Matt finishes hotel development in Westlake Village

Santa Fe Springs-based Matt Construction recently finished construction on a 769,000-sq.-ft. complex that includes a 270-room Four Seasons Hotel and Spa, California WellBeing Institute and a state-of-the-art television studio. Located 35 mi. northwest of Los Angeles, the 20-acre project in Westlake Village was developed by Westlake Wellbeing Properties, LLC and designed by Arnold C. Savrann, AIA, and the Newport Beach office of Wimberly, Allison, Tong & Goo.

The hotel features specialty restaurants, 270 guest rooms and suites and indoor and outdoor pools. Additionally, an 800-space parking structure, a television production facility, new wellbeing facility with public spaces and medical facilities with on-site diagnostic equipment are part of the development.

Matt Construction Vice President Marvin Wheat headed a team of 500 tradesmen and 25 Matt project staff members to complete the project. Matt met the challenges of a record rainfall during the initial construction period and completed the project on schedule. Over the course of the 28-month construction period, more than 4,000 workers were onsite. The project includes building materials of more than 3 million lbs of structural steel, 7.9 million lbs of rebar and 39,000 cu. yds. of structural concrete. The structures includes 1,800 doors, 16 elevators and 30 air handling units, as well as 14,500 light fixtures and 130 wireless Internet access points.

HOK, Hathaway Dinwiddie, SGH start Berry Street building addition

HOK Architects, general contactor Hathaway Dinwiddie & Co. and structural engineers Simpson Gumphertz & Heger began work on a two-story, 175,000-sq.-ft. office and life science addition to the existing Berry Street Building in San Francisco.

Owners/Developers on the project are RREEF North America and McCarthy Cook & Co. Utilizing what the owners call a "revolutionary structural isolation system," the Berry Street Building addition will be constructed on top of the existing roof and will comprise 175,000 sq. ft. of rentable space on the new fourth and fifth floors. The floor design is flexible to accommodate a variety of tenant sizes and uses from life sciences to office.

Furthermore, tenants will benefit from an interstitial floor between the existing building and the newly created floors that will house mechanical/plumbing systems and provide duct/chase area for specialized tenant applications. The addition will also create an extensive usable rooftop area for mechanical/reserve power systems, ideal for additional tenant ventilating and cooling applications.

Work on the Berry Street Building addition shell is expected to be complete in December 2007 and tenant occupancy is anticipated in the second quarter of 2008.

Barnhart completes middle school

San Diego-based Barnhart, Inc. recently completed construction of the Frank Wright Middle School campus in Imperial.

Barnhart, Inc. was the general contractor for the Imperial Unified School District's $31 million facility.

The new school replaces the old school several blocks away. The older campus is being combined with an adjacent high school to allow for increased enrollment.

The new middle school features 88,000 sq. ft. of classrooms, a library, cafeteria/multi-purpose room, science labs, music and art rooms. A joint-use gymnasium is also included. The 24-acre site includes athletic fields as well. The campus houses 950 students and was designed by Brawley-based Sanders, Inc.The school was constructed by use of Measure I funds, which was approved by voters in March 2004, state school facilities program funding, as well as local developer fees and joint-use funds with the city. Barnhart, Inc. staff included Layne Arthur, Eric Taylor, Marty Ashby, Rebecca Greer, and Viviana Perez.

LPA Sacramento wins awards for community college design

LPA Sacramento won two design awards at the California Community College Facility Coalition's annual statewide conference.

The design firm was granted the Award of Excellence in the Modernization Category for the American River College Learning Resource Center Expansion, as well as the Award of Honor in the Growth Category for Folsom Lake College Phase IB, the newest community college built in California in the past 25 years.

The American River College Learning Resource Center Expansion is a 20,000-sq.-ft. addition to an existing 1950s era center that had not been modernized since the 1980s.

The Folsom Lake College Phase 1B project is the second phase of the master planning effort for the Folsom Lake College Campus and features a 65,000-sq.-ft. instructional building with faculty offices, interdisciplinary labs, classrooms and lecture spaces. Phase 1B also contains the first large-scale lecture hall for Folsom Lake College seating 150 people in a sloped, fixed-seating configuration.

LPA Sacramento accepted the awards at the recent 13th annual CCFC conference at the Doubletree Hotel in Sacramento.

WWCOT | Mills designs sales excellence institute

WWCOT | Mills provided architectural services pro-bono for College of the Desert's Institute for Sales and Service Excellence (ISSE) facility, which officially opened in October. An initiative of the college's Center for Training and Development department, the new education and training center is housed in 6,032 sq. ft. of space at Westfield Shopping Town Palm Desert in Palm Desert.

WWCOT | Mills oversaw all the interior and exterior design, permitting and construction. Originally part of an old ice rink which had been abandoned many years ago, the empty concrete space was most recently used for storage. Color layering and a variety of materials help define and create the facility's various learning areas.

The project is a collaboration between the College of the Desert, the City of Palm Desert, the U.S. Department of Labor, the NRF Foundation, California Community Colleges' Economic and Workforce Development Programs, Riverside County Workforce Development Center, WWCOT | Mills, and the Westfield Group. The NRF Foundation and the American Hotel and Lodging Association will contribute industry-driven curriculum and courses offered through ISSE.

The WWCOT | Mills project team included Pam Touschner, AIA, principal-in-charge; Kevin Ames, project director/manager; Katherine Aguilar and Monica Lee, project designers.

R.D. Olson begins work on Oceanside hotel

Irvine-based R.D. Olson Construction recently began work on a Marriott Residence Inn in Oceanside. The hotel is part of Marriott's newest prototype in the extended-stay market.

The Marriott Residence Inn sits on a three-acre site that is part of a larger 13-acre in-progress development. The new development includes two four-story office facilities and two single-story retail buildings.

R.D. Olson Construction is providing general contracting services for the four-story hotel housing 125 rooms including 87 studios, 22 one-bedroom and 16 two-bedroom suites. A pool, spa, sport court, meeting space and exercise room also are planned. More than 85,000 sq. ft. of new construction will be required to complete the $13 million project designed by Seattle-based Johnson Braund Design Group.