Building Briefs – March 2011
NORTHEAST
• Princeton University will soon install a 5.3-megawatt solar collector field on 27 acres in West Windsor Township, N.J. The system, comprised of 16,500
photovoltaic panels, is expected to be one of the largest single installations at a U.S. college or university. Construction could begin this summer and be completed in one year depending on approvals from local and state authorities. The collector field should generate 8 million kilowatt-hours per year — enough to power the equivalent of 700 homes or, at Princeton, enough to meet 5.5 percent of the total annual campus electrical needs. This renewable energy source will be funded and owned by Superior, Colo.-based Key Equipment Finance, which will lease it to Princeton. The project will eventually reduce the university’s carbon footprint by decreasing its dependence on fossil fuels and should trim approximately 8 percent per year from its electric costs.
photovoltaic panels, is expected to be one of the largest single installations at a U.S. college or university. Construction could begin this summer and be completed in one year depending on approvals from local and state authorities. The collector field should generate 8 million kilowatt-hours per year — enough to power the equivalent of 700 homes or, at Princeton, enough to meet 5.5 percent of the total annual campus electrical needs. This renewable energy source will be funded and owned by Superior, Colo.-based Key Equipment Finance, which will lease it to Princeton. The project will eventually reduce the university’s carbon footprint by decreasing its dependence on fossil fuels and should trim approximately 8 percent per year from its electric costs. •Construction on Husson University’s new $15 million five-story multipurpose building in Bangor, Maine has been given the green light. The building, scheduled for completion in August 2012, will include classrooms, faculty offices and suite-style living space for 240 students. The new building addition will be designed to accommodate the College of Business, which can conduct simulated board meetings and web-based team analysis. The university is also planning a major renovation and expansion of the Dickerman Dining Commons. This $3 million dollar project is scheduled for completion this August and will include a 10,000-square-foot expansion. A completely new kitchen and service area and total renovation of the dining area, including food stations, new seating and incorporating a trayless flexible service style, are also under the project’s purview.
MID-ATLANTIC
• Piedmont Virginia Community College is well on its way to having a satellite campus in downtown Stanardsville, Va. Fried Cos. of Ruckersville, Va. is in charge of the project to transform the top floor of the library into classroom space. Plans have been drawn up for the $750,000 facility, but the next step is getting approval from the Greene County, Va. office A fundraising campaign is currently under way to pay for the project. Once funding is in place, construction should take about six months to complete.
SOUTHEAST
• Trustees for the University of Arkansas have given preliminary approval to a bond issue of up to $141 million that will help finance 16 construction and renovation projects at the Fayetteville, Ark. campus. Finance and Administration Vice Chancellor Don Pederson says the financing is necessary to help the campus keep pace with rapid enrollment growth. The package includes a $35 million football operations center, a $32.8 million addition and renovation of Vol Walker Hall, and a $27 million addition and renovation of Ozark Hall. Fayetteville campus administrators expect to enroll 23,000 students in the upcoming fall semester. The financing is to be repaid primarily through student fees, grants and private contributions.
• Carter, an Atlanta-based investors, advisors, and full-service real estate service providers has completed the new $15.8 million Health and Science Building at the College of Coastal Georgia in Brunswick, Ga. This addition to the campus houses the nursing, radiological and clinical lab technology programs is designed to promote students’ learning experience. It comprises nearly 50,000 square feet of state-of-the-art laboratories, observation areas, patient exam rooms, study rooms and a 125-seat tiered classroom. Carter served as project manager during the design and planning phases that began in the fall 2008 and also took a lead role in the specifications, procurement and installation of the furniture, fixtures and equipment. The Health and Science building currently is seeking LEED Silver certification.
SOUTH CENTRAL
• The Assumption Parish School Board in Napoleonville, La. has agreed to use $8.1 million in federal Qualified School Construction Bond funding to pay for a number of school improvement projects. The funds will be used for a 12-classroom addition and gym renovations at Assumption High School, as well as roof repairs at Napoleonville Primary, classroom additions to Labadieville Primary and Pierre Part Middle schools, renovations to Belle Rose Primary and Labadieville Middle schools, and a $2.5 million cafeteria, administration building and library at Bayou L’Ourse Primary School.
Money from the stimulus-funded federal program is reserved for use on school construction projects that will be completed within three years from the time the funds are delivered.
• As architects work toward breaking ground on a new middle school in Grand Caillou, La., school officials are attempting to get federal money to pay some or all of the project’s cost. School Superintendent Philip Martin says he hopes FEMA will provide the funding to build the school. The new middle school would accomodate about 300 students between grades five and eight and is planned for a piece of donated property. Jack Moore, the school system’s risk manager who has led negotiations with FEMA, says the federal organization could pay nothing or could cover the new school’s entire cost. If no FEMA money is received, the school will be built using $10 million in Qualified School Construction Bonds, federally subsidized interest-free loans backed by local sales taxes, that the School Board received in 2010. The final meeting between school and FEMA officials was postponed recently due to bad weather. Moore remains confident that the federal organization will cover at least part of the new school’s cost. But even if those dollars are approved, it could be months before the school system receives the money.
MIDWEST
• Father Tolton Regional Catholic High School, in Columbia, Mo. is on schedule for a fall opening. The recent wave of winter weather set back the construction schedule for Columbia’s first Catholic high school by two weeks, but that should not postpone the school’s opening. Construction has been funded by private donations, with $10.7 million raised so far. This leaves the school about $3 million short of its target. An anonymous donor pledged to donate $1 million when the school reaches the $12 million mark. With construction slated for full completion by late October, the school will open to ninth- and tenth-grade students in early September, while grades 11 and 12 will be added over the next two years.
PACIFIC
• Construction is wrapping up on three buildings at Monterey Peninsula College in Monterey, Calif. just in time for further renovations to begin this fall. The projects nearing completion are student services, business and computer science, and the Marina Education Center. The cost for the buildings is approximately $21 million. College administrators are also awaiting a state review of architectural plans to renovate the theater building, as well as the gym, life science and physical science buildings. Construction is expected to start in the fall and be finished by 2012. Preliminary costs are pegged at $34.5 million for these four renovations. The budgets include design, engineering, construction, furniture, fixtures and equipment.
• A new middle school campus in Torrance, Calif. is under construction and, when completed this September, will be the district’s first new school in 40 years. The $22 million J.H. Hull Middle School project is also $900,000 under budget. The original school consisted primarily of portable buildings and was emptied of students in fall 2007 because of a finding that the relocatables were leaky and seismically unsound. Students were transferred elsewhere and the campus was demolished in mid 2009. Officials expect that the new school will serve 750 students. One unique feature of the school will be the natural air conditioning where solar chimneys in classrooms will allow hot air to rise out of the room, while cooler air will flow through open windows. Consisting of five single-story buildings, the campus will include classrooms, labs, administrative offices, cafeteria and restrooms. Other unique features include courtyards for informal gathering spaces and an amphitheater. The buildings are orientated to maximize natural lighting and minimize solar heat gain. The structure is also constructed of wood instead of steel, a more economical.