black Dance Theatre and Anita N. Martinez Ballet Folklorico, as well as numerous other performing arts organizations that serve Dallas and the region.

The Wyly Theatre is designed by REX/OMA, Joshua Prince-Ramus (partner in charge) and Rem Koolhaas, in collaboration with Houston-based firm Kendall Heaton.