Pankow Builders Chosen for San Mateo Police Station

The San Mateo City Council has named Charles Pankow Builders as construction manager at risk and general contractor on its $50 million new police station project, which as been stalled for almost two years due to a budget crunch.

However, the design development phase for the new station was modified and completed by the end of last year, and since then and the end of January, both the design and construction teams have been reviewing cost estimates, completing a second level value engineering phase and preparing for the start of the construction documents phase that will run into mid-summer.

Leach Mounce Architects of Ventura, which has handled more than 60 police facilities, including the Redwood City and Fremont facilities, is the architect on the project and Patty McHugh is the project manager for the city.

The project is set to start construction this fall and will take up to 18 months to complete, said McHugh.

In April 2004, the city purchased a 2.2-acre site in the Gateway Commercial Area and one of two parcels at the entryway to Bay Meadows Phase I project area. The site boundaries are Franklin Parkway to the north, Saratoga Drive to the east, commercial uses (a Shell service station) to the south and residential to the west.

The city's current police station, located at 2000 Delaware Street, is seismically unfit, not accessibility friendly and inadequate in size for the force. The building opened in 1960 and was expected to last 20 years. The old 27,000-sq.-ft. facility was constructed when the department had 86 employees; the department now has 168 employees.

The city plans to sell the existing police station site and use the money to help fund the development of the new facility.

The new facility will measure 43,000 sq. ft. in a two-story structure with a secured underground garage.

KTGY Group Selected as Architect for Mixed-Use Project in Antioch

Irvine-based KTGY Group was selected by Transcan Development of Alamo as architect for County Crossings, a 250-acre mixed-use development project located in Antioch. Located at the intersection of Highway 4 and Highway160 in Contra Costa County, County Crossings is one of the largest remaining developable sites in the Bay Area offering freeway frontage.

County Crossings is planned to feature approximately 1.2 million sq. ft. of retail, 250,000 sq. ft. of office, a transit oriented residential village, and a proposed Light Rail BART Station, which will sit at the nexus of the project. The retail component will include large anchor tenants and major retailers, specialty shops, restaurants and cafes plus a neighborhood component.

The shopping center, which is presently in the planning stages, is currently estimated to break ground in 2007 and open mid- to late-'08.

Barnhart Breaks Ground for Cal State L.A.

Barnhart, Inc., a San Diego-based general contractor, has broken ground on a $30-million student union building at California State University, Los Angeles.

Ontario-based HMC Architects is the project architect. Tate, Snyder and Kimsey is the executive architect.

When it is completed in July 2007, the facility will replace the recently demolished student union, originally constructed in 1975. The new three-story structure will include a dining room, computer room, lounge areas and conference rooms and offices for several student associations.

The project features a pedestrian-bridge that connects the Union to the Golden Eagle building, covered drop-off area and two-story lobby atrium.

The exterior features brick on the front facade and sandstone accents.