Industry News: McCarthy Digs in on ASU Medical School’s HQ Building
The 200,000-sq-ft ASU Health headquarters will be the university’s first Phoenix medical school. It will open to students in fall 2028.
“We’ve been challenged to design a facility for emerging generations of physicians and health professionals who will embrace the latest technologies and research in their practices.”
—Jonathan Kanda, Principal, Medical Education, CO Architects
A city-owned vacant lot on the Arizona State University’s Phoenix campus will be home to a 200,000-sq-ft multistory School of Medicine and Advanced Medical Engineering facility. Designed by CO Architects in collaboration with DFDG Architecture and constructed by McCarthy Building Cos., the building will join the University of Arizona College of Medicine-Phoenix and several biotech research companies at the downtown Phoenix Bioscience Core district. Design and sitework are currently underway for the headquarters building. Groundbreaking is planned for summer 2026, with completion scheduled for summer 2028. The facility will accommodate two new programs, expanding ASU Health’s multi-discipline curricula. The school will teach future physicians how to improve patient care by blending medicine, engineering, technology and humanities. The building will include space for its clinical partner, HonorHealth.
“We are eager to bring together our national expertise in simulation lab construction and our local team’s demonstrated competence on complex worksites to collaborate with these exceptional design partners and support ASU’s vision,” said Carlos Diaz, vice president of operations at McCarthy Building Cos. The ASU Health School of Medicine and Advanced Medical Engineering building is designed to help address workforce shortages while improving public health outcomes in Phoenix and beyond. Other firms on the project team include Meyer Borgman Johnson, Spectrum Engineers, Dibble Engineers, TrueForm Landscape Architecture Studio, Bowman Fire & Life Safety and WSP USA Buildings.
Mortenson Named Construction Manager for Denver NWSL Stadium
The $225-million Denver Summit FC NWSL stadium, located in the Santa Fe Yards district, will be built by Mortenson. Designed by Populous, the open-air venue will feature a canopy roof and is set to open for the 2028 NWSL season. The 14-acre site will include the 14,500-seat stadium, premium spaces, dedicated supporter sections and a 3.5-acre public park. Preconstruction has begun, with full construction starting in spring 2026, aiming for a 2028 opening. The project is targeting LEED Silver certification. This project is the second purpose-built women’s soccer stadium in the U.S.
Weitz Co. Constructs $1B Four Seasons Telluride
The Weitz Co. has broken ground on the Four Seasons Resort and Residences in Telluride, Colo. Located on a 4.5-acre parcel next to the Telluride gondola and Lifts 1 and 4, the property occupies the last remaining snow-front site in the town of Mountain Village. Once complete, the 532,000-sq-ft resort designed by Olson Kundig and Clements Design will include 52 luxury hotel rooms, 43 hotel residences and 26 private residences, making it the first new luxury hotel and residential development in Telluride in more than 15 years.
Nunn Construction, Wold Architects Break Ground On McClave PK-12 School
The McClave School District in rural southeastern Colorado has started construction on its first comprehensive, purpose-built PK-12 campus. Made possible through a BEST grant and a community-supported bond election, the 70,000-sq-ft school is coming together after years of planning and collaboration between the district, Wold Architects, Artaic Group and Nunn Construction. The school features dedicated elementary and secondary wings, a modern career and technical education shop and competition gymnasium. The project broke ground in January and is scheduled to continue through 2027.
$168M Signal Butte WTP Reaches Key Milestone
Construction on the $168-million expansion of the Signal Butte Water Treatment Plant in Mesa, Ariz., has completed work on an 8-million-gallon potable water reservoir. McCarthy Building Cos. is the general contractor and Black & Veatch is the engineer-of-record on the multiphase plant expansion project. Located across 84 acres, the project is being delivered in two phases to keep the existing plant fully operational. Phase I, which began in January 2024 and is expected to complete in October 2026, includes construction of a second reservoir, key system redundancies to enhance reliability and provisions that will support the plant’s future Phase II expansion, which is expected to complete in early summer 2027.
Phase II of the project will double the plant’s treatment capacity from 24 million to 48 million gallons of water per day. Planned work includes adding a mirrored sand-ballasted flocculation system, ozone generation and sodium hypochlorite generation for disinfection, six additional filters as well as solids handling improvements.
ADOT Awards Pulice $129M Highway Contract
The Arizona Dept. of Transportation (ADOT) awarded Pulice, a FlatironDragados company, a $129-million freeway contract to improve mobility and capacity on the State Route 303L corridor in northwest Phoenix. The Bob Stump Memorial Parkway 303L project aims to alleviate congestion and prepare the rapidly growing region for future traffic demands near the 3.5-million-sq-ft TSMC semiconductor facility, a significant economic driver in the area.
AGC of Utah Convention
AGC of Utah’s 2026 Chairman Gary Ellis of Jacobsen Construction (right) accepts the “gavel” from the outgoing chairman, Brett Nielsen of Whitaker Construction, at the association’s annual convention in Salt Lake City.
Photo courtesy of AGC of Utah
AGC of Utah members gathered in Salt Lake City Jan. 29- 30 for their 104th annual convention. “Work is still moving; members are planning, bidding and staffing projects, but they’re being more selective than a few years ago. The strongest confidence is in infrastructure, power and data-center-related work,” said Joey Gilbert, president and CEO of the 700-member association chapter. “On the private side, areas like office and warehouse are softer, and financing costs are still a concern. But Utah’s fundamentals—population growth, job creation and business investment—are giving our members confidence that 2026 will be steady rather than a pullback.”
Gary Ellis, president and CEO of Salt Lake City-based Jacobsen Construction, became the chapter’s chairman for 2026, succeeding Brett Nielsen, president and CEO of Brigham City-based Whitaker Construction.
Nielsen said in the past year as chairman he was pleased to have launched the chapter’s Construction Leadership Committee to train up-and-coming new leaders in the industry. “This is targeted at 35 years old and younger, and we want to help them learn from others and grow their careers in the industry and AGC,” said Nielsen. “Southern Utah, especially the St. George area, has been one of our fastest-growing markets as more projects and contractors move into that region.”
