Empire Power Systems successfully installed the first 5,000 solar panels on Arizona’s largest commercial rooftop solar power system. Solar panels being installed in southwest Phoenix. Photo courtesy Empire Power Systems Located on an 850,000-sq-ft building near 27th Avenue and Buckeye Road in Phoenix, the new solar power system will allow the building’s owners, Cowley Cos., to provide tenants with renewable energy at a 25% reduction in price over typical industrial electric rates. The SunPower T-5 panels are being installed as quickly as they are received. The integrated design of this ballasted system allows the Arizona-based contractors on the project to
Intel is now using clean power generated from a solar photovoltaic installation, designed and installed by SolarCity. The installation is located on Intel’s Chandler Campus, and the firm is about to break ground on a new project at the Ocotillo Campus. The two systems were aided by incentives from the SRP EarthWise Solar Energy program and make Intel the SRP customer with the third-most photovoltaic capacity. The Chandler roof system is capable of generating approximately 10% of the building’s peak demand. The Ocotillo campus project will add solar support structures in the parking lot to provide 200kW of electricity, plus
Rio Rancho developer Geringer Capital and Cinemark Holdings Inc. began grading and infrastructure to open a new Century-branded theater in Rio Rancho at The Village at Rio Rancho in Summer 2011. It will initially feature 12 screens, with the ability to expand and add another 4 screens. The Village at Rio Rancho is conceived to include a Main Street-themed, pedestrian-friendly retail experience adjacent to the new Presbyterian Hospital.
Los Alamos National Laboratory began demolishing a cluster of 65-year-old buildings that once housed the world’s first full-scale plutonium processing line. ARSEC Environmental LLC, of White Rock, N.M., won a $2-million task order in April to perform this work. Material Disposal Area B digging house at Los Alamos National Laboratory The buildings, known as “DP West,” housed plutonium processing for nuclear warheads from late 1945 through 1978. They are the second generation of Lab buildings, replacing those built during World War II for the Manhattan Project. DP West is located within the Lab’s historic Technical Area 21. The work is
Harrah’s Ak-Chin Casino Resort broke ground on an expansion featuring a five-story, 152-room hotel tower on the existing property in Maricopa. The $20-million hotel expansion was designed by Tempe-based RSP Architects and is inspired by the art and agricultural traditions of the Ak-Chin Community. The project’s general contractor, Las Vegas-based PENTA Building Group, is using the project to re-open its Arizona office, which was temporarily closed in 2006. Harrah’s Ak-Chin Casino Resort Hotel Tower Expansion. Image courtesy RSP Architects The new tower will include 152 rooms with upgraded amenities such as granite countertops and 50-inch flat screen TVs. Expected to
A new study published in a National Safety Council journal says that widely differing perceptions of safety helped conceal that an aggressive schedule, congested jobsite and lax safety enforcement may have created conditions that led to eight construction worker deaths at two big Las Vegas projects, CityCenter and Cosmopolitan, between 2007 and 2008. div id="articleExtrasA" div id="articleExtrasB" div id="articleExtras" Perini Building Co., a unit of Sylmar, Calif.-based Tutor Perini Corp., is the general contractor for both projects. The study appeared in the most recent issue of the Journal of Safety Research. Using a survey of more than 5,000 employees, the
Pulice Construction Inc. and Granite Construction Co. have been awarded an $85-million contract by ADOT to rehabilitate 10 mi of S.R. 202L in Maricopa County. The project includes constructing HOV lanes in each direction, widening the SB Price Road Bridge and constructing two fly-over bridges at the I-10 and S.R. 101 interchanges. Work will also include drainage improvements, retaining walls, electrical, utility relocations and landscaping. Construction is estimated to begin in September and will take approximately 14 months to complete.
McCarthy Building Cos., Inc. topped out construction on the new 2.3 million-sq-ft Terminal 3 parking structure at McCarran International Airport in Las Vegas. Photo Courtesy McCarthy Building Cos. McCarran International Airport Terminal 3 Parking Structure, Las Vegas. div id="articleExtrasA" div id="articleExtrasB" div id="articleExtras" McCarthy, who has self-performed the concrete work completed the final pour of the 126 structural post-tensioned garage deck pours. Over the course of construction, an additional 14 pours were completed for the structure’s circular concrete helix entry ramp. Construction of the $121.7 million parking structure began in December 2008 with the project team pouring one deck every
Banner Good Samaritan Medical Center broke ground on a $71-million expansion of its Surgical Services department in Phoenix. Designed by HKS Architects and slated for completion in August 2012, the project adds six new operating rooms, twice the number of recovery areas and provides families waiting for friends and loved ones to come out of surgery with additional space. The new OR’s will feature the latest in surgical lighting and patient monitoring equipment, as well as significantly more space to allow for more productive and efficient movement around the patient during surgery.
Contractors and government agencies in Arizona and Nevada are testing the public-private partnerships with mixed results in delivering buildings and roadways. Arizona has led the way in vertical P3 development. Alternative project delivery legislation that allows certain P3 projects goes back to 2000. The $455-million Arizona Cardinals stadium in Glendale was design-built by Phoenix-based Hunt Construction Group. It is owned by the Arizona Sports and Tourism Authority and was paid for in part by the Cardinals as tenant. That joint venture is considered an early role model for P3. “P3 is a practical extension of design-build,” says Gary Aller, director
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