A groundbreaking ceremony was recently held by Toyota Motor Manufacturing Texas Inc. to celebrate the construction of a new 2,000-acre plant in San Antonio. In February, Toyota announced the San Antonio site for its newest North American location to build full-sized Toyota Tundra pickups. During the festivities, the plant's president and plans for a visitors' center were announced. Toyota also capped a week of donations totaling $500,000 by presenting a check for $100,000 to the San Antonio Economic Development Foundation.

Toyota Motor Manufacturing Held Groundbreaking Ceremony

Toyota Motor Manufacturing Texas Inc. recently held a groundbreaking ceremony for its 2,000-acre plant site in San Antonio, which was announced in February. The new plant represents an $800 million investment by Toyota.

The plant is expected to build an estimated 150,000 Tundra full-sized pickups annually, beginning in 2006. Approximately 2,000 new jobs will be created directly, as well as many more indirectly.

During the festivities, the plant's president and plans for a visitors' center were announced. The new president is Hidehiko "T.J." Tajima.

Toyota also capped a week of donations totaling $500,000 by presenting a check for $100,000 to the San Antonio Economic Development Foundation.

Top Texas dignitaries and Toyota officials, including Gov. Rick Perry
and Dr. Shoichiro Toyoda, honorary chairman of Toyota Motor Corp.
and son of the company's founder, attended the "Texas Tundra Tailgate Party," complete with all the trappings of a football game in Texas.

"Seventy years ago my father realized a dream by expanding Toyoda
Automatic Loom Works into an auto manufacturing company," Toyoda said.
"But in 1933 not even he could envision that his son would one day be standing on a Texas ranch, shovel in hand, about to break ground with 1,000 friends.

Site preparation will begin on the plant site probably in February, and contractors for the project will be chosen by the middle of the year.

C.F. Jordan / Forest City Enterprises Partnership Awarded $358 Military Contract

C.F. Jordan, LP and Forest City Enterprises Inc., through their partnership, Hawaii Military Communities, LLC, have been awarded a $358 million contract to build and renovate nearly 2,000 U.S. Navy homes on Oahu, Hawaii.

Phase one of the contract involves the construction of more than 900 new homes and the renovation of more than 1,000 homes over the next four years. Construction is scheduled to begin in 2004.

The HMC partnership was also selected by the Department of the Navy for "exclusive negotiations" for what the Navy calls a "public-private venture." If successful in negotiating future phases of the Navy project, the total value of the contracts could approach $1 billion.

HMC will own, manage and maintain the homes for 50 years. HMC teamed with 18 Hawaii-based businesses, including master planners, architects, engineers and construction managers, to develop its bid for the Navy contract.

Cadence McShane Completes Second High Velocity Parts Distribution Center

Cadence McShane Corp. of Dallas recently completed a second high-velocity parts distribution center for Catellus Development Corp. on behalf of its client, Ford Motor Co.

The new 223,200-sq.-ft. building is located on a 14.44-acre site within Perimeter Park in Shawnee, Kan. The facility features a 30-ft. clear height to accommodate the extensive racking systems housing approximately 31,000 of Ford's fastest-moving auto parts.

Thirteen external docks and one drive-in door facilitate the extensive shipping and distribution operations. The tiltwall facility also features an 11,500-sq.-ft. office component to house administrative and operational support for the distribution center.

The Cadence McShane team was led by project manager Roger Pavlovich, project engineer Matthew Thomas and superintendent Gary Stephens.

Alliance Architects Inc. of Dallas provided the architectural services for the high-profile project. Cadence McShane also completed a similar 252,000-sq.-ft. high-velocity distribution center within the Alliance Gateway Business Park in Fort Worth in 2002.

Building Materials Show Artsy Side

A new exhibit at the National Building Museum in Washington, D.C., takes an unorthodox look at traditional building materials such as stone, tile, brick and concrete block.

Four architects who worked with teams of engineers and master masonry craftworkers created the designs on view through April 4.

Chicago architect Jeanne Gang joined forces with aeronautical engineer Peter Heppel and Thornton-Tomasetti Engineers' Faz Ehsan to design the marble structure designed like a jigsaw piece, which blends stone, woven glass fiber and resin.

The translucent marble curtain has 600 interlocking pieces that hang in tension from the ceiling. "We pushed the material to the limits," Ehsan said.

Source: Engineering News-Record

CORRECTIONS:
In the feature article (Nov., pg. 24), "Medical Facilities Prepare for Flooding," the width of the aluminum floodgates in the loading-dock area at Memorial Hermann Hospital was incorrectly reported as being 34 in. wide. The gates are 34 ft. wide. The same mistake was made on the caption under the photographs on pg. 25.