Metropolitan State College of Denver and its project team, Mortenson Construction and project architect RNL, recently topped off the new Hotel and Hospitality Learning Center (HLC) on the school’s campus. The topping off took place on September 23. Rendering by RNL The HLC will feature a 150-room SpringHill Suites by Marriott, 28,000 sq ft of academic space within the HLC and 5,000 sq ft of meeting and conference space. The HLC, located at the corner of Auraria Parkway and Speer Boulevard at the edge of downtown Denver, will feature a 150-room SpringHill Suites by Marriott, 28,000 sq ft of
The University of Colorado’s $63-million Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences was formally dedicated on Aug. 29 at the Anschutz Medical Campus in Aurora. Courtesy of University of Colorado The new $63-million Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences at the University of Colorados Anschutz Medical Campus in Aurora was formally dedicated on Aug. 29. The top three floors of the new four-story, 171,416-sq-ft building are programmed for research. They host 45 wet lab bays, 69 specialty alcoves that can be reconfigured to support a variety of functions and a fixed core area devoted to cold rooms, dark rooms,
The American Public Works Association, which just wrapped up its annual convention in Denver in mid-September, honored Aurora’s Prairie Waters project as one of its public works projects of the year nationwide for 2011. Courtesy of Aurora Water Prairie Waters is part of a $1.1-billion, 10-year capital improvement project to reinforce the reliability of Auroras water system. Prairie Waters is part of a $1.1-billion, 10-year capital improvement project to reinforce the reliability of Aurora’s water system. It adds 3.3 billion gal. (10,000 acre-ft) annually to the city’s water supply—a 20% increase. The project is designed to meet Aurora’s water needs
Residents of two rural Southern Arizona towns are celebrating the reopening of a freeway bridge that had been severely damaged earlier this year after two semi-trucks caught fire during an accident. The bridge over Interstate 10 was demolished and rebuilt in only six months, alleviating a 10-mile detour for residents on either side of the freeway. Photo courtesy ADOT Crews install a new concrete box girder on the Mescal Road/J-Six Ranch Road Bridge over I-10 in southern Arizona as lighning lights up the night sky. Photo Courtesy ADOT The fire-damaged bridge was demolished just 24 days after the fire. Crews
Plans for federally controlled power lines to transmit solar power are moving ahead in the Southwest, but in the Northwest, lines to move wind power are being slowed while wind developments there are being re-evaluated. Photo courtesy of AP WIDEWORLD / Jae C. Hong MIXED MARKET Solar Southwest is strong, but the windy Northwest is weak. The Western Area Power Administration announced it will hire construction firms to upgrade and build parts of a $91-million transmission- line project in southern Arizona.The 109-mile Electrical District 5-to-Palo Verde transmission project includes a mix of new and upgraded WAPA-owned 230-kV lines as well
Battling monsoons, heat, live traffic and subpar soils, a joint-venture team expects to complete 30 miles of a Phoenix-area freeway expansion in just eight monthsadding another reason for the Arizona Dept. of Transportation to embrace design-build as it constructs projects to cope with growing traffic.A team of Kiewit Corp. and Sundt Construction holds the approximately $90-million contract to add 30 miles of high-occupancy vehicle lanes to Loop 101 between state Route 51 and Interstate 10.To do this many miles in [nine] months is pretty exciting, says Steve Mishler, ADOT project manager. Typically, this project would have been broken up into
SnapShot September 19, 2011 Submitted By: Dustin Krugel Public Information Officer ADOT, Phoenix A 285-ton oversize load inches across the Roosevelt Lake Bridge east of Phoenix on Aug. 16, carrying a massive anode used for copper refinement. The week-long, 380-mile journey began in Salt Lake City and crossed into Arizona on Aug. 9 via the Hoover Dam Bypass Bridge. Hauled by two semis and a custom 18-axle trailer, the anode reached its final destination on schedule at the Freeport-McMoRan mine in Miami, Ariz. Photographer: Mike Poppe Precision Heavy Haul
While other Southwest subcontractors have struggled during these challenging economic times, Corbins Electric has prospered. The Phoenix-based company saw revenue rise 22% in 2010 to $42.8 million, one of the best performances by any regional subcontractor. The total includes $37.2 million from Arizona projects. Related Links: Corbins, which also has an office in Albuquerque, N.M., anticipates an increase of 28.5% in 2011 to $55 million, says Mark Fleming, president and CEO. In those roles since 2001 and a 25-year company veteran, Fleming estimates 2012 revenue of about $50 million.Despite the industry doldrums, the 268-employee company has thrived by effectively partnering
The 60,000-sq-ft Research Innovation Center on Colorado State University’s Foothills Campus has earned LEED-Gold certification. The Research Innovation Center, or RIC, was funded by a $52-million bond issue. Constructed in 2010, the facility includes several Biosafety Level 2 labs supporting the university’s infectious disease research. Much of the building is occupied by independent entrepreneurs and researchers. The building also hosts a 7,700-sq-ft vivarium operated by CSU’s Lab Animal Research department.To construct the RIC building, the university’s Facilities Management Department worked with The FWA Group, Fort Collins. CSU officials worked closely with architects to design an aesthetically pleasing and energy-efficient laboratory.“Early on,
Construction firms are failing faster than in recent memory, and the majority of contractor failures result not just from market forces but also from decisions made by contractors themselves—internal decisions that deviate from sound business practices. These mistakes place additional strains on a company’s staff, systems and financial capacity. As deviations from sound business thinking grow, the resulting risks increase exponentially. Construction is always an extremely competitive business. That fact is not limited to territory or project type. With limited local opportunities available to some contractors, expanding beyond their territory or normal scope of work becomes tempting, but that injects additional risks into the equation. A new territory
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