The State Dept. is moving ahead with plans for two new U.S. consulate complexes in Mexico, near the Texas border, continuing a program to improve some facilities and build new ones in a country where the U.S. consular operation is its largest in the world.
The department’s Bureau of Overseas Buildings Operations (OBO) announced on Jan. 2 that it had awarded a construction contract to B.L. Harbert International, Birmingham, Ala., for a consulate project in Nuevo Laredo, across the border from Laredo, Texas.
The department estimates the design-build project’s total cost at $156 million. The estimated construction cost ranges from $68 million to $95 million.
The 5.6-acre project will include a consulate, a U.S. Marine security guard residence and other facilities.
Moore Ruble Yudell, Santa Monica, is the project’s design architect and Page, Washington, D.C., will be the architect of record.
OBO also said on Jan. 2 that it had awarded Richärd+Bauer, Phoenix, a contract as design architect for a new consulate complex in Matamoros, across the border from Brownsville, Texas.
The firm will do the schematic design for the project, which will be located on an eight-acre site.