In The Pipeline: CoStar Development and Construction News for Aug. 1 - 7

August 2, 2010

 

In this week's Pipeline, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger speaks at a ceremony to launch the massive $3.3 billion construction project to build a "health-care city" at an Air Reserve Base near Moreno Valley, CA; in more health-care construction news, BremnerDuke Healthcare Real Estate has completed a new two-story, 45,136-square-foot outpatient facility on Cincinnati’s West Side; in East Harlem, NY, construction of the eight-story Embelesar118 cooperative apartment project façade is well under way ; in St. Louis, a sheet metal workers’ union has broken ground on its new $15 million LEED Platinum headquarters. A Fort Myers, FL-based builder breaks ground on a U.S. Customs General Aviation facility at the Naples Municipal Airport in Naples, FL.  

 

Work has officially started on March LifeCare Campus, a 10-year, $3.3 billion construction project to build a "health-care city" on 246 acres at the former March Air Reserve Base near Moreno Valley, CA.

McCarthy Building Companies, Inc., one of the premier hospital builders in the U.S., joined California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in a ceremony last week to launch the project that includes about 6 million square feet of structures, including a hospital, medical office buildings (MOBs), retail, a hotel, a continuing care retirement community, wellness centers and facilities for veterans, skilled nursing, spiritual healing and ambulatory care.

"This is going to become known as the ‘Mayo Clinic ‘of the West,'" said Schwarzenegger, adding that construction will employ 12,700 workers, and the project will create an estimated 7,200 permanent health care-related jobs, the governor said.

At the ceremony, two heavy duty demolition machines began to start taking down the first of more than 16 structures to make way for the 1.4 million-square-foot first phase of the three-phase March LifeCare project.

March Healthcare Development (MHD) led by Managing Director and Project Leader Donald N. Ecker, has spent six years formulating the overall concept of the unique health and wellness venue. McCarthy Building Companies, Inc. is the general contractor for the current $4.5 million demolition work and master builder for overall construction. Architectural firm HOK designed the campus’s master plan.

Following a year of construction, BremnerDuke Healthcare Real Estate has completed a new two-story, 45,136-square-foot outpatient facility on Cincinnati’s West Side. Good Samaritan Medical Center Western Ridge is affiliated with Good Samaritan Hospital in Cincinnati, part of the TriHealth healthcare system.

Construction of the full-service medical center began in July 2009. The first floor will house a 24-hour emergency department with 16 beds and a helipad with around-the-clock lab and imaging services. The second floor will house a mix of office-based primary care and specialist physicians.

The outpatient center is the first step in the planned five-building, 34-acre Western Ridge development. Plans call for two more two-story medical office buildings (MOBs) totaling 123,975 square feet and two more freestanding buildings totaling 40,957 square feet. Good Samaritan plans to retain one of the MOB sites for future growth. The other lots will be sold for complementary development.

Construction of the façade is nearing completion, and floors are framed out at the eight-story Embelesar118 cooperative apartment project at 152 East 118th Street, between Lexington and Third Avenues in Harlem.

The Rogers Marvel-designed project developed by Bluestone East 118th Street Realty LLC, a Bluestone organization company, includes 57 studio, one- and two-bedroom apartments, joining seven new developments in the immediate area that include co-ops, condominiums and rentals at price points targeted from moderate- to high-income individuals.

New retail and restaurants in the area are embracing the traditional Latino character of the area.

"The change here has been both subtle and fast," says architect Orlando Marin, Embelesar118’s project manager.

"On the same block that you see neighborhood habitués hovering over an all-day game of dominos, there’s a fancy café serving foamy cappuccino and low-fat yogurt fruit parfaits that’s packed."

Embelesar118 will likely target faculty members and staff at the Lois V. and Samuel J. Silberman School of Social Work at Hunter College being built directly across the street on Third Avenue between 118th and 119th Streets. Amenities include an attended lobby, live-in super, package delivery room, refrigerated storage closet, bicycle room, fitness center and landscaped terrace.

Pre-sales have been brisk during construction with asking prices starting in the low $200,000-range. apartments have been quickly selling even throughout construction.

Sheet Metal Workers’ 36 has broken ground on its new $15 million LEED Platinum headquarters facility in St. Louis.

Sheet Metal Workers will occupy the entire 96,023-square-foot Building 2 in the Chouteau Crossing development. Additionally Dynalabs LLC will occupy 23,696 square feet in the development, in Building 1. Construction is expected to take 10 to 12 months.

Green Street Properties, Treanor Architects, G.S.&S. Construction, Solutions AEC and Stock and Associates are all partners in the development. (By Ernest Rodriguez)

Fort Myers, FL-based J.L. Wallace Inc. has broken ground on the U.S. Customs General Aviation Facility at the Naples Municipal Airport in Naples, FL. The project is scheduled for completion in November.

The project includes demolishing an existing building, site development, utilities, apron expansion and construction of a 4,142 square foot building, including a secured processing area. The Customs facility will include extensive security control systems. Fletcher Thompson is providing architectural design services and Hole Montes, Inc. is providing engineering.

Suncor Development sold a large portion of its remaining assets to Sunbelt Holdings. The sale price was not disclosed.

The sale included multiple properties throughout Arizona, including approximately 1,867 acres of undeveloped land in Palm Valley; a 440,000 square-foot industrial building and three small office buildings in Goodyear; a 20,000-square-foot office building and parking garage at Hayden’s Ferry; the SunRidge Golf Course; and the Sanctuary Golf Course.

Sunbelt Holdings approached the seller directly. SunCor Development has been selling assets and will eventually close its doors. There were no outside brokers involved in the transaction. (By Shane Beyer; CoStar COMPS #1950709)