ANN ARBOR, MICH. — The University of Michigan has plans to construct a Basketball Player Development Center adjacent to Crisler Arena, which is located on the university’s Ann Arbor campus. The U-M Board of Regents is expected to approve the approximately $23.2 million project this Thursday. The approximately 50,000-square-foot facility will include two basketball courts, team locker rooms, a video theater, spaces for strength and conditioning as well as athletic medicine, and offices for coaches and staff. Athletic resources and gifts will fund the building, which will be used by both the men and women’s basketball programs. The board is expected to appoint Jickling Lyman Powell Associates as the design architect for the project.
HOMESTEAD, FLA. — Davie, Fla.-based Pirtle Construction has completed the 145,888-square-foot State School TT-1. The Miami-Dade County Public Schools’ facility is located at 955 S.E. 18th Ave. in Homestead. Tilt-Con Corp. provided slab-on-grade and tilt-up concrete work, and Miami-based Zyscovich Architects designed the property.
DETROIT — Governor Jennifer Granholm has signed legislation for the expansion and renovation of the Cobo Conference Center located at One Washington Blvd. in Detroit. The legislation transfers ownership and operation of the facility from the city of Detroit to an undisclosed regional authority, and provides funding to pay for the expansion. Funding for the expansion extends taxes on statewide liquor sales and metro Detroit hotel/motel rooms until 2039 unless bonds to finance the project can be paid off before that date. Before construction can begin, a five-member governing authority must approve the project. All five members of the committee will have individual veto power over decisions in building and operation of Cobo Conference Center. Additionally, the Detroit City Council has 45 days to reject the plan before control transfers to the authority 90 days after the legislation becomes a law. Plans for the $279 million project call for an approximately 166,000-square-foot expansion to the existing 700,000-square-foot facility. Cobo Arena would be converted as part of the expansion project. The plan will also add meeting rooms and other improvements to the exhibition facility.
NAPERVILLE, ILL. — Rosemont, Ill.-based McShane Construction Co. has completed the multi-purpose Public Works Service Center on behalf of the city of Naperville. Situated on a 22-acre site, the 213,067-square-foot facility is located at 180 Fort Hill Dr. in Naperville. The building houses administrative and office areas; storage areas; welding, paint and sign shops; community meeting rooms; and a state-of-the-art fleet services center. Additionally, storage and office components were constructed within the building for Naper Settlement, the city’s living history museum. The building was constructed and designed to achieve LEED certification. Areté 3 provided architectural services for the project. The estimated cost of completing the project was not disclosed.
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — Construction has commenced for the $150 million Meadowlands Rail Station located in East Rutherford. Designed by Hasbrouck Heights, N.J.-based DMR Architects, the project is part of The Meadowlands Railroad and Roadway Improvement Project, a multi-agency effort to provide better mass transportation access to the New Jersey Meadowlands Sports & Entertainment Complex, which is currently under construction. The train station will allow passengers to travel from northern New Jersey, Midtown Manhattan and Long Island through the Secaucus Junction Transfer Station to the new stadium, as well as Meadowlands Xanadu, a $1.3 billion entertainment and office complex also under construction in the area. The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey is overseeing the project, which is scheduled for a June 2009 completion.
INDIANAPOLIS — Tikijian Associates has brokered the sale of Forest Manor Apartments located near 38th Street and Sherman Drive in Indianapolis. Hoosier Veterans Assistance Foundation (HVAF) has purchased the 40-unit property from Indianapolis-based Meridian Management for an undisclosed amount. The multifamily community has been converted into the Donald W. Moreau, Sr. Veterans House. Operated by the HVAF, the property provides housing, as well as a transitional program, for homeless Indiana veterans to help them become self-sufficient. The facility has been renovated, furnished and decorated, and is now equipped to house 40 veterans in need.
BOSTON — Construction has reached the halfway point for a five-story vertical addition to the existing, 10-story Tufts University School of Dental Medicine building, located at One Kneeland Street in the Chinatown neighborhood of Boston. The $64 million project will total 95,000 square feet; it will include two new clinical patient floors, an expanded simulation lab, teaching facilities, a continuing education conference center and administrative offices. It is also being constructed in anticipation of LEED certification. ARC/Architectural Resources Cambridge designed the project, and Boston-based Shawmut Design & Construction is serving as general contractor. Completion is scheduled for the end of the year.
PITTSBURGH, CALIF. — Sundt Construction Inc. has been selected by the Judicial Council of California to construct a $48.9 million courthouse building in Pittsburgh. The three-story, 75,000-square-foot Antioch Courthouse will feature seven courtrooms, judges’ chambers, administrative space, a library, conference rooms and a prisoner holding cell. The property will also feature a 2,900-square-foot green roof, which will be planted with a variety of native grasses. Designed by HOK, the building is slated to receive LEED Silver certification. Construction is scheduled to begin in February.
PITTSBURGH, CALIF. — Sundt Construction Inc. has been selected by the Judicial Council of California to construct a $48.9 million courthouse building in Pittsburgh. The three-story, 75,000-square-foot Antioch Courthouse will feature seven courtrooms, judges’ chambers, administrative space, a library, conference rooms and a prisoner holding cell. The property will also feature a 2,900-square-foot green roof, which will be planted with a variety of native grasses. Designed by HOK, the building is slated to receive LEED Silver certification. Construction is scheduled to begin in February.
DEDHAM, MASS. — Construction had begun for the new campus of The Rashi School in Dedham. Rashi is a Reform Jewish day school currently located in Newton, Mass. Its new 82,000-square-foot building will be located on 17 acres along the Charles River, adjacent to Hebrew SeniorLife’s NewBridge on the Charles continuing care senior housing project, which is also currently under construction. The new school will be home to approximately 300 students in grades K-8. It will feature classrooms with smart boards, wireless Internet access throughout the school, a fully equipped science lab, a 10,000-volume library, an art studio, a dedicated music room, community spaces for prayer and holiday celebrations, a performing arts auditorium, a regulation-size gymnasium, sports fields, two playgrounds, a room dedicated to before- and after-school programs, and outdoor classrooms and assembly spaces. The project is applying for LEED certification, and is scheduled to open in fall 2010. The project was designed by HMFH Architects, and Suffolk Construction has been selected as general contractor. The Rashi School was able to secure $23 million in tax-exempt bond financing for the project, which was issued by MassDevelopment and purchased from Century Bank. Zions Bank structured the tax-exempt bond issue on the …