Big-D Breaks Ground on Unified State Lab Project

Several projects in Intermountain region have recently gotten underway, including BYU IT building, a Utah Law Enforcement Memorial, Garden Valley School, Hurst Center at WSU, among others.

Salt Lake City-based Big-D Construction has broken ground on the Unified State Laboratory facility located at 4501 South 2700 West in Salt Lake City. The facility is being designed and constructed through a hybrid collaborative design process by VCBO Architecture, Smith Group and Big-D Construction, and managed in partnership with the State of Utah Division of Facilities and Construction Management.

The 82,000-sq-ft Unified State Laboratory Module I contains a variety of public health laboratories including wet and dry training laboratories, as well as chemistry, biology, and forensic toxicology labs. In addition, the facility will house administrative offices, conference areas, common spaces and building support.

Laboratory facilities have unique requirements that are integral to the design and construction of the project, including safety features to address hazardous and biohazardous materials; security at building entry points; efficiency features such as bench and lab workstations; and laboratory-specific systems for exhaust, water and refrigeration. All of these requirements are designed and built into the Unified State Laboratory facility. As desired by laboratory staff, this three-story building includes a variety of highly specialized laboratory space with collaborative areas, sustainable features, and abundant natural light and views.

R&O Begins Hurst Center Project at WSU

Ogden-based R&O Construction has begun construction on the Hurst Center for Lifelong Learning on the Weber State University campus. The 41,255-sq-ft building is the first new building to address administrative space shortfalls on the campus in over 35 years. The Hurst Center will house the Division of University Relations and some of the Continuing Education Department support staff.

MHTN Architects designed the new building with characteristics of the neighboring Lindquist Alumni Center, yet with its own style. A new parking lot west of the Alumni Center is also part of the construction contract, and will be open in mid-August 2008 to accommodate parking for the fall semester. The project is aiming for LEED certification, a new mandate issued for all new WSU projects. Challenges, according to Joe Bauman of R&O, include working in tight site conditions with little or no staging area, along with keeping track of LEED points.

The $6 million project is expected to be completed by April 2009.

North Airport Business Park in Full Swing

Nichols Building of Cedar City, Utah is constructing the North Airport Business Park, an approximately $10 million project located just north of the Cedar City airport, the second largest airport in Utah.

The project consists of a steel and wood frame structure, along with tilt-up concrete that provides a nice façade to the project. Out front will be retail space, ideal for a showroom, with second level office space, a warehouse and light industrial buildings in back. The industrial location where the 200,000-sq-ft, 12-acre project is located is aimed at housing businesses that serve the construction industry. The project is anticipated to be completed in early 2010.

Groundbreaking Held for Utah Law Enforcement Memorial

The Utah Law Enforcement Memorial Board held a groundbreaking ceremony May 15 for their new memorial on the west lawn of the Utah State Capitol Building. The memorial will honor Utah police officers who have died in the line of service.

The Utah Law Enforcement Memorial began in 2006 when construction on the state Capitol necessitated the relocation of the original memorial located in the Capitol Rotunda. Since then a committee of volunteers has worked tirelessly on the $1.3 million project, funded by donations, to honor the line of duty deaths of more than 125 police officers. The new Granite memorial, flanked by three statues, will include Bronze plaques bearing the names of each of the Officers who made the ultimate sacrifice.

Speakers scheduled for the ceremony included Tom Patterson, executive director of the Utah Department of Corrections, Terry Maio from Kennecott Utah Copper and Robert Kirby, Historian for the Utah Law Enforcement Memorial Board.

The project team includes the Utah State Preservation Board, Capitol Restoration Group, general contractor Sahara Inc., Cache Valley Electric, Kepco+, Western Star Construction and ACE Landscaping, along with Kennecott Utah Copper and Lena Toritch, the project sculptor. The project is scheduled for completion by September 2008.

Garden Valley School Underway

A groundbreaking ceremony for the Garden Valley School District’s new facility was held May 31 at the new school site directly across from the existing school in Garden Valley, Idaho. After a dozen unsuccessful bond elections, the voters of Garden Valley finally passed the bond to construct this new $12.9 million, 61,500-sq-ft, single-story structure serving grades pre-K through 12 last November. Boise-based architect CSHQA has been involved with the school district since 1993 and has assisted the district with several pre-bond designs for their facilities and miscellaneous contracts.
CSHQA principal, Jim Murray, leads the design team and will provide construction support, along with construction manager, Dennis Robinson of Boise-based CM Company. An early summer 2009 target has been set for the project completion date.

Veterans Nursing Home Dedicated

A new million dollar addition to the Utah State Veteran’s Nursing Home in Salt Lake was dedicated recently, as a tribute to its occupants for their sacrifices made for our country and its freedom. This project is an overall collaborative effort, with its funding from multiple sources, including a prior state legislature grant-rider, a generous donation from the LDS Church, and a contribution from the Veterans Association.

Salt Lake-based Eaton Architecture’s design configuration was inspired by the residents - the veterans, who predominately served in WWII and the Korean War. These individuals needed a place for worship, solace and social activities. It is extra space for holiday celebrations, cultural functions, intellectual opportunities, and enjoyment.

Jeff Hanson, state officer and director, stated during the dedication “I appreciate this space very much. I feel a reverence inside of it.”

Garff Construction of Salt Lake City was the general contractor on the project.

Cameron Begins Construction on Medical Rehab Center

Cameron Construction of Salt Lake City has started construction of a 30,000-sq-ft medical rehabilitation center in Clearfield, Utah. This facility is constructed of wood frame exterior walls with steel section columns and beams. The building will consist of a basement, main floor and second floor with 30 patient rooms and auxiliary facilities for patient care and rehabilitation. The owner of the facility is Thatcher Brook Home Health and Hospice and the architect is L.K. Sorensen Associates, Inc. The project is scheduled for completion in December 2008.

Pedestrian Bridge Underway in Salmon

Crews from Idaho Construction Company Inc. of Kimberly, Idaho expect to build a bicycle/pedestrian bridge over the east channel of the Salmon River south of the existing U.S. 93 bridge in Salmon this year, the Idaho Transportation Department (ITD) recently announced. The structure will connect Town Square Park on the east bank of the river to Island Park.

The bridge will be a single‑span structure of capstone design (steel with wood deck), approximately 220-ft long by 11-ft wide. Foundation placement will be such that no work will take place below the ordinary high-water mark of the channel. The structure meets the Lemhi County flood plain development ordinance.

Construction depends on delivery of the steel bridge, probably in late summer. Crews will complete foundation and abutment work before the bridge's anticipated arrival and later will use large cranes to set the structure. The bridge will align with Van Dreff Street east of the river, permitting access from commercial areas in Salmon.

Reliance Metalcenter Undergoing Expansion

Reliance Metalcenter is undergoing a substantial expansion to its existing facility in Salt Lake City that will greatly increase the company’s production capacity. The expansion is being delivered by the design-build team of Layton Construction of Sandy, Utah and GSBS Architects of Salt Lake City, with an anticipated completion date in the late summer of 2008.

Reliance Metalcenter is a diversified metals processor and distributor and is a division of Reliance Steel & Aluminum Co., one of the largest metals service center companies in the United States. The Salt Lake City division delivers daily throughout Utah, Wyoming, Idaho and Nevada and has been acknowledged for several years as possessing the area’s most complete carbon steel inventory and processing capabilities. Reliance Metalcenter is equipped with its own fleet of 18 trucks, two leveling lines, four plasma/acetylene oxygen plate burners, two saws and two shears.

For the expansion, Layton Construction will add an additional 60,000-sq-ft of floor space to Reliance Metalcenter’s existing 110,000-sq-ft facility. The expansion includes a new railroad spur that will accommodate larger and more cost-effective deliveries and be accessible to additional under-roof storage and crane capacity. The expansion will also increase Reliance Metalcenter’s output capabilities with the addition of three truck lanes as well as four bridge cranes that will be used to unload trains and load incoming and outgoing trucks. The addition will house Reliance Metalcenter’s new technologically advanced panel flat laser-quality leveling line and have high-definition plasma plate cutting capabilities as well as various other equipment upgrades.

CM Company Building Sienna Elementary

A different concept in public schools, the new Sienna Elementary Magnet School in Meridian, Idaho will educate students from K-8th grade. This prototype ‘magnet’ school is one of several that have been created by the public school system to exist outside of zoned school boundaries. Usually, magnet schools have something special to offer over a regular school, which makes attending them an attractive choice to many students.

CM Company of Boise broke ground in November on the school and will finish it in time for the beginning of school in August. Jackie Phelps of CM Company says the compressed schedule is the one of the biggest challenges the construction team faces.

The $10.9 million school will be a single level, 70,000-sq-ft brick and wood framed building. The gymnasium is structural brick, and the rest of the building will have a matching brick façade. In addition, this project is the first of its kind in Idaho to incorporate the use of pervious concrete for the parking lot, instead of asphalt. Typically used in the Northwest, pervious concrete allows for water to seep through, helping control stormwater run off.

IT Services Building Underway at BYU

Ground has been broken for the Office of Information Technology Services Building at Brigham Young University in Provo, a new 80,000-sq-ft, three story building to house the campus IT personnel currently in other buildings scattered around campus. This effort will co-locate many of the University’s IT services and personnel into a building specifically designed for their needs. The building is being constructed on a university-owned site between University Avenue and Canyon Road, adjacent to the newly complete LDS Philanthropies Building.

Designed by Salt Lake City-based MHTN Architects, Inc., the building is geographically separate from the main campus with a distinctive design that reflects the fact that it is the home of the IT services providers. BYU challenged the design team to provide a solution that evoked a sense of simplicity and elegance, while displaying the power of current technology and good design.

The building exterior skin is primarily curtain wall glazing to provide light-filled, optimum views for all occupants. Brick masonry veneer, matching the campus standard brick, and metal panels provide visual emphasis and connectivity to other BYU campus buildings.

The interior design solution incorporates an open office theme, providing clear views to the exterior window walls for all occupants of the building. There are very few enclosed offices on each floor and those that are included do not block views for others on each floor plate. Building services and auxiliary spaces have been moved to the interior core of each floor plate, to maintain the unobstructed views to the exterior. This design solution also offers maximum flexibility to rearrange workstations as work groups and projects frequently demand.

The project is being constructed by Big-D Construction of Salt Lake City.

Gallery Condo Project Begins in Ketchum

Salt Lake-based Okland Construction and Seattle-based Justen Company have been contracted to build the Gallery 260 Condominiums in Ketchum, Idaho. The $14.2 million project will house a street level art gallery, retail shops, three floors of 22 condominiums (each about 2,200-sq-ft) and seven deed-restricted residential units, with the entire building totaling 60,000-sq-ft. Structurally, the building will be wood framed, with post-tension concrete and finished with cedar and decorated concrete. Complicated shoring and re-shoring for the underground parking lot makes the project difficult for now, since Ketchum City has issued a foundation-only permit, which allows just the ground level to be built on the estimated 18-month project.

New Star Building Agio Project in Park City

The new mixed-use condominium/retail development at 260 Main in Park City, Utah is being referred to as ‘Agio’, meaning comfort, ease and leisure in Italian. Salt Lake-based New Star General Contractors, in partnership with Elliott Workgroup Architecture, broke ground last October, and plans to complete the project by December 2008.

The Agio will be made up of four 12,000-sq-ft levels, with underground parking. Made from precast hollow core slabs, the building will be completed with masonry and steel accents. The location, says project manager Gene Mietchem, makes for a complicated construction process. “The building is built on a skew, and we are drilling down 30- to 40-ft to anchor it,” he says. The Agio is part of the new retail/residential sites erected in the historic old town area, joining such spaces as the Claim Jumper Town Homes, another contemporary flagship property.

Deer Valley Investing $8 Million in Resort Improvements

Having concluded another successful ski season, Deer Valley Resort is looking forward to the 2008-09 season with more than $8 million planned for resort improvements this summer.

Headlining that list includes a remodel of the Empire Canyon Lodge, along with a replacement of the existing Cushing’s Cabin, two popular dining areas for guests. Salt Lake-based Jacobsen Construction is the general contractor on both projects.

“Even though we’ve just begun to enjoy our summer season here at Deer Valley, we’re already thinking ahead to our next ski season, and striving to improve our guests’ winter vacation experience,” says Bob Wheaton, resort president and general manager. “Last summer, we installed the new high-speed detachable quad chairlift, Lady Morgan Express, and created eight new ski runs in the Empire Canyon area. Our improvements this summer are more subtle, but just as important to providing a top notch guest experience.”

Another key improvements this summer is the replacement of the main snowmaking line from the Snow Park Lodge (base) area to the top of Carpenter Express and Silver Lake Express chairlifts. Since 1990, Deer Valley has invested nearly $123 million in resort improvements.

Pavement Rehab on Idaho 51 in Progress

A pavement rehabilitation project on Idaho 51 in Owyhee County to extend the life of the roadway began June 9, the Idaho Transportation Department announced. During the work, 8.5 miles of the highway will be repaved from the Duck Valley Indian Reservation to Sheep Creek Road just north of the reservation. The pavement rehabilitation will use the CRABS (Cement Recycled Asphalt Base Stabilization) process. CRABS involves grinding the existing roadway down to the gravel base, then adding cement to the old asphalt.

Debco Construction of Twin Falls is the contractor on this $2.1 million project, which is expected to finish in mid-July.