Education
Lord & Son is building the $19.3-million Deer Point Elementary in Panama City, Fla., for Bay District Schools.

Kraft Construction is working on a $21-million, 237,352-sq-ft remodeling project at Immokalee High School for the District School Board of Collier County in Naples. And at Florida Gulf Coast University in Fort Myers, Kraft is in the midst of constructing a $16-million, 60,000-sq-ft, four-story classroom building for the College of Arts & Sciences.

Creative Contractors expects to start construction in December on the $18-million Manatee High School Davis Building for the School District of Manatee County. The contract was awarded more than two years ago. The company has four elementary school additions for Pinellas County Schools, totaling $22 million.

Mathews Construction of Tampa finished the $12-million Palm View elementary for Manatee County Schools. The company continues work on a $10.3-million auditorium renovation at South Florida Community College in Avon Park.

“Community college projects are starting to go because of increases in student volume,” says Kim French, vice president of Mathews.

But Skanska’s Cammack says only a few projects are coming out at the K-12 level and at public universities because of budget constraints. He adds that he does not expect any change until at least July.

Other Public Projects
AGC’s Boles says energy is another strong sector in the Panhandle, where Gulf Power Co. of Pensacola, a subsidiary of Southern Co., expects completion by yearend on a $1-billion-plus scrubber system at Plant Crist in Pensacola. Black & Veatch, Overland Park, Kan., is providing engineering, procurement and construction on the project.

In addition, Escambia County approved Gulf Power’s plans to build a facility to install landfill methane gas generators that will produce 3,200 kilowatts of energy at the Perdido Landfill.

Work continues on the $330-million Panama City-Bay County International Airport relocation project. Walbridge of Tampa has topped out the 120,000-sq-ft terminal. The company’s $68.5-million contract also includes an air traffic control tower, rental car facilities, public safety building, maintenance facility, utility building and air cargo building. Mathews continues work on a $19.9-million baggage claim expansion at Tampa International Airport. The company also is building a $30-million, 212,000-sq-ft Charlotte County Jail expansion in association with Bovis Lend Lease of Tampa.

Brasfield & Gorrie of Birmingham, Ala., began work in 2008 on a $102.8-million, 22.5-million-gallons-per-day wastewater treatment facility in Cantonment for the Emerald Coast Utilities Authority. It will replace an existing plant in downtown Pensacola, which was damaged in 2004 by Hurricane Ivan.

Health Care
Sarasota Memorial Hospital, a public hospital, has announced a $186-million expansion program. Skanska expects to finish the first phase, a $60-million to $65-million central energy plant, this fall. Once complete, crews must demolish the existing energy center to make room for a 220-bed, nine-story, private-room tower, with new labor and delivery suites, a neonatal intensive care nursery and a surgery center. Skanska has been selected for the additional work. The project is scheduled to wrap up in 2013.

In Tampa, Skanska is working on an $80-million expansion to the not-for-profit H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center & Research Institute and a $30-million neonatal intensive care unit expansion at Tampa General Hospital, a public hospital.

Useful Sources:

Plant Crist
http://southerncompany.mediaroom.com/index.php?s=43&item=146

Panama City-Bay County International Airport
http://newpcairport.com/

Sarasota Memorial Hospital
http://www.smh.com/sections/corporate/Construction_Renovations/main-campus/index.html