New Project Portfolio

UC-San Diego’s bio-med library gets a much-needed makeover

The newly renovated Biomedical Library at the University of California, San Diego, can now provide services to more than 4,000 students and faculty, following the construction of a 43,500-sf addition that more than doubled the size of the facility. Led by McCarthy Building Cos., St. Louis, the $17 million makeover added a 24-hour computer reading room, high-density movable shelving, specialized research stations for semi-private study, networked computer stations, and wireless Internet.

Boston Celtics unveil ‘courtside club’ for courtside ticket holders

Celtics fans that are lucky enough to get courtside tickets to a home game at the TD Banknorth Garden in Boston may never make it to their seats. On Dec. 8, the Celtics unveiled the “Celtics Courtside Club,” a 2,000-sf club with plenty of comfy seats, plasma video screens, and a bar composed of internally illuminated acrylic and black Zodiac synthetic stone. Designed by Ellerbe Becket’s Kansas City, Mo., office, the club also features a replica of the Garden’s famed wood parquet floor and decorative trim made of authentic basketball leather.

Destination for fitness and well-being opens near LA

Westlake Wellbeing Properties, a real estate arm of Dole Food Co., has opened a 769,000-sf well-being complex adjacent to Dole’s headquarters in Westlake Village, Calif., 35 miles northwest of Los Angeles. The 20-acre complex is anchored by a 270-room Four Seasons Hotel and Spa, and also includes space for the California WellBeing Institute and a state-of-the-art television studio. The hotel features specialty restaurants, spacious common areas and meeting space, a 40,000-sf spa, 12,000-sf fitness center, and indoor and outdoor pools. Designed by the Newport Beach office of Wimberly, Allison, Tong & Goo, Honolulu, the complex is surrounded by walking and jogging trails accented by ponds, fountains, waterfalls, a rose garden, a greenhouse, and a traditional Chinese pagoda. Matt Construction, Santa Fe Springs, Calif., was the general contractor.

University library finally gets some casual space

For years, faculty and staff at Augusta (Ga.) State University’s Reese Library had been requesting more casual space. They finally got their wish thanks to a public-private venture that funded a $11 million, 48,000-sf addition that added a cyber café, food court, banquet hall, fitness center, game room, TV lounges, meeting rooms, and offices for the campus newspaper. Lord, Aeck and Sargent, Atlanta, collaborated with local architect 2KM Architects on the design, which replicates the early 1940s Federalist buildings on campus.

$77 million heart center opens at University of Kansas Hospital

A curving glass façade marks the front door to the new $77 million, 238,000-sf Center for Advanced Heart Care cardiac facility on the University of Kansas Hospital campus in Kansas City, Kan. Designed by RTKL, Baltimore, the five-level building links to an existing hospital via a colorful public promenade on the ground level and bridges on the second and third levels. Built by J.E. Dunn, Kansas City, Mo., the hospital includes 80 private patient rooms with wireless Internet and overnight accommodations for families.

Affordable housing development goes ‘green’ in Cambridge, Mass.

Located at the site of a former trolley yard in North Cambridge, Mass., the Trolley Square Development is one of the first “green” affordable housing developments in the Boston area. Designed by Mostue & Associates Architects, Boston, the project includes 32 affordable rental apartments, eight affordable townhouses, ground-level retail, below-grade parking, and community spaces, including a park on the corner of the site. The facility was designed and built to LEED standards, with dual-flush toilets, stormwater reuse for landscape irrigation, and photovoltaic panels, but the project was not registered with the U.S. Green Building Council in order to save precious housing funds, according to the project’s local developer, Homeowner’s Rehab Inc. The project also is next door to a bus terminus, a four-minute walk from the MBTA Red Line, and adjacent to the Linear Park Bike Path.