Corgan Breaks Ground on New Corporate Headquarters

The Dallas-based firm's new headquarters building is the first project to be built in the city's historic West End area in more than a decade.

Turner Breaks Ground for Corgan

A rendering shows Corgan Associates new building in Dallas’ West End. Turner Construction Co. of Dallas was selected to serve as the project’s general contractor. Image courtesy Corgan Associates Inc.

Dallas-based Corgan Associates Inc. recently broke ground on a new corporate office building in Dallas' West End. The three-story, 60,000-sq.-ft. building will be occupied solely by Corgan. The building will be the first new construction project in the historic district in more than 10 years. Occupancy is expected for January 2007 and Turner Construction Co. of Dallas has been selected as the general contractor.

A West End tenant since 1986, Corgan has had a leadership role in the continuing revitalization of downtown Dallas. Its architecture and design teams have worked on more than 100 downtown projects ranging from new construction to renovations and city planning.

The architectural style and features of the West End will be reflected in Corgan's new building. In a contemporary way, Corgan's heavily rusticated brick building will draw from area warehouses. The building's interior will feature a heavy timber structural frame typical of historic buildings in the West End. Its interior design studio spaces will feature large expanses of glass.

Corgan's new building will be LEED certified and include many environmentally sustainable, energy-conserving features such as daylighting shelves, sophisticated energy management controls, rainwater collection, sunshades and recycled building materials.

Manhattan is Tops in Temple

The Manhattan Construction Co. team, along with Scott & White Memorial Hospital officials, held a topping-out ceremony recently at the $70 million Center for Advanced Medicine project site in Temple.

The center will offer technologically advanced medical and record-keeping systems, and feature patient amenities similar to those found in a hotel. Larger rooms, more expansive family areas and a healing garden will help create a comfortable health-care center for Central Texas.

"This type of challenging work is what we are all about," said Bruce Bruning, project manager for Manhattan Construction Co. "We are proud to say we are the builders of this great facility."

The ceremony represented a significant achievement for Manhattan. With more than 22,000 cu. yds. of concrete in place and 350 workers on site, the team earned an excellent safety record with more than 215,000 man-hours dedicated to the project.

Blanton Plans April Grand Opening

The Blanton Museum of Art at The University of Texas at Austin will open to the public on April 30. The opening date for the first of two buildings, constructed by Skanska USA Building Inc., was shifted by two months, allowing time to calibrate and test the sophisticated systems that will safeguard the works of art to be presented and stored in the new museum's Michener Gallery Building.

The building project remains on budget, and the Blanton has raised more than $78 million in private and public funds toward its goal of $83.5 million.

The Gallery Building and an adjoining public plaza, already fully funded, will open to the public in April, while the Education and Visitor Pavilion is still on schedule for completion in early 2007. Construction is in an advanced stage, and remaining work primarily consists of finishing touches, testing mechanical systems and installing the Blanton's distinguished collection. Prior to the start of art installation in any new museum, heating, venting and air conditioning systems must be tested thoroughly to ensure they are functioning to the highest standards.

Piazza San Lorenzo on Track

Piazza San Lorenzo, which dubs itself "a unique Italian-style luxury community" on San Antonio's downtown River Walk, is moving closer to realization with the recent execution of core drilling to test soil samples along Soledad Street at the project site.

"As most developers know, the boring samples we are taking are preliminary to demolition and construction of the foundation of the buildings," said Chris Raba of Raba Design Group and head designer of the Piazza San Lorenzo project.

Piazza San Lorenzo is a planned River Walk community that celebrates the spirit of Italy's town centers. It will consist of residential condominium units; two- and three- bedroom private residence club units; specialty retail shops; office space; restaurants and bars; and an underground parking garage.