The California Dept. of Corrections and Rehabilitation and the California Prison Health Care Services broke ground on Nov. 5 on a $906-million, 1,722-bed inmate medical facility in Stockton. The 1.2-million-sq-ft facility will include a kitchen area, a diagnostic and treatment center, warehouse and support areas. Security will include a 13-ft-high lethal electrified perimeter fence and 11 45-ft-tall guard towers. Renering: Courtesy CRCR First bid package of $906-million program includes sitework, grading and an electrified fence, with facility work to follow. Sacramento-based URS-Bovis Lend Lease was awarded the construction management consultant contract as part of its ongoing work with CPHCS. Sacramento-based
Whether the still unopened Harmon Hotel inside the CityCenter resort in Las Vegas is demolished or remains an expensive billboard is now part of yet one more legal battle stemming from the struggling megaresort’s many financial woes. Photo: Bill Hughes Rumors say unopened hotel could be imploded. + Image On Nov. 13, according to news reports, owner MGM Resorts International announced plans to raze the 27-story high-rise designed by U.K. “starchitect” Sir Norman Foster. MGM later backpedaled from that statement and claims no final decision has been made, says a spokesman. The company took a $279-million write-down in the third
The still unopened Harmon Hotel, a 27-story centerpiece of the now financially hemorrhaging CityCenter development in Las Vegas, is being targeted for demolition. MGM Resorts International, owner of the troubled 67-acre complex that includes the hotel designed by U.K. “starchitect” Sir Norman Foster, recently unveiled plans to raze it. MGM took a $279-million write-down in the third quarter on the building, which sits dormant with a sign wrapped around its gleaming glass façade for the resort’s “Viva Elvis” show. Harmon may be the world’s most expensive billboard. Photo: Tony Illia Las Vegas hotel-condo was designed by famed U.K. architect Sir
After a heated dispute lasting more than a half-year, building owner Carpenters Tower LLC and its contractor, McCarthy Building Cos. Inc., have resolved all the legal issues related to the distressed, reinforced concrete frame of the 25-story McGuire Apartments in Seattle. The resolution clears the way for the demolition of the vacated residential tower, completed in 2001, though the owner has not yet set a timetable for the razing. The brouhaha reached a peak last spring after the owner claimed the cost to repair the building’s corroding post-tensioned slab system and other problems would exceed the structure’s worth. McCarthy then
Workers are building the $810-million Olympic Stadium with 80,000 seats and a partial roof. But in 2012, soon after officials of London Games hang the final medals around the necks of the winning athletes, crews will move back in to shrink the venue down to its "legacy mode," with only 25,000 seats and no roof. Consequently, from the start of design, a "here today, two-thirds gone tomorrow" attitude dominated the team's thinking. The project marks “a new era of Olympic stadium design...demonstrating how a successful event can be blended with the long term needs of a community,” claims Rod Sheard,
By transforming a 250-hectare blot on London’s landscape into a permanent sports village, after a fortnight for the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Summer Games, the shapers of the $11.5-billion park hope to leave a green mixed-use development that lives on well into the future. Furthermore, with the 75%-complete project on schedule and very close to its 2007 budget, they are touting the success of a collaborative contractual model that relies heavily on project management and involves sharing risk and reward among the main building team members. “For us, planning the Olympic Park was about legacy first,” says Dan Epstein, who
Photo: Courtesy Of General Secretary For The Olympic Games Related Links: 2012 Games Are Stepping Stones in Grand Scheme MIXED EFFORTS, MIXED RESULTS Lavish spending and intentions of impressing the world drove preparations for the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Delays, political indifference, and legal and bureaucratic obstacles plagued construction for the 2004 Athens Games. The 1994 Lillehammer Winter Olympics marked the first “greening” of the games. Atlanta 1996 was a break-even effort, largely privatized, with only eight new venues. The Los Angeles 1984 project, with only two new, corporate-sponsored venues, was debt-free, unlike the earlier Montreal and Moscow Games.
As the 2012 Olympic Games’ gateway venue, the $405-million Aquatic Centre is the 250-acre park's most flamboyant building, adorned by an aluminum-clad roof with a sweeping profile. But many agree the center will not look its best until workers clip its temporary wings, after the July 27 to Aug. 12 games. During the events, nearly two thirds of the 17,500 Olympic spectators will sit in two temporary wings, rising steeply from either side of the center. The curvaceous building is running 20% over its 2007 budget. Officials at the U.K. Dept. of Culture Media and Sport attribute the rise to
The American Society of Heating, Refrigerating & Air-Conditioning Engineers Inc., Atlanta, is making available copies of its energy conservation standard in PDF form at www.ashrae.org/standard901-2007-free. The download, which is free until April 2012, is made possible through a funding contract with the U.S. Dept. of Energy. ANSI/ASHRAE/IES Standard 90.1-2007, Energy Standard for Buildings Except Low-Rise Residential Buildings, has become the basis for building codes as well as the standard for building design and construction throughout the U.S. The standard was developed in response to the energy crisis in the 1970s.
Texas developers unveiled an ambitious plan for a $2-billion combined green-technology business park and regional airport project near Austin. Supported by a generous tax rebate scheme, the project is aimed at attracting international anchor tenants and designed to demonstrate the best way to build a commercial development based on green principles. Rendering: Courtesy of Eco-Merge Green Corporate Centers Eco-Merge Green Corporate Centers project already has signed four international tenants, says the developer. Rendering: Courtesy of Eco-Merge Green Corporate Centers Complex covers 1,500 acres east of Austin. Developers of the planned Eco-Merge Green Corporate Centers, a 1,500-plus-acre project about 15 minutes