Awards & Accolades
1. Achen-Gardner Construction received a 2019 Public Works Project of the Year Award from the Southern Arizona Branch of the American Public Works Association (APWA) for their Arizona State Prison Bar Screen project for the Pima County Regional Wastewater Reclamation Department (RWRD). Members of the project team will accept the award at the APWA Awards Luncheon on March 28th.
Groundbreakings
2. Beatitudes Campus held a groundbreaking ceremony on Thursday, to mark the start of construction on the senior living community’s 34 new patio homes. Located on the Myrtle Avenue side of the 27-acre community, the patio homes are part of a larger master plan to enhance and expand Beatitudes Campus. Orcutt | Winslow is overseeing the project’s design.
3. The 35-acre Rio Rico Industrial project along Interstate 19 has broken ground. The lot sizes will range from 3-13 acres in size. Infrastructure has begun and roads are expected to be completed by the end of March.
4. Lamont Companies Inc. has begun preliminary work on the long-planned, 4-story, 89-room Holiday Inn Express at 1290 Silver Creek Rd. Construction is expected to take 15 months.
5. Owner-Operator Life Care Services and general contractor The Weitz Company have started construction of a four-story, 280KSF independent living expansion at Sagewood, a continuing care retirement community in Phoenix. Designed by architect Todd & Associates, this phase of construction is scheduled for completion by the end of 2020.
6. Baron Properties has broken ground on The McKinley, a boutique offering of 108 luxury apartment units for rent in downtown’s historic Roosevelt neighborhood. Metrowest Development will be developing another luxury for-sale townhome community on the adjoining parcel called Residences on 2nd. Both developments are expected to be completed and available for move-in in the summer of 2020.
Progress Reports
7. This month construction crews with Connect 202 Partners, the developer of the South Mountain Freeway, set the remaining 32 girders for the Dobbins Road interchange, one of 15 interchanges on the project. Last month, they placed 30 girders for the Baseline Road interchange. The 22-mile South Mountain Freeway is scheduled for full completion in 2020.
8. The Pascua Yaqui Tribe and Casino Del Sol’s new hotel, called Estrella at Casino Del Sol, has reached a significant milestone. The final steel beam has been placed on top of the new hotel, marking the halfway point in the construction process and signifying the completion of the structural phase of construction. The grand opening is expected to be in November 2019. The general contractor for the project is McCarthy Building Companies and the architect is Cuningham Group.
9. The Franciscan Renewal Center along Lincoln Drive is in the midst of completing its second major construction project in recent years, a meeting and conference area adjacent to the Our Lady of the Angels Church. The center, called the Community Life Center, is expected to open in June. The project’s architect is DLR Group/WRL, and the contractor is Caruso Construction, Inc.
10. Graycor Construction Company has completed the panel tilt on East Valley Commerce Center Phase II, a two-building, 363KSF industrial project being developed by Metro Commercial Properties in the heart of Mesa’s US 60 corridor. The property has now begun vertical construction. The project is slated for completion in June 2019. McCall & Associates is the architect.
Completions
11. On February 25, doors to the new $16.5M Cole and Jeannie Davis Sports Center at the University of Arizona opened and celebrated with an official ribbon-cutting ceremony. Representatives from the UA, key stakeholders, Mortenson | BWS | HOK, the design-builder on the project, among others were in attendance.