May 2012: On the Drawing Board

Quick renovation planned for Minnesota’s Westgate Mall

Eidco Construction will complete a 65,000-sf renovation of the Westgate Mall in Brainerd and Baxter, Minn. The project was designed by Chipman Design Architecture, in collaboration with Ringdahl Architects, and involves a number of interior tenant improvements, along with exterior façade work and the construction of an addition. The 260,725-sf Westgate retail center is scheduled for a 60-day completion.

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Umass Dartmouth to add Bioprocessing Lab tO incubator for life science startups

Suffolk Construction will manage construction on a new bioprocessing facility for the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth. Located on a four-acre site 10 miles from the main campus, the 38,000-sf facility will function as an incubator space for small life science companies in Fall River’s SouthCoast Biopark. The one-story facility will feature research, development, training, quality control, cell culture production, and purification suites, as well as a warehouse, laboratory support spaces, lecture rooms, and offices. Elkus Manfredi Architects is designing the facility to be LEED certified for completion in 2013.

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New mixed-use project planned for Florida’s Broward County

Stiles has launched construction of a new mixed-use development at the southern gateway to the Midtown District in Plantation, Fla. The development includes a new luxury apartment community, a joint venture with Prudential Real Estate Investors, and the adjacent “University Shoppes,” which Stiles owns and is redeveloping. Architecture firm Cohen Freedman Encinosa and Associates designed the multifamily apartment complex, a gated community on a 5.5-acre site, with two 12-story towers offering a total of 321 residences. Stiles Construction is building the residential complex, which is one of Broward County’s first multifamily rental communities designed to achieve LEED certification.

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Downtown Dallas development will provide many tenant options

BOKA Powell, working with commercial real estate development and investment firm KDC, has created an adaptable design for the new 400,000-sf, Class A office tower at the Victory Park mixed-use development in downtown Dallas. The 23-story building, with more than 14 floors of office space above an eight-story parking structure, is designed to accommodate a wide variety of floor plate sizes, ranging from 25,000 to 54,000 sf, to meet the needs of a range of potential tenants. Construction is expected to begin in the fall. KDC will pursue LEED certification.

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$200 Million luxury development planned for Jordan’s capital

Al Maabar of Abu Dhabi developed the new 192,600-sf St. Regis Amman Hotel and Residences in the Abdoun neighborhood of Amman, Jordan. The hotel tower will have 225 luxury guestrooms and 45 serviced apartments situated above a retail and restaurant podium. The branded apartment tower will offer 80 luxury residential units. A 12,900-sf ballroom, meeting rooms, and support spaces will provide the largest function space in the capital city. Perkins Eastman designed the development for completion in 2014.

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Watch out for flying students at new California high school theater 

The new Corona del Mar High School Theatre, in Newport Beach, Calif., will house a 350-seat main auditorium, small black box theater, scene shop, green room, and dressing rooms, as well as instrumental and choral classrooms. A tension grid system will be used, rather than a large fly loft over the stage, which will enable student thespians to fly above the audience or stage. McCarthy Building Companies of Newport Beach is the construction manager for the Newport-Mesa Unified School District project, which has been designed to achieve LEED Silver by Irvine-based architecture firm LPA. BD+C