McCarthy Awarded Muni Maintenance/Operations Facility

SAN FRANCISCO-McCarthy Building Cos. Inc. began construction last month on an operations and maintenance facility for the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency.

The targeted completion date for the $110 million contract is December 2006.

Located on a 13-acre parcel in eastern San Francisco, the complex-called the Muni Metro East Light Rail Vehicle Maintenance and Operations Facility-will store, maintain and operate approximately 80 light-rail vehicles.

Construction calls for a main shop/administration building, paint and body shop, "meet and greet" structure, power substations, an open storage yard with an overhead, catenary traction-power system, and an on-site, 170-space parking garage.

McCarthy is serving as the construction manager and general contractor. AGS/Gannett Fleming Inc. is the lead-coordinating designer.

The facility will be centered by a 180,000-sq.-ft. main structure equipped with repair and maintenance facilities on the ground floor, including eight sets of paved tracks leading to maintenance bays with turntables, car hoisting systems, wheel truing and car washing equipment.

The ground floor also will include welding and battery shops and a material storeroom. Housed on a partial second floor will be a light-rail vehicle dispatch/operations control center, administrative offices, employee lockers, break rooms and training space.

The facility will support the operations of the new Muni Third Street Light Rail Line and help relieve the overcrowded conditions at Muni's other light-rail maintenance facilities. It is also expected to improve the overall Metro delivery service by dispatching trains from the eastern part of San Francisco.

KMD Completes First W Hotel in Latin America

The recently completed W Hotel in Mexico City has 237 rooms in a 20-story tower that overlooks Chapultepec Park. photo courtesy of KMD

SAN FRANCISCO-The Mexico City office of San Francisco-based KMD Architects has just completed The W Hotel in Mexico City, the second W Hotel outside of the United States and the first in Latin America.

A 20-story tower holds 237 luxury rooms and suites that are available either as corner suites or lofts.

"Our design embraces local materials, culture and blends modern design to add drama to the city's skyline," said Carlos Fernandez del Valle, KMD's lead project architect. "This new landmark is visible from virtually anywhere in the city."

KMD incorporated local materials into a façade that included recinto (volcanic rock) and juxtaposed these finishes with those used in the upscale Polanco neighborhood. The result is a contemporary design that suggests the roots of the city's pre-Hispanic past.

The hotel has two distinct areas as viewed from the street: A five-level room is designed to be modularly flexible. The lobby, bars and restaurants fit together by the manipulation of height and penetration of spaces. The business center, meeting rooms and multiple-use rooms are located on two levels. These spaces share double-height ceilings and a stairway. The effect creates spaces that can be combined as one large room or separated into two distinct spaces depending upon what is required.

KMD designed nine loft suites with cathedral ceilings, expansive views of Chapultepec Park and other amenities like green-glass showers and flat-screen TVs mounted above the beds.

The "Cool Corner" suites also offer terraces. The "Extreme Wow" suite has terraces, a soaring living room and an adjacent play room complete with a raised platform covered in pillows, a wet bar, kitchen and two bedrooms.

Roel Chosen for Mixed-Use Project

SAN DIEGO-San Diego-based Roel Construction Co. has been chosen to provide pre-construction services for Icon, a mixed-use, conversion development in the East Village section of this city's downtown.

The developer is Walnut Creek-based Levin Menzies & Associates LLC. James Tanner of San Diego-based TannerHecht Architecture is providing the project's design. Kipland Howard of San Diego-based Allegis Development Services Inc. is the construction manager.

The 542,000-sq.-ft. project will be constructed over three levels of subterranean parking and include four residential towers with retail spaces at ground level. Located on the block bound by 10th & 11th avenues and J & K streets, Icon is scheduled to begin construction this summer. The 320 residences will offer a diverse mix of floor plans, including live/work spaces, studios, flats, lofts, townhomes and penthouses.

Icon will maintain the historic façade of the Carnation Building at 354 11th Ave. and infuse its industrial design features. The building was constructed in 1927 and originally housed the Qualitee Dairy Products Co. Production finished at the facility in 1978; the site was designated as a city of San Diego Historical Landmark in 1990.

HGA Awarded 2 Projects

SAN FRANCISCO-The local office of Minneapolis-based HGA Architects has been awarded two new projects in the Bay Area.

One contract, in association with Phoenix, Ariz.-based Will Bruder Architects, is for a $ 7.3 million, 20,500-sq.-ft. public library in the city of Hercules. The second contract is for a feasibility study for the renovation of the 45,000-sq.-ft. Santa Cruz Museum of Art and History. The feasibility study should be completed early in 2004.

Rendering of the Hercules Public Library. courtesy of HGA Architects

Located 25 miles north of San Francisco, Hercules is the second largest city in California without a public library. Laguna Hills is the largest city without a public library. Construction on the Hercules library is expected to begin in August with completion by early 2006.

The new library also will be a community gathering spot for social functions and house a heritage garden and art gallery.

URS Receives Government Awards

SAN FRANCISCO-The local office of URS Corp. has been selected for three financial assistance awards by the United States Department of Energy to help develop and demonstrate mercury control and removal technologies for coal-fired, electric power plants.

Additionally, URS will act as a subcontractor on two awards from the DOE's National Energy Technology Laboratory. The awards are expected to generate $6 million in revenue to URS over three years.

Senior Housing Project Begins in Bernal Heights

SAN FRANCISCO-The local office of Cahill Contractors has begun the 5199 Mission Street Senior Housing project, a $5.7 million development located near Mission Street and Geneva Avenue.

The San Francisco office of SGPA Architecture and Planning designed the 31,000-sq.-ft. project. The owner is the Housing Services Affiliate of the Bernal Heights Neighborhood Center and Mission Housing Development Corp.

Funding for the project was made possible by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and the city and county of San Francisco.

Located on Mission Street just south of Geneva Avenue, 5199 Mission includes 37 independent-living units that will be permanently affordable to low-income seniors.

SGPA designed the project to reflect the 1920's heritage of much of the neighborhood's housing stock. The entire project is accessible to the disabled. The interior plan maximizes daylighting of corridors and provides visual variety to assist with wayfinding. Skylights are utilized in corridors where windows are not possible. A second-floor sunroom allows residents to enjoy the outdoors without being subjected to unpleasant weather. Package shelves are provided at each unit entry to assist elders opening doors and to allow for personalization of apartment entries.

Tetra Tech Awarded Fiber Optic Contract in Utah

PASADENA-Tetra Tech Inc. has been awarded a three-year contract to develop a fiber-optic network for the Utah Telecommunication Open Infrastructure Agency.

This largest-of-its-kind project will deliver high-speed fiber directly to homes and businesses over an open, wholesale network owned and managed by a consortium of local communities. The UTOPIA infrastructure will operate much like a public road system, providing open access to information to promote commerce. This approach is being viewed as a potential model by a number of communities across the United States.

The first phase of the one-year contract is valued at approximately $22 million. If all phases of the contract proceed, the value will increase to about $240 million over approximately three years. The first phase will bring the high-speed network to an estimated 30,000 businesses and residences, and will involve about 3 million ft. of fiber. Much of the construction will be subcontracted to local Utah-based suppliers.

UTOPIA will be issuing municipal revenue bonds during the first quarter of the year to fund the project. All phases of this contract are contingent upon funding. If funding is received, Pasadena-based Tetra Tech will be responsible for program management, engineering, permittin, and constructing the UTOPIA network.

Davis/Reed Construction Begins Four Seasons Hotel

EAST PALO ALTO-San Diego-based LDW Resort & Hotel Development LLC has begun construction of a 220-room Four Seasons Hotel in this city's downtown. >>

Construction of the 10-story, 400,00-sq.-ft. hotel is scheduled to be completed next summer.

The hotel will be integrated into University Circle-an office project comprised of three six-story, high-end office buildings encompassing approximately 450,000 sq. ft. of space on 12.5 acres. Tenants include some of the nation's largest law firms.

The project team includes Encinitas-based Davis/Reed Construction, Palo Alto-based Hill Glazier Architects and Long Beach-based Chhada Siembieda Remedios Inc.

LDW officials said the hotel will be the seventh Four Seasons in California and the first five-star hotel in the Silicon Valley.

De Anza College Selects Building Team for Garage

CUPERTINO-De Anza College has selected its core building team for a 1,151-stall parking structure to be finished by Sept.1.

The team consists of Sherman Oaks-based International Parking Design as design architect and architect of record; Irvine-based Frame Design Group, the structural engineering division of IPD, as engineer of record; and Foster City-based S.J. Amoroso Construction Co. as general contractor.

Al Diaz, IPD's director of architectural design, said that the final cost of the $9.2 million parking structure was approximately $2.7 million under budget due in part to the high efficiency of the parking design in terms of area-per-parking space.

DeAnza's 975-space Parking Lot C underwent design improvements to increase overall parking to 1,831 spaces. The new configuration consists of surface parking as well as the new three-level parking structure.

The new garage will serve faculty, staff, students and off-site visitors to campus events.