HOUSTON — The Houston Waterworks Team is underway on the expansion of the Northeast Water Purification Plant, a project valued at approximately $1.7 billion. The project aims to shift a growing population’s reliance on groundwater to surface water and represents the largest design-build project for a water treatment plant that is underway in the country. The team has tapped McCarthy Building Cos. for several aspects of the larger project, which is expected to be fully operational by early 2025. McCarthy will construct a 30,000-square-foot raw water intake pump station building as well as a central plant as part of its involvement.
NEW JERSEY — CBRE has arranged the $8.27 million sale of nine civic properties from the Youth Consultation Services (YCS) portfolio in New Jersey. The properties comprise a mix of youth centers and schools located in Montclair, Hackensack, Newark, Somerdale, Gloucester, Estell-Manor, Vineland and Blackwood. Three different buyers purchased the assets, one of whom bought seven buildings as part of a sale-leaseback with YCS. The two other buyers purchased buildings that had been recently vacated by YCS. CBRE’s Charles Berger and Elli Klapper, along with Randy Eigen and Donald Sperling of Brokerage Services, represented the seller in the transaction.
LENEXA, KAN. — Easterly Government Properties Inc., a publicly traded real estate investment trust, has acquired a 169,585-square-foot Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regional headquarters in Lenexa. Originally constructed in 2007, the two-story office building is situated on a 30.5-acre parcel. The EPA completed a renovation of the property in 2012. While headquartered in Washington, D.C., the EPA also operates 10 regional offices throughout the country.
URBANDALE, IOWA — The Urbandale Community School District has selected Stahl to construct a two-story, 118,000-square-foot elementary school. The $28 million building, located at 7110 Prairie Ave., will replace the existing Olmsted Elementary. In addition to classrooms, the building will feature a kitchen and cafeteria, gymnasium, administration area and auxiliary spaces. Urbandale’s new school is part of a $59 million bond referendum and long-term facilities plan for the district to meet the growing need for additional education space to accommodate children in pre-kindergarten through fifth grade. Once complete, the school will house up to 650 students. Completion is slated for May 2021. DLR Group is the architect.
FORT LAUDERDALE, FLA. — General contractor Balfour Beatty has signed a $780 million agreement with developer Matthews Southwest, making Balfour Beatty the design-build lead for the over $1 billion expansion of the Broward County Convention Center in Fort Lauderdale. The project will add 525,000 square feet of meeting space to the complex, plus a 29-story, 800-room Omni Hotel. Located on Florida’s southeastern coast approximately 25 miles north of Miami, the completed convention center will total 1.2 million square feet. The expanded property will include 350,000 square feet of contiguous exhibition space, a 65,000-square-foot waterfront ballroom, modern technology, new dining concepts, enhanced water taxi access and a waterfront plaza with public access. The Omni Hotel will add 73,000 square feet of meeting and ballroom space; multiple restaurant options including a rooftop bar; an 11,000-square-foot, full-service spa and fitness center; and over 30,000 square feet of pool decks. The hotel will be positioned along the city’s famed Intracoastal Waterway with a scenic view of the Atlantic Ocean. Matthews Southwest has called on London-based firm Balfour Beatty for projects in the United States before. The company was hired by Matthews Southwest to build the Omni convention center hotel in Dallas and a residential …
PROVO, UTAH — Mountain Classic Real Estate (MCRE) has purchased Brigham Young University’s Amanda Knight Hall for an undisclosed price. MCRE plans to restore the property to its historical Gothic-style architectural significance. Located at 800 N. University Ave. in Provo, Amanda Knight Hall was constructed in 1939 as a women’s dormitory. The building was used as the first Provo Missionary Training Center, as well as the Church Language Training Mission Center from 1964 to 1976. Since then, the property has served a variety of short-term academic and auxiliary purposes for BYU. Kreg Peterson and David Bauman of CBRE represented the seller, Brigham Young University, in the deal.
KANSAS CITY, MO. — The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has selected the Kansas City region for the relocation of the Economic Research Service (ERS) and National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA). U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue cites affordability, easy commutes and quality of life for the site selection process. “The Kansas City region has proven itself to be a hub for all things agriculture and is a booming city in America’s heartland,” he says. “There is already a significant presence of USDA and federal government employees in the region, including the Kansas City Ag Bank Federal Reserve.” In August, USDA had announced that it would undertake the relocations largely to attract and retain staff. The organization says it has been difficult to recruit employees to the Washington, D.C. area given the high cost of living and long commutes. While 90 percent of USDA employees are located outside of the D.C. area, ERS and NIFA are the only USDA agencies that don’t have representation outside of the national capital region. Out of NIFA’s 315 positions, 294 will relocate while 21 will stay in D.C. Of the 329 ERS positions, 253 will relocate while 76 will stay in D.C. …
NEW ORLEANS — Easterly Government Properties Inc. has acquired a 137,679-square-foot Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Field Office in New Orleans. The seller and sales price were not disclosed. FBI-New Orleans is a four-story, single-tenant facility located on a 6.6-acre site. The FBI’s New Orleans Division oversees federal operations in all of Louisiana, including six satellite offices in Baton Rouge, Alexandria, Lafayette, Lake Charles, Monroe and Shreveport. This build-to-suit construction was originally completed in 1999 and renovated in 2006. The project is now 100 percent occupied by the FBI until August 2029 under a non-cancelable remaining lease term. Additionally, the FBI has an option to renew the lease for an additional 10-year term, expiring in 2039. The building has numerous security features such as a security crash traffic barrier, 24/7 security, visitor screening center and bullet-resistant interior walls, doors and a roof. Easterly Government Properties now owns nine of the nation’s 56 FBI field offices and is the single-largest private owner of FBI field offices in the country.
TYLER, TEXAS — Locally based general contractor Garrett & Associates has completed the renovation of Martin Hall, a 30,000-square-foot historic landmark building located on the campus of Texas College in Tyler, about 100 miles east of Dallas. The building, which was suffered structural damage from a storm in 2015, serves as the school’s designated administration space. Dallas-based Merriman Anderson served as the project architect.
COSTA MESA, CALIF. — C.W. Driver Cos. has broken ground on the $36 million Orange Coast College (OCC) Kinesiology and Athletics Complex in Costa Mesa. The three-building, 88,000-square-foot complex is one part of a broader project to revitalize and modernize OCC’s campus, and one of the three projects C.W. Driver is currently building for OCC. Construction for the complex will occur in two phases. The first phase includes new construction of a multi-building, one-story complex spanning 58,000 square feet. Phase II will focus on the renovation of the existing 30,000-square-foot building that houses the men’s and women’s locker rooms and existing pool areas. Upon delivery, the complex will feature division offices, athletic training, adaptive physical education, equipment management, locker rooms/showers, support spaces for the aquatics programs, a 65-meter competition pool with double bulkheads, a 25-meter instructional pool, and a 450-person bleacher space covered by a canopy. The buildings will be interconnected by an overhead shade structure. Project partners include Little Diversified Architectural Consulting. This complex is one part of the broader project funded by Measure M, a $698 million general obligation bond provided and supported by the local community to construct education facilities for all three colleges that comprise Coast …