Orange County Market Report

State budget problems forces UC Irvine to halt its arts building project, but two other projects are off and running

By David Silva

California's budget woes have put a stop to the University of California, Irvine's dream of a $42 million arts building for now, but university officials say two other major campus projects funded in part with state money are moving forward.

Those projects – the $69 million Engineering 3 Building and $62 million Social and Behavioral Sciences Building -- were also on the losing end of a budget freeze implemented by the state in December, but university officials say they have enough private money to complete them.

Most of the projects proposed in UCI’s $1.3 billion expansion program have been completed or are fully funded. The university recently completed a $393 million, 191-bed hospital research and teaching facility at UC Irvine Medical Center. Phase two of the project -- a $162 billion build-out including 66 additional beds and a radiology department -- is underway and expected to be completed by November 2011.

An $18 million upgrade to the university’s Steinhaus Hall lecture facility was finished in January.

Perhaps the university’s most anticipated addition was a proposed 64,000-sq-ft arts building designed by renowned architect Steven Ehrlich. General contractor EDGE Development of Temecula broke ground on the planned LEED silver project in December 2007.

With the arts and architectural communities abuzz over the building’s unique glass design and environmentally friendly features, a topping-off ceremony at the project site had already been held when Sacramento pulled the plug on funding.

University officials halted work on the project Jan. 17 and now says it is unlikely the center will be completed this year.

“Up until the budget crisis, our expansion program was the most successful project we’ve had at UCI,” says Bob Fritch, the university’s director of construction. “We had nothing but success in our capital building process since 1994.”

The California Pooled Money Investment Board also froze funding for UCI’s proposed 123,000-sq-ft state Engineering 3 Building and the 116,143-sq-ft Social and Behavioral Science Building. But unlike the Ehrlich project, those buildings were being funded with a combination of state and private monies.

Fritch says the school was able to convince authorities to reactivate state funds for Engineering 3. He adds that he believes enough private money is available to keep the social and behavioral sciences project alive.

That’s good news for project general contractor Hensel Phelps Construction Co. of Irvine, general contractor for the Engineering 3 project, and for the Los Angeles offices of Hathaway Dinwiddie, general contractor for the Social and Behavioral Sciences Building. In the midst of a deep recession in a financially troubled state, both firms are hugely invested in the expansion efforts.

According to Janisha Johnson, project engineer for Hensel Phelps, the company has had more than 200 workers, contractors and engineers steadily working on the building since construction began in January 2007.

Johnson says work on the building has proceeded smoothly, but “working while members of the public are still around has been our biggest challenge. Classes are still going on during construction, so we definitely have a fence that divides us and the public.

“Technically, the biggest challenge has probably been the environmental cold room for researchers to go in and keep things frozen while they’re doing experiments. We subbed that out to one of our contractors.”

The five-floor, poured-in-place concrete and course-glass Engineering 3 structure was designed by the Los Angeles offices of HOK, with Carrier Johnson of San Diego serving as executive architect.

It will house the university’s Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Department, Edwards Lifesciences Center for Advanced Cardiovascular Technology and laboratories for the Biomedical Engineering Department. It will also contain administrative offices and offices for faculty and students and a 350-seat auditorium.

The building is on target for completion in July, Fritch says. But, he adds, that while Sacramento unfroze money for construction, it didn’t unfreeze what he calls “equipment” funds.

“Equipment means furniture,” he says. “We’re probably going to have used furniture and will be borrowing from other campuses to furnish the facility. We also don’t have money to fund fourth-floor improvements, so we’ll only be able to occupy the first three floors until the state funds all the projects.”

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Hathaway Dinwiddie broke ground on the Social and Behavioral Sciences Building in August 2007. Also five stories, the building will provide 64,100  sq ft of space for instructional and research laboratories and faculty and administrative offices for UCI’s Schools of Social Sciences and Social Ecology. It will also include 14,750 sq ft of flexible office and dry laboratory space. Carrier Johnson is project architect.

According to university documents, the project was to be paid for by an approximately $44 million contribution from the state, with the rest coming from campus funds and borrowing. That formula changed dramatically on Dec. 17, when the state froze funding of some 2,000 capital improvement projects.

“Technically, the social and behavioral sciences is still on freeze, but we feel confident that because it’s a ‘blended’ project in terms of funding, it will open in late August,” Fritch says.