Ground Broken for Fresno Parking Structure

The 568,900-sq.-ft. parking structure will add 1,500 full-sized parking spaces to downtown Fresno's stock (rendering courtesy of Watry Design).

Redwood City-based Watry Design and St. Louis-based McCarthy Building Cos. Inc. have broken ground on a 568,900-sq.-ft. parking garage being developed by the city of Fresno.

The $19.5 million parking structure will add 1,500 full-sized parking spaces to downtown Fresno's stock, and will be equipped with security cameras, emergency call stations, parking control equipment and bicycle racks. The structure will provide additional parking spaces for the new federal courthouse, convention center, Selland Arena and future downtown developments, said Robb Wood, Fresno's assistant public works manager

The five-story structure will have a concrete exterior, and is scheduled for completion in June.

W.M. Klorman Construction Awarded 2 Garages

El Monte-based W.M. Klorman Construction has been awarded two construction contracts for parking garages in West Hollywood and the Mission Valley section of San Diego.

The $5.2 million contract to build a 236,430-sq.-ft. parking structure at the former Warner Bros. site in West Hollywood-now known as "The Lot"-features a seven-level, post-tensioned, long-span structure with a single, 700-space subterranean level. The Lot is owned by B.A. Studios LLC, a Los Angeles-based investment group that purchased the 11-acre production studio complex in 1999. It is on the south side of Santa Monica Boulevard near La Brea Avenue. Construction is expected to be completed by year's end.

The garage's design features 18-ft. heights on the basement and ground floors to accommodate studio sound and lighting trucks and commercial vehicles that need to access the basement below the sound stage and adjacent to the parking structure. The design also provides unobstructed views and addresses light and security concerns.

Rancho Palos Verdes-based HNA/Pacific Parking Consultants + Architects is the architect of record; the Woodland Hills office of Pinnacle Construction Group is the construction management company.

Klorman also was selected as the design/build contractor for a 651-unit concrete parking structure, part of a 350-unit apartment complex in Mission Valley.

The 197,200-sq.-ft., five-level structure will include a 24-in. mat-slab foundation required by site soil conditions. Construction is expected to be completed by year's end.

San Diego-based Wermers Corp. is the general contractor. Parkitects Inc. of Irvine is the architect of record.

The apartment complex is owned by Archstone Communities, a Denver-based owner, operator and developer of garden-style apartments.

OCTA Selects Construction Team for Garden Grove Freeway

The Orange County Transportation Authority Board of Directors approved $407 million to widen and improve the entire length of the Garden Grove Freeway (State Route 22). Construction is scheduled to be completed by early 2007.

The total project cost of $490 million comes in $53 million less than OCTA's engineering estimates of $542 million, making it the largest infrastructure project in Orange County and OCTA's biggest project. The joint venture of Granite-Meyers-Rados submitted a "best and final" offer price of $390 million for work on the entire 12-mi. freeway from the Costa Mesa Freeway (State Route 55) to Valley View Avenue.

No major improvements have been made to the freeway since it was completed in 1967, when the county had a population of 700,000. The county now has 3 million residents, and up to 350,000 daily commuters use SR-22. Despite state budget challenges, work on the SR-22 would not be possible without Measure M funds, a half-cent sales tax for transportation improvements in Orange County.

Improvements to the 12-mi. freeway through the cities of Santa Ana, Orange, Westminster and Garden Grove include: building two carpool lanes; adding two continuous auxiliary freeway lanes; building two auxiliary lanes between interchanges at various locations; creating a new freeway "braid" that is intended to eliminate chronic traffic weaving problems by elevating the connector so vehicles on ramps can pass under the new connector; building a new "collector-distributor" interchange system to provide two new barrier-separated lanes to improve the flow of vehicles entering and exiting the freeway; building new lanes and enhancing traffic signals on all on- and off-ramps; various interchange improvements, planting new landscaping; and constructing additional soundwalls.

The OCTA board decided in 2001 to use a design/build method to deliver the project sooner, which means one contract is awarded to the contractor to do both design and construction as compared to separate contracts to different firms. It is California's first design/build project for an existing highway.

Swinerton Gets San Diego Residential Tower

San Francisco-based Swinerton Management & Consulting has been awarded the contract for preconstruction services on the Vantage Pointe Condominium Project in San Diego. The project has an estimated cost of $135 million.

The 640-unit, mixed-use project will have a number of retail components and feature a stepped-back structure, designed by architect David Symons of SSE Architecture. The delivery method will be multi-prime with an accelerated schedule.

The building structure has a 10-story base, which will step back at 27 stories and rise to a total of 41 stories. The structure will house six levels of subterranean parking for the residents and customers of the retail facilities. Vantage Pointe will occupy an entire city block in downtown San Diego, bordered by A, B, Ninth and 10th streets.

KKE Awarded Contract for Power Center in Murrieta

The Pasadena office of Minneapolis-based KKE Architects Inc. has been selected by Arthur Pearlman Corp. of Santa Monica and Murrieta-based Rancon Real Estate to design Village Walk in Murrieta, a 330,000-sq.-ft. power center fronting Interstate 15 north of Temecula.

The new development is fully entitled and will include major retailers such as Bed Bath & Beyond, David's Bridal, Famous Footwear, Lakeshore Learning, Levitz Furniture, Office Depot, Petco, Sportmart and a number of regional tenants and restaurants.

The Village Walk retail project will have its first tenant buildings open for business by October. Colliers-Seeley in Irvine is handling the project's leasing.

Village Walk, which is part of a 65-acre master plan, is situated on approximately 30 acres at the northwest corner of I-15 and Kalmia Street. As part of the master- planned development, Cameo Homes is breaking ground on 453 multifamily units on the western line of Village Walk. More than 500 condominiums are proposed on Village Walk's northern border. And, on the southerly boundary, Rancon Real Estate opened its new three-story corporate office building.

Matt Construction Begins Project in Downtown Los Angeles

Santa Fe Springs-based Matt Construction has begun building the future home of the California Endowment, a private, nonprofit, statewide health foundation.

The 6.5-acre project is located at Alameda and North Main streets, adjacent to the historic Terminal Annex building in downtown Los Angeles.

This $62 million, 118,000-sq.-ft. facility, designed by architect Rios Clementi Hale Studios of Los Angeles, is scheduled for completion in 2006.

Construction will include a new four-story office building, with a moment- and braced-frame steel structure supporting a concrete-filled metal deck. The exterior walls of the building will consist of glass and metal curtain wall.

A one-story community conference center will be connected at the ground floor of the office building, where leading health-care experts will collaborate to address pressing health issues facing Californians. The center will feature a large multipurpose room that will hold up to 300 people, several smaller meeting rooms, a board of directors' room, training space and classrooms. A single level of below-grade parking will be under the office building and a portion of the conference center.

HGA Architects Completes Design for Cabrillo Community College

The San Francisco office of HGA Architects has completed the final design for the $28 million Visual and Performing Arts Complex and the $15 million Student Services Center at Cabrillo Community College in Aptos.

HGA is supervising an extensive master plan that focuses on replacing many of the aging facilities throughout the 45-year-oldcampus. HGA is also responsible for mechanical, electrical and structural engineering.

The landscape architect is Berkeley-based Land Studio. The San Francisco office of Arup Consulting Engineers is the acoustical engineer. Bowman Williams is the civil engineer.

The architectural style of the new 52,000-sq.-ft. student center will merge with the Monterey Bay-style campus architecture and meet sustainable design aspects. When it opens in early 2006, the building will have ocean views and house a bookstore, computer resource center and dining and conference areas.

The anticipated completion date for the Visual and Performing Arts complex is 2007.

Construction Completed for 'Clubhouse' in San Diego

San Diego-based Har-bro Construction & Consulting Inc. has completed a 6,000-sq.-ft. restaurant/lounge in the Gaslamp District in downtown San Diego.

Graham Downes Architecture of San Diego provided architectural services for the $1 million project, dubbed "....in the Clubhouse." The two-level establishment is near Petco Park, the home stadium of the San Diego Padres.

An annexed component, Club-Sushi, will be a raw bar located directly on G Street and carry its own fresh design statement.

JRAD & Associates was the electrical and mechanical engineer and Malek Engineers Inc. was the structural engineer.

Eilar Associates served as the acoustics consultant. Multimedia Systems was the audiovisual consultant.

Diffenbaugh Completes Medical Center

Diffenbaugh, a Riverside-based general contractor, has completed construction of Hancock Medical Center, a 33,000-sq.-ft., $5.2 million medical office building in Murrieta. Irvine-based Ware Malcomb was architect of record. The project was developed by Portfolio Property Investors of Oakland for Murrieta Medical Partners LLC.

Tenant improvements for the two-story building consisted of adding a surgical center and medical offices for physical therapy, plastic surgery and orthopedic, endoscopy and neurology practices. Tenant Improvement construction was performed by Temecula-based Schafer Construction Group.

Snyder Langston Awarded Golf Clubhouse in Rancho Santa Fe

The hospitality group of Irvine-based Snyder Langston has been awarded the construction contract for the golf clubhouse at The Crosby at Rancho Santa Fe, a 722-acre, luxury golf community named for singer Bing Crosby.

Snyder Langston is providing general contracting, constructability analysis, value engineering and scheduling.

Developed by Starwood Santa Fe Valley Partners, the 44,000-sq.-ft., private-club facility is being constructed for $10.9 million.

The Type 5, wood-framed building will feature a plaster exterior and a clay tile roof. Ground was broken in June and the project's completion is scheduled for April.

Designed by Phoenix-based Oz Architects, the two-story, Spanish Colonial-style clubhouse is being built above a golf cart storage barn. The clubhouse will include banquet facilities, a restaurant, pro shop, snack bar and locker rooms.