BOSTON — Skanska USA has signed a contract with Harvard Business School in Boston to construct a $57 million educational facility. The 61,354-square-foot Ruth Mulan Chu Chao Center will be constructed on the current space of the existing Kresge Hall. Skanska USA is seeking LEED Gold certification for the building. Construction starts in March 2014 and is slated for a May 2016 completion. Headquartered in New York, Skanska USA has approximately 8,300 employees.
AUGUSTA, GA. — Skanska USA has erected the last steel beam for the J. Harold Harrison, M.D. Education Commons building, a three-story, 172,000-square-foot building on Georgia Regents University’s campus in Augusta. The cost of construction was $76.5 million. The building will house two 300-seat auditoriums, a 26,620-square-foot simulation library, 13 learning communities, classrooms and Medical College of Georgia administrative offices. The new building, which Skanska USA will complete by fall 2014, will allow the university to increase the class size of the Medical College of Georgia from 230 to 300 students by 2020 and the College of Dental Medicine to increase its class size from 63 to 100 by 2016.
ARDEN HILLS, MINN. — Stahl Construction has completed work on the 107,500-square-foot Minnesota Army National Guard Field Maintenance Shop in Arden Hills, a northeast suburb of Minneapolis. Designed by BWBR Architects, the $25 million facility includes space for the equipment to maintain National Guard vehicles and provides a centralized location for guard training around the Twin Cities. Along with 36 maintenance/training bays and four warm-up and wash bays, the building also includes tool rooms, offices, classrooms and a fitness area. In addition to constructing the field maintenance shop, the scope of work included approximately 15 acres of paved concrete for the storage of roughly 1,500 military vehicles. Stahl Construction expects the project to receive LEED Gold certification from the U.S. Green Building Council.
FRAMINGHAM, MASS. — Parsons Commercial Group Inc. has arranged the $4.9 million sale of 135-139 Newbury St. in Framingham, a western suburb of Boston. Victor Galvani, vice president, and Jake Parsons, vice president at Parsons Commercial Group, represented the seller, Calare Properties. The buyer, McAuliffe Charter School, purchased the four-acre site and will be relocating from its current facility at 25 Clinton St. in downtown Framingham. The new location includes three buildings, totaling more than 45,000 square feet.
MENDOTA HEIGHTS, MINN. — The Opus Group has completed the new 96,000-square-foot student activities center for Saint Thomas Academy in Mendota Heights, a southeast suburb of Minneapolis. Named Vincent J. Flynn Hall, the new facility provides spaces for art and music, academics and athletics. The athletics areas include a competition gymnasium seating more than 1,300 and an auxiliary gymnasium. The facility also features a large meeting room, health education classrooms, weight room, locker room and office space for coaches and physical education instructors. A two-story structure connects the new athletic facility to the school’s existing main building and includes a main entrance and lobby, classrooms and a school bookstore on the ground level. The upper level houses fine arts space with a band and choir suite, and a new art and multimedia room. Opus completed the project in August.
GAINESVILLE, FLA. — A beam signing ceremony was held for the new Heavener Hall, the University of Florida School of Business Building. The $22 million project is set to begin its vertical construction. Orlando-based SchenkelShultz Architecture, in conjunction with Robert A.M. Stern Architects of New York, designed the building to achieve LEED-Gold certification. The 56,200-square-foot building will be located near the corner of University Avenue and 13th Street on campus. The project will include class rooms, study rooms, academic advisement areas, informal collaboration zones, a café on the ground floor and offices. The new building is slated for a September 2014 completion.
ANN ARBOR, MICH. — Real estate developer and alumnus Stephen Ross is giving the University of Michigan (U-M) $200 million, making it the largest single gift in the history of the university and Ross its largest donor, according to U-M. The money will be split between the university’s business school and the athletic department. Ross is the chairman and founder of New York-based Related Cos. The money will be used to create contemporary spaces for the nearly 6,000 students who take courses at the Stephen M. Ross School of Business and the 900-plus student athletes in all sports. In addition, scholarships will be available for students. Specific projects will be announced in the coming months. In 2004, Ross gave $100 million toward a new building and endowed operations for the business school, which was renamed in recognition of his gift. The building was completed in 2009.
WEBSTER, MASS. — CTA Construction has broken ground on a new $36 million, 109,067-square-foot elementary school for the town of Webster, a city located in southern Massachusetts. Designed by Dore & Whittier Architects, the new school will accommodate pre-kindergarten to 12th grade students and replaces the existing 50-year-old Park Avenue Elementary School. The new school will have state-of-the-art learning spaces, as well as special educational classrooms and include flexible class space. The school construction will be completed in three phases. Phase I includes the demolition of the upper portion of the existing building, followed by construction of the new building during phase II. The final phase includes the demolition of the lower portion of the existing building once the new building is complete. The project is targeting LEED Silver certification. Construction is slated for completion in summer 2015. Collaborative Partners is serving as project manager.
DENTON, TEXAS — GCC McCarthy Joint Venture II, a collaboration of mentor McCarthy Building Cos. Inc. and protégé GCC Enterprises Inc., has completed construction of the $12 million Army Reserve Center (ARC) in Denton, located approximately 40 miles north of Fort Worth. The project, which originally broke ground in April 2012, includes a 37,000-square-foot administrative and training center, an operational maintenance shop, storage buildings and support facilities. Professional Engineering Consultants and GLMV Architecture designed the ARC for LEED Silver certification. Construction was administered by the United States Army Corps of Engineers, Fort Worth District.
COLLEGE STATION, TEXAS — Texas A&M University has chosen Satterfield & Pontikes Construction for the $6.4 million renovation of Francis Hall on the College Station campus. The project, which will transform the building into the new home of the university’s construction science department, will include demolition of the building’s current interior; installation of new mechanical, electrical, plumbing, fire alarm and communication systems; and the construction of an auditorium, exhibit hall, student lounge and conference room. Completion is expected in November 2014. The three-story Francis Hall was originally constructed in 1918.