ABOR Approves Capital Plans

The Arizona State Board of Regents recently approved $291.9 million in capital improvement plans for the state's three universities, as well as $317 million for eight new projects on the Arizona State University Campus.

Projects approved at ASU include: Interdisciplinary Life Sciences and Technology Building, $74 million; Geosciences and Materials Building, $18 million; ASUE research building, $12 million; Arizona Biomedical Collaborative, $10 million; new business school, $80 million; instructional research laboratory renovations, $10 million; extended campus capital and infrastructure upgrades, $7 million; and the third-party combined heat and power project, $211 million.

Firms Win Huge Design/Build/Operate Project

McCarthy Building Companies, Inc. and Black & Veatch recently announced they have received notice to proceed with design-build delivery of the 80-million gallon per day Lake Pleasant Water Treatment Plant in Phoenix.

The joint-venture team will design and build the advanced WTP and associated facilities. American Water Services (AWS) will then manage and operate the facilities for a period of 15 years. The city of Phoenix awarded the $336 million DBO contract to AWS in August.

Design and permitting will take 12 to 15 months. Once construction begins in the summer of 2004, the two companies will manage all aspects of construction for the 225-acre plant site. The project is scheduled for start-up and finished-water delivery in February 2007.

Opus West Starts Spec Office Work

Less than a month after breaking ground on a 140,000-sq.ft. speculative office project in North Scottsdale, Phoenix-based Opus West Corp. recently announced it will develop North Scottsdale Corporate Center, a Class A office project in the Northeast Valley that, when completed, will rank as one of the area's largest office campuses and Opus West's largest office development in its six-state western region.

Located on 34 acres at the Loop 101 and Scottsdale Road off of Mayo Boulevard, North Scottsdale Corporate Center will total approximately 1 million sq. ft. in six buildings. The initial phase of the project will include a 150,000-sq.-ft., four-story building. At build out, the project will be comparable in size to the Camelback Esplanade and four times the size of the Scottsdale Spectrum, both award-winning projects developed by Opus West.

Weitz to Expand Assisted Living Center

The Weitz Company recently announced the company has been selected to build a 45,000-sq.-ft. addition to The Heritage Tradition. The addition, known as The Legacy, will provide catered assisted living apartments in Sun City West. Construction will start in Fall 2003 and is expected to be complete by Summer 2004.

Todd and Associates of Phoenix will serve as the architects and The Ryerson Company is the developer and an owner of the property. The budget on this project is still pending.

Diocese, Concord to Remodel Newman Center

Concord Companies, Inc. recently announced that The Roman Catholic Diocese of Phoenix recently awarded the CM@Risk contract for renovation and new construction at the All Saints' Newman Center to Concord Companies, Inc.

The project calls for new construction of a sanctuary and chapel and renovations to the present two-story building on the existing campus located at the northwest corner of College Avenue and University Drive in Tempe. Concord will demolish the one-story Chapel portion of the building and will replace it with a new, two-story building in approximately the same location.

Phoenix Firm Breaks Ground on School Project

DL Withers Construction recently broke ground on the Verrado Middle School, phase I of the new campus, which will total 56,000 sq. ft.. Phase I includes administration offices, classrooms and a multipurpose room/cafeteria. Targeted for completion in August 2004, the school will initially serve 450, 6th through 8th grade students. The cost of phase I is $7.4 million, with phase II targeted to begin in 2005 to accommodate future growth.

A Construction Management at Risk project, Verrado Middle School teams the expertise of DL Withers Construction and Orcutt/Winslow Partnership with the Litchfield School District.

Firm Purchases Tempe Parcel for Live/Work Development

Avenue Communities, LLC, is in the process of acquiring the last undeveloped parcel of the Centerpoint master-planned development in downtown Tempe, and is advancing plans to develop a live/work condominium community.

The initial phase of the community will encompass approximately 200 live/work condominiums with an estimated sales price averaging $250,000. Ground breaking on the first phase is projected to take place within the next 12 months.