Civic

PLANO, TEXAS — McCarthy Building Cos. Inc. will build a 90,000-square-foot fine arts center for the Plano Independent School District. The facility, which will be located along Alma Road between 15th Street and West Park Boulevard, will feature a 1,500-seat performance hall, 350-seat studio theater, rehearsal studio and a visual arts gallery. The project will also deliver surface parking for roughly 700 vehicles. Construction of the project, which is valued at roughly $50 million, is expected to begin during the summer of 2018.    

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WILMINGTON, DEL. — The Philadelphia 76ers and The Buccini/Pollin Group are developing 76ers Fieldhouse in Wilmington. Situated on 8.9 acres, the 140,000-square-foot multi-purpose sports complex and youth training center will be the new home for the 76ers NBA G League affiliate team, the Delaware 87ers. In addition to use by the affiliate team, the facility will be used to provide local youth with new sports programming and opportunities. The Buccini/Pollin Group will manage the development and construction of the facility, which is being designed by Rossetti Architects. The facility is situated on a site currently owned by Riverfront Development Corp.

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ATLANTA — Tim Keane, City of Atlanta’s planning commissioner, is tasked with a monumental challenge facing many planners: how to practically design the future for a city on the cusp of a population boom. Citing the Atlanta Regional Commission, Keane said that the Atlanta metro area is on track to add 2.5 million people over the next 25 years, the equivalent of adding the entire metro Charlotte population. The city’s in-town population is also expected to grow from less than 500,000 today to 1.2 million in that same time frame. Adding to the challenge are city departments and communities that are unwilling to change because of a mindset that is resistant to growth. “Everyone thinks that more people is bad,” said Keane, who previously worked in the city planning departments in Davidson, N.C., and Charleston. “They don’t work on the assumption that a clear future for themselves is better with more people. We have to break out of that mentality because the change is happening.” Keane was the keynote speaker at the eighth annual InterFace Multifamily Southeast conference, held on Tuesday, Nov. 28 at the Westin Buckhead in Atlanta. Hosted by InterFace Conference Group and Southeast Real Estate Business, the …

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CHARLESTOWN, MASS. — Callahan Construction Managers has completed the construction of Cambridge College’s campus relocation project. Located in Hood Business Park in Charlestown, the project comprises a 108,000-square-foot tenant fit-out with modern classrooms, laboratories, meeting rooms, offices, administrative areas, studies and lounges. Designed by Wilson Architects, the facility features state-of-the-art audio/visual communications and teaching technologies, as well as ancillary support spaces for the college.

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NEW PALTZ, N.Y. — The State University of New York (SUNY) at New Paltz, along with PC Construction, has broken ground on a $14 million Engineering Innovation Hub, located on the university’s campus in New Paltz. The two-story structure will add to the school’s growing mechanical engineering program, house the headquarters and laboratories of the university’s Hudson Valley Advanced Manufacturing Center, provide space for potential business partners under the state’s START-UP NY program, and serve as a business incubator for technology and engineering startups in the mid-Hudson Valley. Urbahn Architects designed the 19,500-square-foot facility, which allows for potential expansion. The project team includes Vanderweil Engineers, CSA Group, Leslie E. Robertson Associates, YR&G, BET Engineering Consultants, Edgewater Design, Lumen Architecture and Ellana Inc.

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ATLANTA — Tim Keane, commissioner of planning and community with the City of Atlanta, didn’t mince words when it came to his thoughts on the government’s role with new retail development. “Everyone in this room should have higher expectations for their cities and towns,” says Keane, addressing the crowd during the ICSC Southeast Conference & Deal Making event held at the Cobb Galleria Centre in Atlanta in mid-October. The panel discussion, dubbed “Debunking the Retail Apocalypse,” centered on why retail isn’t a dying industry but one that is evolving on a daily basis. For as much discussion about how food and entertainment are helping change the dynamic for retail real estate, the panel agreed that a concerted effort between the public and private sectors is the only way the retail industry can truly adapt with the times. Keane, who previously worked with the City of Charleston, says it’s the local government’s responsibility to allow developers to build the projects that people want. “It’s crazy for developers to have to go through this gauntlet before they can build what everyone wants them to build,” said Keane, who was interrupted by an applause break. Lacy Beasley, president and chief operating officer of …

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TAMPA, FLA. — Skanska USA has broken ground on a research and academic tower for the University of South Florida’s Morsani College of Medicine and Heart Institute in downtown Tampa. The college of medicine will relocate from 12901 Bruce B. Downs Blvd. to the new 395,000-square-foot building within Water Street Tampa, a $3 billion mixed-use project from Strategic Property Partners. HOK is designing the 13-story tower, which will feature a 400-person auditorium, classrooms, study rooms and a series of spaces for informal collaboration and gathering. The new building will be located at South Meridian Avenue and Channelside Drive on an acre of land donated by Tampa Bay Lightning team owner Jeff Vinik. The building is slated for completion in fall 2019.

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WORCESTER, MASS. — Worcester-based Kelleher & Sadowsky has arranged the sale of a building, located at 695-701 Main St. in Worcester. The Church of Ebenezer acquired the 41,050-square-foot building for an undisclosed price. The building was a former People in Peril (PIP) Shelter. David Cohen and Paul Matt of Kelleher & Sadowsky brokered the deal.

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EAST FARMINGDALE, N.Y. — Farmingdale State College has re-opened Conklin Hall after completing a $12 million redevelopment and renovation of the building. Stalco Construction and BRB Architects transformed the two-story, 19,701-square-foot building — which was originally built as a power plant in 1914 — into a student center. The 11,115-square-foot lower level features a newspaper room, a yearbook room, a student lounge, student club offices and four private offices, while the 8,586-square-foot main level features student government offices, private offices, workstations, a common area and a reception area. The project team included Cameron Engineering & Associates, Hage Engineering, Lakhani & Jordan Engineers, and landscape architects Todd Rader and Amy Crews.

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ATLANTA — While speaking at the Oct. 5 luncheon hosted by the Atlanta chapter of Commercial Real Estate Women (CREW Atlanta), Emory University law professor Mindy Goldstein addressed some of the environmental issues facing Atlanta, namely the City of Atlanta Tree Ordinance and stormwater runoff in the metro area. “Stormwater runoff is a huge problem in Atlanta,” says Goldstein, who serves as director of the Turner Environmental Law Clinic at Emory University School of Law. The clinic provides 4,000 hours of pro bono environmental legal work per year. “When it rains, surging stormwater can overflood our sewer systems and flood properties, which drastically decreases property values in certain neighborhoods,” says Goldstein. Atlanta is one of the 100 cities around the world participating in 100 Resilient Cities (100RC), a global initiative to provide governance and operational infrastructure to 100 cities that prove they are working to improve conditions for their citizens. The campaign was launched in 2013 by The Rockefeller Foundation and after three rounds of applications, the final 100 cities were chosen in May 2016. Member cities within 100RC are working now to become more “resilient” by addressing both the city’s shocks, or one-time events like floods and earthquakes, and …

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