New Federal Courthouses to Appear in El Paso, Austin

(Judges groundbreaking): From left to right: U.S. District Court Judges Cardone, Martinez, Briones and Montavo at a groundbreaking ceremony for the new $74 million federal courthouse in El Paso. Caddell Construction is the project’s general contractor.

Designs were recently unveiled for the new U.S. courthouse in Austin, while construction recently began on a new U.S. courthouse in El Paso.

U.S. Courthouses Planned in Texas

(Austin Courthouse from Southeast): A rendering shows the federal courthouse planned for Austin. (Image courtesy of Mack Scogin Merrill Elam Architects of Atlanta, Ga.)

New federal courthouses projects are in the works in Austin and El Paso. Designs were recently unveiled for the future U.S. courthouse in Austin. The 211,690-sq.-ft. building is expected to cost $63 million and construction is scheduled to begin in 2008. Mack Scogin Merrill Elam Architects of Atlanta, Ga., was chosen to design the new courthouse in collaboration with PageSoutherlandPage and Architectural Engineers Collaborative, both of Austin.

The seven-story building will house a special proceedings courtroom, four district courtrooms and three magistrate courtrooms, jury assembly facilities as well as associated facilities for the District Clerk, U.S. Probation, U.S. Pretrial, U.S. Marshals Service, U.S. Attorney, Federal Public Defender and General Services Administration.

Meanwhile, a groundbreaking in El Paso in March marked the beginning of construction on a new $74 million U.S. courthouse. Substantial completion of the nearly 240,000-sq.-ft. facility with nine courtrooms and 11 chambers is scheduled for early 2009. Caddell Construction Co. of Montgomery, Ala., is the general contractor.

ACCD Selects Program Manager

The team of Austin-based Broaddus & Associates and San Antonio-based Project Control of Texas was selected by the 89,000 student-Alamo Community College District to lead the development of two campuses totaling $231 million in construction.

The architect for the Northwest Vista Campus is San Antonio-based Alamo Architects. Another local team, Overland Partners-Lake/Flato, is the designer for the Northeast Campus. The general contractor has not yet been chosen.

Broaddus + Project Control will manage construction of a new campus in northeast San Antonio, as well as major additions to the Northwest Vista College. Both campus programs are a part of a bond program approved by voters last year.

The Northeast College program includes $125 million for a new ground-up campus located along the IH-35 corridor, which previously had no community college presence.

The Northwest Vista College encompasses $106 million of improvements, including several academic buildings, a theatre and fine arts complex, a library and learning center and a student commons building.

Robins & Morton New Projects

Robins & Morton of Dallas recently announced it has been selected as the general contractor for two new health-care projects--a new hospital for Hillcrest Health System in Waco and an acute care hospital for Sierra Providence East in El Paso.

The Hillcrest Health System project in Waco will include a new 89-bed women's and children's hospital, a 198-bed community hospital and 12 additional VIP suites. Construction on the $115 million facility is scheduled to begin in the summer and complete in 2009.

The new 100-bed acute care hospital, Sierra Providence East, is owned by Tenet Healthcare. Construction on the $66 million facility is scheduled to begin this month with completion slated for 2008.

Robins & Morton is nearing completion on five additional Texas hospital projects totaling $123 million: A 125-bed replacement hospital for Peterson Regional Medical Center in Kerrville totaling $55 million; renovations worth $6.5 million to Woodland Heights Medical Center in Lufkin; and the new $14 million Triumph Hospital Tomball in Tomball. Also, the firm is wrapping up construction on the $39 million Houston Northwest Medical Center and is on track for a May completion on another Houston project--the $8.5 million operating room and emergency room expansion and renovations for Cypress Fairbanks Medical Center.

Ascension Designs Abilene Hospital

Arlington-based Ascension Group Architects LLP is overseeing the design of Abilene Regional Medical Center's $26 million expansion and renovation project, which recently broke ground. Hoar Construction, of Birmingham, Ala., and Houston, is the general contractor.

Scheduled for completion in late 2007, the project includes the addition of 42 inpatient beds. Plans also call for the neonatal ICU to expand from eight to 16 beds and expanded capacity in the cardiology, telemetry and gastroenterology units and an outpatient surgery center.

Abilene Regional is owned by Plano-based Triad Hospitals Inc.

Brazos Ranch Apts Near Completion

Judwin Properties of Houston, developer of the Brazos Ranch Apartments in NewQuest Properties' Brazos Town Center in Houston, recently announced that local contractor Axiom Construction Co. Inc. began construction of the 308-unit multifamily project. The first phase of the gated complex will open in the summer.

The project is on a 16.2-acre site, and was designed by local architect Mucasey & Associates to reflect the Texas Hill Country theme of Brazos Town Center. Another local firm, Chin & Associates, was selected for the landscape design.