Military Expansions Continue to March Across Texas

From a research lab in San Antonio to an armed forces reserve complex in Houston, military projects start construction. Infrastructure projects from airports to ports also keeping Texas companies at work. Also, Sysco headquarters earns LEED-gold certification.

Sysco Foods’ HQ: Largest LEED Gold New Construction Project in Houston

Sysco Foods’ new 595,600-sq-ft corporate headquarters combines offi ce and specialty-use space.

Houston-based Sysco Foods’ headquarters recently earned LEED-gold status by the U.S. Green Building Council, making it the largest project in greater Houston to achieve LEED gold for new construction.

Led by a team of Houston companies, the project’s design firms including architect HOK Houston, Kendall/Heaton Associates Inc. as the architect of record and Kirksey Architecture for interior. The project was built by D.E. Harvey Builders, also of Houston.

The new 595,600- sq-ft corporate office headquarters combines office and specialty-use space to form a two-tower complex. Two glass towers float above stone-clad bases, one 12 stories and the other eight. They are placed opposite each other across a street and linked by a glass-enclosed pedestrian bridge. A two-story amenities building, an adaptive re-use of the previously existing Sysco building, includes a display kitchen, conference center, meeting rooms, and the main public and vendor lobbies, which are directly attached to the eight-story tower.

“LEED is a holistic approach to the design and construction of new buildings that focuses on five main categories: sustainable sites; water efficiency; energy & atmosphere, materials & resources; and indoor environmental quality,” Roger Soto, HOK senior vice president and design director, told Texas Construction.

The design components strove to maximize the sustainable benefits, while meeting the project scope and design metrics, Soto says. Design components in sustainable sites include providing reserved parking spaces to promote carpooling and the use of low emitting/fuel efficient vehicles, bike storage and shower facilities, a dual purpose detention/retention pond to manage the quantity and improve the quality of storm water runoff, vegetated open space, and an energy star compliant highly reflective roof.

“One of the most significant aspects of this project achieving LEED Gold is that it demonstrates that business goals and sustainable goals are highly compatible,” Daniel E. Mills, HOK sustainability manager, told Texas Construction. “The project serves as a roadmap for other corporations and developers. It shows that a project focused on the bottom line can still achieve the highest levels of LEED.”

The Sysco project also has one of the largest successful installations of under-floor air distribution in the region. That should give other corporations and developers confidence in implementing a similar strategy, he adds.

In an owner occupied building reducing operational expenses can result in significant annual savings over the lifetime of the building, Soto says.

Reducing water usage results in consistently lower bills. In Houston improving energy efficiency has the greatest return on investment since our hot and humid climate means that buildings expend a huge amount of energy on cooling,” Mills says. “Beyond cost savings, green buildings create healthier, more productive work environments, increase employee retention, help recruit new talent and serve as an outward display of a company's corporate social responsibility and commitment to its employees, shareholders and the environment.”

LAN Provides MEP, Fire Protection Services for Armed Forces Reserve Complex

Houston-based planning, engineering and program management firm Lockwood, Andrews & Newnam Inc. will provide mechanical, electrical and plumbing and fire protection services for the new Armed Forces Reserve Complex, phase two, at Ellington Field in Houston.

The design-build project consists of 10 buildings and associated site improvements required for Army Reserve, Navy, Marine Corps Reserve and National Guard support and training missions. It includes a training center building, entry-control facility, welcome center, battle-projection center, vehicle-maintenance building, vehicle-holding shed and one heated and three unheated storage buildings.

LAN - a Leo A Daly company - will be responsible for electrical design, heating, ventilation and air conditioning design, as well as lighting design, plumbing/fire protection and telecommunication and data design services. Houston-based Gensler will provide architecture services for the project; Houston-based Walter P. Moore will serve as the structural and civil engineer; SpawGlass of Houston will serve as the contractor. The construction of the approximately $48.4-million project began in April and is slated for a November 2010 completion.

Skanska Provides Design Build Services for $45-Million Texas Laboratory

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in Fort Worth awarded a $61.2-million contract for the design and construction of a Tri-Service Research Laboratory at Fort Sam Houston.

The San Antonio office of Skanska Brandt Engineering will oversee the contract. Skanska says its part of the project is about $45 million.

The project includes the design and construction of a total of about 18,000 sq meters of research laboratory space. The construction phase will begin in August with expected completion in March 2011.

The Department of Defense is in the process of building the Medical Education and Training Campus at Fort Sam Houston, which will consist of a total of 420,000 sq ft.

Austin Commercial to Build $425 Million Terminal at Los Angeles International

Austin Commercial was selected as the construction manager-at-risk for the new $425 million, 1.5-million-sq-ft Bradley West Terminal project at Los Angeles International Airport.

The terminal will include 10 gates with concourse area and passenger boarding areas. Preconstruction will end in early 2010 with construction starting soon thereafter.

The team for the Bradley West Terminal includes joint venture partner Walsh Construction of Chicago and Fentress Architects of Denver as the designer.

In 2005, Austin Commercial completed the 2.1-million-sq-ft International Terminal D at D/FW International Airport.

McCarthy Erecting Port Freeport Velasco Terminal Project

Port Freeport is one of the fastest-growing ports on the Gulf Coast and is currently ranked as the 16th largest port in the U.S. in terms of foreign tonnage.

Dallas-based McCarthy Building Cos. Inc. reached the mid-way point of construction on the Velasco Terminal (phase one, berth seven) project for Port Freeport, an 800-ft by 109-ft wharf that will be utilized for unloading container ships.

Port Freeport is one of the fastest-growing ports on the Gulf Coast and is currently ranked as the 16th largest port in the U.S. in terms of foreign tonnage.

The project will give Port Freeport the capability to unload one to two container ships per day. The new Velasco Terminal will allow up to 730 additional container ships to be unloaded at Port Freeport each year.

The wharf will be constructed on 796 auger cast piles measuring more than 100 ft deep. The front wall will be a combination of steel sheet pile and a cast-in-place concrete wall. McCarthy is also completing a marine building.

One of the challenges of the project will be installing the precast concrete and steel piles in the correct location at a productive rate.

The piles are unusually long for a project of this type, measuring over 100 ft deep.

Another obstacle involves accessing the site and drainage and ensuring the site surface remains relatively dry for construction. Because of the site’s location off the Gulf Coast, McCarthy will be tasked with preparing the project for high-wind resistance.

Phase one of the Port Freeport Velasco Terminal wharf is scheduled for completion in August.

Irvine Team Completes Ford’s Theatre Renovation Project

Renovations to Ford’s Theatre in Washington, D.C., included new theatrical rigging, sound and lighting systems.

Houston-based Irvine Team recently completed a massive renovation to the 144-year-old Ford’s Theatre — the site of Abraham Lincoln’s assassination — in Washington, D.C. In 2005, Irvine Team was hired to work in tandem with the National Park Service and its theatre production partner, Ford’s Theatre Society.

Irvine Team’s renovations enhanced and modernized the facility to include a spacious lobby and theatre entrance, new theatrical rigging, sound and lighting systems, improved heating and air conditioning systems and new theatre seating and upgrades compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Tellepsen Wins Methodist Hospital Contract for New Central Utility Plant

Houston-based builder Tellepsen, in conjunction with the company’s industrial division, Tellepsen Industrial, will build a new central utility plant on the campus of The Methodist Hospital in the Texas Medical Center.

The central utility plant project involves replacing a 2,000-ton chiller with a 2,800-ton steam-turbine-driven chiller, building a natural-gas fueled co-generation system, heat recovery boiler, seven cooling towers and four new condenser and chilled-water pumps.

Additional electric work consists of load balancing the new and existing equipment for the co-generation system, cooling towers, pumps and variable frequency drives.

Sustainable Garage Completed for Witte Museum

The Brackenridge Park parking facility includes a ticket booth for the Brackenridge Park Eagle miniature train, which connects the park to the San Antonio Zoo.

The Brackenridge Park Parking Facility in San Antonio recently opened its new three-level, 325-space facility to serve the Witte Museum and Brackenridge Park destinations in the Alamo City.

The parking facility includes a ticket booth for the Brackenridge Park Eagle miniature train, which connects the park to the San Antonio Zoo. This encourages tourists to visit the zoo and experience the park’s scenic forest during their ride.

Design Architect Lake|Flato of San Antonio and Austin-based ParkingPlanners created the vision for the garage, which blends into the surrounding woods through the use of native plant materials on the metal screen façade.

Skanska Completes Construction of Methodist Stone Oak Hospital

Skanska USA Building Inc. completed the Methodist Stone Oak Hospital in San Antonio - the first new facility built in the area in more than a decade. The facility has 132 beds.

The new design and construction allows visitors to move quickly through the outpatient service mall entrance, which provides easy access to the women’s services, admissions, treatment and testing, cardiology and same-day surgery departments.

Last fall, Skanska completed a 120,000-sq-ft office building at the hospital that houses 25 to 30 administrative offices, two conference rooms, a chapel and a dining area on the first floor. The second through fifth floors are shell space.

Smith Seckman Reid Working 10 Projects Across Three States

Houston-based engineering design and facility consulting firm Smith Seckman Reid Inc. has secured 10 projects in Texas, Florida and Tennessee.

Awarded SSR are: the Ben Taub Hospital in Houston for mechanical, electrical and plumbing/fire protection; St. Luke’s Vintage Hospital in Houston for mechanical, electrical and plumbing/fire protection; Texas Children’s Hospital Maternity Center in Houston for mechanical, electrical and plumbing/fire protection; and UT Southwest Clinical Care Tower in Dallas for mechanical, electrical and plumbing/fire protection.

The projects in Florida include work at the the Polytrauma Unit at James A. Haley Veterans Hospital in Tampa and MEP work at the Sarasota Memorial Hospital New Patient Bed Tower in Sarasota.

Projects in Tennessee include MEP work for the Memphis Bioworks Research Facilities in Memphis and civil engineering for the Headworks Building for the Sinking Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant in Murfreesboro.

Harwood International Breaks Ground for Harwood Luxury Homes Division

St. James Park, Sunnyvale’s first luxury development, offers two-plus acre estate lots on 124 acres of the managed estate.

Dallas-based Harwood International has launched Harwood Luxury Homes, a new residential division offering custom home building. President Chad Lavender and COO Bob Pavlis teamed with Dallas-based architect Boerder-Snyder to create luxury homes in the Dallas suburb of Sunnyvale in Uptown Dallas.

St. James Park, Sunnyvale’s first luxury development, offers two-plus acre estate lots on 124 acres of the managed estate.

Ziegler Cooper Architects Designs Arch-Con’s Headquarters

Ground broke on an office building for Houston-based Arch-Con Corp., a general contractor that provides design and construction services for a variety of commercial projects.

The new office is a result of Arch-Con’s expanding staff. Located on a half-acre in the River Oaks area of Houston, the three-story building will total 21,000-sq-ft. No targeted completion date was announced.

Rowland Cos. Completes Construction on Hillside Community Church

Fort Worth-based Rowland Cos. completed construction on the expansion of the Hillside Community Church campus in Keller. The church is located on a nine-acre campus and includes a new 45,000-sq-ft worship center and an educational wing.

The new tilt-up concrete structure includes a glass front community space, administrative offices, coffee bar, green room, stage, mezzanine and 150 parking spaces. PSA Dewberry of Dallas and Ascent Solution Group of Southlake partnered with Rowland on the project.

Construction for the remodel started in February 2008.