Lockwood Andrews and Newnam Still Doing Post-Ike Work for UTMB

LAN is creating building plans for work under way and to help the Galveston-based medical school prepare for future renovations, expansions and emergencies

Recovery Work Continues at Galveston’s UTMB

More than six months since Hurricane Ike hit the Gulf Coast, recovery work continues at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston, which sustained mechanical, electrical and plumbing equipment in more than 50 of its 80 buildings on the campus.

Courtesy of LAN.

UTMB commissioned Houston-based Lockwood Andrews and Newnam to help oversee the repairs caused by Hurricane Ike.

The campus includes four schools, three institutes for advanced study, a major medical library, a network of hospitals and clinics that provide a range of primary and specialized medical care. The damage there was estimated at more than $600 million.

UTMB brought in LAN to do a detailed assessment of the MEP equipment exposed to sea water in each building.

The MEP assessment--conducted in two weeks included electric motors, transformers, blowers, pumps, compressors, coils, pans, air handlers, ductwork, feeders, disconnect switches, panel boards, circuit breakers, fuses, control panels, fire-alarm systems and variable frequency devices. The LAN team recommended a set of short-term and long-term solutions.

"UTMB called us right after Ike and asked us to assess the damage for the insurance company and FEMA to demonstrate how bad it was," Jeffrey R. Thomas, project manager of LAN, told Texas Construction. "What we did was go down in the muck and the dark and wander through about 60 buildings basically looking at anything ground floor and below as well as the roofs."

Most of the work was crawling around in basements, Thomas says.

"We were looking at pumps, pipes, air handlers and things that had been pumped," he says. "It evolved into a bunch of little projects."

After the hospital re-opened and experienced the Legionnaire's bacteria, it wanted to flush the fresh-water system in the building,. When record drawings were pulled, it was unclear which lines served what areas. “They didn't have any idea where everything went,” Thomas says.

"We had to go through all the drawings and figure out where domestic lines go into which buildings and the area was about 2-mi. square," he says. “We had a couple of projects spin off for field evaluations and to create record drawings of what is really there in some cases."

Thomas says creating the drawings has been a two-step process because they have to pull what drawings did exist and try to put them all together like a jigsaw puzzle to determine which would apply, what is most recent and where the drawings were incorrect.

"Sometimes we hit a wall and just have to go look," he said. "With the records drawings, we will provide a baseline for them when they need to do additions and renovations and they'll be better prepared."

By Tonie Auer

McCarthy to Build, Corgan to Design Dallas Performance Hall

Dallas-based McCarthy Building Cos. Inc. was selected to build the 124,000-sq-ft multiphase Dallas City Performance Hall theatre facility.

During phase one of construction 45,000 sq ft will be completed. The project is McCarthy's fourth in Dallas' Arts District and will be the first LEED-silver rated performing arts facility in Texas.

The structure will be composed of a long sweeping roof flanked by two stories of cast-in-place concrete walls. The front entrance will feature a large expanse of glass, and the finishes will consist of wood harvested from local stocks.

The City Performance Hall is expected to be complete in 2010. The architect of record for this project is Corgan Associates Inc. of Dallas and the design firm is Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP, or SOM, of Chicago.

Skanska Completes $38 Million Bell County Jail Facility

The Dallas office of Skanska USA Building Inc. recently completed the $38 million 177,000- sq-ft Bell County Jail annex in Belton with a goal of relieving overcrowding at the current facility. With both facilities operating, the county will have space for more than 1,300 inmates.

The new jail has the capacity to house 658 inmates as well as a clinic, a kitchen, laundry facilities, a courtroom and administrative offices. The structure allows for future expansion that can accommodate 600 more inmates. The facility incorporates features such as video visitation technology, a digital intercom paging system and two-story inmate housing units.

The jail project also earned Skanska an Associated Builders and Contractors of South Texas award for the project.

Corgan, Beck Group Work on Dallas Holocaust Museum in West End

Dallas-based Corgan Associates Inc. will design the new Dallas Holocaust Museum/Center for Education and Tolerance in Dallas.

Dallas-based Corgan Associates Inc. will design the new Dallas Holocaust Museum/Center for Education and Tolerance in the West End district of Dallas and the Dallas-based Beck Group will serve as the general contractor. Corgan was selected from among five other architecture firms competing to design the historically significant project.

The new 50,000-sq-ft facility will be significantly larger than the museum's current temporary location. The contemporary design will incorporate symbolic elements designed to draw attention to and support the educational messages of the museum. The project will pursue LEED certification.

Construction to Begin on $25 Million TAMU Corpus Christi Campus

Dallas-based architecture and planning firm Omniplan was selected to design and plan the $25 million O'Connor Business Building at Texas A&M University's Corpus Christi campus. The 76,000- sq-ft building will house the campus' College of Business and include classrooms, computer labs, executive education facilities, business incubators for entrepreneurial companies and faculty and administrative offices. Omniplan will design the project to meet LEED-silver certification criteria.

Since the campus is located on Texas' Gulf coast with the threat of hurricanes and salt-laden ocean air, the building's materials and structure are designed to be resistant to both. Construction is slated to begin this summer with occupancy anticipated in fall 2010.

Houston-based Parsons will provide project management to the university system and Houston-based Satterfield & Pontikes Construction Inc. will serve as construction manager.

Walton Construction Busy in Dallas with Hotel Project, Town Center

The Dallas Division of Walton Construction Co. LLC will renovate the former Adams Mark Hotel into a new Sheraton Hotel in downtown Dallas. Walton also was awarded the contract for the site work at the proposed Lake Highlands Town Center in Dallas.

The $11-million-plus Sheraton renovation began in November on the 131,000- sq-ft project. Construction is scheduled for completion by May.

The development team includes the owner, San Francisco-based The Chartres Lodging Group LLC; architect Dallas-based Leo A Daly; and project manager The John Hardy Group of Atlanta.

Walton recently completed construction on the more than $9 million Lake Highlands 70-acre construction project, which includes the building of decorative retaining walls, installing two weirs to control the water level of the two lakes, earthwork, and underground utilities. The work is part of the first phase of a planned mixed-use development.

The development team includes developer, Prescott Realty of Dallas, and the owner, the city of Dallas.

Hahnfeld Hoffer Stanford Completes Two Schools, Fort Worth Church

Fort Worth-based Hahnfeld Hoffer Stanford completed new construction on Gainesville High School and renovation/conversion project at Gainesville Junior High School. McKinney-based Pogue Construction was the contractor on the projects.

The two-phased project provides the district its first new high school since 1960, and brings new life to the former Gainesville High School building - which has been converted to the district's newest junior high school.

The $23.4 million, 181,000-sq-ft energy-efficient high school is the district's first new high school in more than 40 years.

The $4.5 million Gainesville Junior High School project preserved a district building and enhanced its use. The school will open to students at the beginning of the 2009-2010 school year.

The firm also completed an addition/renovation project for First Presbyterian Church of Fort Worth, which was established in 1873. Hahnfeld Hoffer Stanford was hired to program and design a 68,000-sq-ft addition and renovation for the congregation, including several new classrooms, tiered lecture rooms, youth center, choir room, kitchen, interior courtyards, congregating spaces and a multipurpose/worship facility.

Cadence McShane Construction Builds Four-Story Medical Facility

Dallas-based Cadence McShane Construction Company broke ground on a new 92,000-sq-ft medical office building located in Dallas. The new Class A, four-story medical office facility known as 10740 Medical Office Building will be completed in December. The facility will include an ambulatory surgery center on the fourth floor and medical office space on floors one through three.

Cadence McShane will construct the facility of concrete wall panels and an extensive glass curtain-wall entrance. Cadence McShane selected Denver-based Marasco & Associates Inc. and Alliance Architects of Richardson to provide the architectural services for the project that includes both the shell design together with the design and layout of each individual medical tenant suite.

HCSS Breaks Ground on New Houston Office Building

HCSS breaks ground on new headquarters.

Houston-based construction software developer HCSS broke ground on a new, company-owned office building on an eight-acre campus in the Houston suburb of Sugar Land. The one-story, 45,000-sq-ft building will offer amenities designed both for employees and HCSS customers. Its size will allow the company to double its workforce from the current staff of 112 employees to 220.

HCSS will move to the new location in August, vacating the Houston office building where it has rented space since 1999. Contractor for the new building is Rosenberger Construction of Sugar Land. The project's architect is Powers Brown Architecture of Houston.

Port Crossing Corporate Center Complete, Finish-Out Under Way

Recently opened Port Crossing Corporate Center, a joint venture of Houston-based National Property Holdings and ML Realty Partners signed its second tenant, Overland Distribution, which leased 103,184 sq ft at 1701 S. 16th Street in LaPorte.

Serving the Port of Houston and located between the Barbours Cut and Bayport Terminals, the industrial property features 30-ft clear heights, 60 exterior docks, significant trailer storage and access to a rail trans-loading yard.

Dallas-based Cadence McShane Corp. constructed the shell of the building and Overland's tenant improvement is being done constructed by Houston-based Corvus Construction Co.