Civic

ANKENY, IOWA — Stahl has completed the construction of the two-story, 55,000-square-foot Ankeny Kirkendall Public Library. Located at 1250 SW District Drive in the Prairie Trail development, the $14 million library also houses the city council chambers and a multi-function meeting and conference room. Construction started in June 2018 and wrapped up in February. OPN Architects designed the library. A suburb of Des Moines, Ankeny is the 10th-fastest growing city in the United States, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

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SPRING, TEXAS — The J. Beard Real Estate Co. has arranged the sale of Legends Sports Complex, a 100,000-square-foot commercial property located at 602 Pruitt Road in the northern Houston suburb of Spring. The asset was built in 2007 on 14.8 acres. Jeff Beard of The J. Beard Real Estate Co. represented the seller, Caduceus Management, in the transaction. Kevin Barr of Mohr Partners represented the buyer, Church Project, which will use the property as its new headquarters.

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SAN JOSE, CALIF. — McCarthy Building Cos., in collaboration with FLAD Architects, has topped out the Interdisciplinary Science Building (ISB) at San Jose State University in San Jose. The project is the first new academic building to be built on campus in more than 30 years and the first new science facility in almost 50 years. The eight-story building will serve the 3,000 undergraduate and graduate students within the College of Science and STEM and is the first phase of the San Jose State University’s new Science Park, a science and innovation center. In addition to research and teaching labs, the 161,200-square-foot facility will feature specified rooms provided for student research teams to gather and work away from chemicals and instrument setups to discuss the results of projects. Each floor of the ISB will also include collaborative hubs for students and faculty to work together. Targeting LEED Gold certification, ISB will feature modern, state-of-the-art science laboratories and research capabilities in order to meet the needs of students within the disciplines of biology, chemistry, biochemistry, biotechnology and high-performance computing.

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DETROIT — Stephen Ross, philanthropist and chairman of Related Cos., has announced a $100 million gift to advance construction of the Detroit Center for Innovation (DCI). The project, which will be located on the former Wayne County Jail site on Gratiot Avenue will also be made possible by a contribution of land from Quicken Loans founder Dan Gilbert. The first phase of construction for the 14-acre project is expected to begin in 2021. Anchoring the project will be a 190,000-square-foot research and education center to be operated by the University of Michigan. Designed by architecture firm Kohn Pedersen Fox, the center will serve up to 1,000 graduate and senior-level undergraduate students pursuing degrees in high-tech innovation fields such as mobility, artificial intelligence, data science, cybersecurity and financial technology. The initial phase of the DCI will also include incubator and start-up services for entrepreneurs, collaboration space, residential units, a hotel and conference center. Ross has previously given nearly $400 million to the university.

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ST. LOUIS — Avison Young has brokered the sale of 9221 Minnesota Ave., a 22,259-square-foot, historic school building in St. Louis, for an undisclosed price. Known as Carondelet School, the property was built in 1871 and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It underwent a $4.8 million renovation in 2009. The buyer, goBrandgo, is a marketing and brand management firm. Steve Stradal of Avison Young represented the seller, Carondelet Holdings LLC. Gershman Commercial Real Estate represented the buyer.

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NEW YORK CITY — JLL Project and Development Services has completed construction of Iona College’s new LaPenta School of Business, a 68,000-square-foot building in New Rochelle, a northern suburb of New York City. Development costs were approximately $38 million. The project included a complete renovation of the college’s existing four-story business school and the ground-up construction of a 35,000-square-foot addition. Peter Rader led the JLL project management team. Gensler served as the project architect, and Pavarini North East Construction Co. was the general contractor.

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Recently, New York City passed the Climate Mobilization Act bill as a way to counter climate change. If passed into law, the bill’s foundation would require buildings that are larger than 25,000 square feet to cut climate emissions by 40 percent by 2030 and by more than 80 percent by 2050. The legislation also requires certain buildings to cover roofs with plants, solar panels, small wind turbines or a combination of those elements. Rent-regulated housing, as well as structures of worship, won’t be subject to the emissions cap. However, building owners whose properties are subject to the new law will be fined $268 for every ton of emission beyond an individual building’s limit. To make the necessary changes to avoid these massive penalties — such as replacing outdated heating, cooling and lighting systems — owners will need to retrofit older buildings with updated energy-efficient technology. The legislation demonstrates what a metropolitan version of the Green New Deal, the national movement for a multi-trillion dollar, climate-friendly plan, might look like. The legislation is expected to create thousands of blue collar jobs and make it easier for the city to take advantage of future state and federal funding for clean energy projects …

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NEW YORK CITY — Private education institution The Whittle School & Studios will open a 620,000-square-foot campus at The Wheeler, a 10-story tower in Brooklyn. Tishman Speyer recently completed construction of the tower, which is situated on top of a renovated Macy’s department store. The developer is finalizing construction of 11 Hoyt, an adjacent 48-unit condominium tower on the site of the former Macy’s parking garage. Shimoda Design Group was the architect of the project. The Whittle School will open its early learning program later this year, followed by its full Kindergarten through 12th grade program in September 2021. The Wall Street Journal reports that the project is expected to cost $300 million. Mark Aloia, Gary Rosenberg and Arielle Frost of Rosenberg & Estis P.C. represented Whittle in the lease negotiations.

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Tony Schmitz, vice president and senior project manager at Dallas-based Hoefer Wysocki, has been leading the architecture and design firm’s sustainability initiatives across all sectors. With an academic foundation in environmental design, Schmitz has most recently taken his green building and design expertise to Collin College, in McKinney, Texas. Sustainability features of the up-and-coming campus include improvements in the areas of water conservation, design strategies and efficient technologies. At Collin College, Schmitz has made strides in the area of resource use reduction, primarily for water. As our most precious natural resource, water usage has recently come under scrutiny in the city of Dallas, where the city council unanimously passed the 2019 Water Conservation Plan. All of Schmitz’s projects have achieved or surpassed their goal of 40 percent water reduction for the last five years. This figure has become a standard for Schmitz, with a goal to increase to 50 percent water reduction and 100 percent for non-potable water reduction. Schmitz, spoke to Texas Real Estate Business about the process of integrating sustainability into all facets of the building industry, as well as the larger role design plays in the construction of highly adaptable and efficient facilities. His edited responses are …

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CAMBRIDGE, MASS. — Square Mile Capital Management LLC has provided a $433.8 million construction loan for the next phase of Cambridge Crossing, a mixed-use development in the Boston area. The loan will fund construction of a nine-story, 479,000-square-foot life sciences and tech building with ground-floor retail space and below-grade parking. The loan will also finance the construction of a two-story, 19,000-square-foot retail and office building located on a separate parcel. The borrower was DivcoWest, a developer with five offices around the country. Cambridge Crossing will ultimately feature 2.1 million square feet of life sciences and tech space, 2.4 million square feet of residential space, 100,000 square feet of retail space and 11 acres of open green space.

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