Major Renovation Proposed for Capitol Center

OLYMPIA—The Views on Fifth Avenue LLC is preparing to submit plans for a major renovation of the Capitol Center office building into a mixed-use, residential, office and retail project.
 
BCRA is the architect, and the general contractor is Berschauer-Phillips Construction Co., both of Olympia. Built in the 1960s, the building most recently housed offices of the State Department of Corrections.  It was acquired by the investors in 2005 from the Sato Corp. for $11.9 million.

McCormick and Schmicks opening new restaurants

BEND —BBT Architects of Bend, Ore., recently completed construction drawings for a new McCormick & Schmick’s Restaurant to be built in Austin, Texas, and is currently in design on a new McCormick & Schmick’s Restaurant in Virginia Beach, Va.

Both restaurants are approximately 7,500 sq ft with fixed and loose seating for 250 guests in the dining and bar areas. The establishments also include private dining rooms, boardrooms and outdoor patio dining for approximately 50 people.  The restaurants feature detailed wood accents, tile, stained glass, custom light fixtures and specialty finishes.

PRS to build 30-story care facility

MEDFORD—Pacific Retirement Services announced Tuesday that it plans to build a 30-story continuing-care facility in Portland. The building will be located on the Oregon Health Sciences University campus. Construction cost was not disclosed.

The 507,000-sq-ft building will be built by Hoffman Construction of and is being designed by Ankrom Moisan Associated Architects both of Portland. Construction is expected to start in 2008. The building is being design to meet Silver LEED status. The company owns 24 continuing-care and low-income housing facilities in four states.  The new project will be called Mirabella, which is also the name of a recently completed facility in Seattle.

Rebar Prices May Rise Again

Word on the floor from the World of Concrete is that rebar prices in the U.S. are poised for another sizable increase in perhaps three weeks. This increase follows a $15/st price boost to be effective Feb. 1.

"My people there are telling me that the domestic rebar mills will increase prices $15-20/st, effective Feb. 15," an East Coast service center buyer told Platts, a McGraw-Hill sister publication. The reason, he explained, "you cannot get any imported material."

Several U.S. rebar buyers surveyed by Platts last week also expected another price increase, but not until March 1.