AGC Offers Training / Turner Building Safeway Warehouse / ABC Honors Excellence

A new designation of the Inland Northwest AGC by the state has allowed the chapter to offer expanded training opportunities for displaced workers.

Inland NW AGC Creates New Educational Organization

Spokane - A recent designation by the state has allowed the Inland Northwest Chapter of the Associated General Contractors to greatly expand construction industry training opportunities for displaced workers.

The State of Washington has recognized the AGC chapter as an Interstate Licensed Private Vocational College. Through applications for grants and other funding resources, the chapter will provide a wide range of classes with the goal of increasing employment opportunities to individual workers, as well as improving the skill levels available to area employers.

Classes will be available through the chapter's new Construction and Industrial Workforce Development Center. The center's first program - which offers classes ranging from forklift safety to construction mathematics - is currently underway, with future programs planned.

Spokane WorkSource has partnered with the AGC for the first program, handling the recruiting and screening of potential applicants.

The training is being offered without charge to either the workers or potential employers.

This effort was made as part of an overall plan to create a construction labor pool from which local contractors and apprenticeship programs can draw skilled workers who have received specialized training in equipment operation, safety protection, and commercial driving, according to Wayne Brokaw, the chapter's director. This training has been endorsed by a number of apprenticeship programs in the area, including the Inland Northwest Apprenticeship Coordinators Council, Spokane Labor Council, and the Building and Construction Trades Council. Various instructional components will include Iron Workers, Sheet Metal Workers, Painters, Electrical Workers, and Carpenters Apprenticeship programs.

Schlecht Breaking Ground On New Animal Hospital

Vancouver - Schlecht Construction of Vancouver, Wash., recently broke ground on the new Cascade Animal Hospital located on SE McGillivray Blvd. and 20th Avenue in Vancouver.

The new hospital is approximately 7,700-sq.-ft. of new diagnostic, surgical, canine aquatic rehabilitation and patient waiting room areas. The hospital features a wood-frame building with masonry exterior finishes. Schlecht crews will be completing all building and site work (including patient and customer parking), landscaping, interior finishes and medical improvements. The use of high efficiency lighting and mechanical systems will offer maximum efficiency and will reduce ongoing operating costs and maintenance expenses.

Construction completion is expected by September.

Team Celebrates Ribbon Cutting For New Washougal Police Station

Washougal - An open house was recently held to celebrate the opening of a new police station for the City of Washougal. Team Construction of Vancouver, Wash., was the general contractor.

The new station is home to Washougal's expanded patrol and detective offices, and consists of nearly 8,000-sq.-ft. of new construction. The single-story design features brick veneer and CMU exterior finishes.

Team broke ground on the new facility in late July of 2003 and, despite some weather-related delays, the project was completed on time and on budget.

Turner Tapped to Build $95M Safeway Warehouse

Auburn - The Seattle office of Turner Construction has been awarded a contract to build a $95 million distribution center for Safeway in Auburn, Wash.

Turner Construction is the general contractor for the project. The architect is SLL/Leo A. Daly of Minneapolis, Minn. Completion is scheduled for March 2005.

The 1.2 million-sq.-ft. distribution center will be comprised of 10 buildings, which includes a refrigeration warehouse, grocery warehouse, recycling center, truck maintenance garage, and administrative, office and support buildings.

ABC of Western Washington Honors Excellence in Construction

Bellevue - The Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC) of Western Washington chose seven projects as winners in its recent 2004 Excellence in Construction Awards presentation.

Strand Hunt Construction of Kirkland, Wash., received the association's highest award, the Eagle of Excellence Award, for its work on Redmond High School. The project also received the Public Construction Award of Excellence.

Eagle of Excellence Award and Award for Public Construction
Redmond High School
General contractor: Strand Hunt Construction
Architect: McGranahan Architects
Structural engineer: Chalker Putnam Collins & Scott
Mechanical engineer: BCE Engineers
Civil engineer: SVR Design. ABC members involved in the project were Ralph's Concrete Pumping, Inc., CLP Resources, Inc. and Audio Acoustics, Inc.

Commercial Construction
Carter SAAB dealership
General contractor: SGA Corporation
Architect: Gordon Fleener

Industrial Construction
Panda Gila River Project
General contractor: SNC-Lavalin Constructors

Residential Construction
The Main House at Tower Farm
General contractor: John Michael Hall Corporation
Architects: Jake Bigham/Stan Chesshir Architects and Associates
Civil engineer: Steve Anderson/Group 4, Inc.
Mechanical engineer: Frank Erwin/Franklin Engineering
Structural engineer: Wade Younie/Walker Diloreto Younie, Inc.
Electrical engineer: Nick Rich/Interface Engineering, Inc.

Multi-Family Construction
Traugott Terrace
General contractor: Rafn Company
Architectural services: Environmental Works
Engineer: Swenson Say Faget

TI Renovation
Faith Lutheran Church addition
General contractor: S.D. Deacon Corporation of Washington
Architect: Broweleit Peterson Hammer Architects
Structural engineer: EQE International

Specialty Construction
Woodland Park Zoo Jaguar Exhibit
General contractor: Synergy Construction Inc.
Architect: The Portico Group
Structural engineer: Jerry Howe
Civil engineer: SvR Design Inc.
Mechanical engineer: TETRA Tech KCM, Inc.
Electrical services: Eisi Consulting Engineers

Mixed-use Apartment Project Completes in Edmonds

Edmonds - Construction was recently completed on The Bel Air at Edmonds, a mixed-use apartment complex designed by architecture, interior design and planning firm Weber + Thompson of Seattle.

The project combines 4,500 sq. ft. of street level construction space with two levels of apartment residences arranged around a landscaped interior court. The building features 18 apartment units, some with spectacular Puget Sound views, ranging from 900 sq. ft. to 1,300 sq. ft. and supported by one level of sub-grade parking.

The Bel Air at Edmonds' developer and general contractor is Edmonds 2000 LLC.

Swedish Inks Lease for New ER Complex in Issaquah

Issaquah - Swedish Medical Center of Seattle has signed a 20-year lease on a building to house a new emergency-room complex in Issaquah, Wash. Known as I-90 Lake Place I, Building B, the 55,225-sq.-ft., two-story structure is owned by the Washington State Department of Natural Resources. It is located at 2005 N.W. Sammamish Road, across from the entrance to Lake Sammamish State Park.

Construction planning is under way now and tenant improvement work is planned to begin in September, after two of the three current-occupant leases expire. The target opening date is February 2005. In addition to the ER, the Swedish complex will include a medical-imaging center, a community health education classroom and offices for primary-care and specialty physicians.

Swedish will transform the former commercial office space into a medical facility with an ER built and equipped to hospital standards. That work includes significantly reconfiguring interior walls, upgrading HVAC equipment, adding systems for delivery of medical gases, installing a backup generator and constructing an entrance for emergency vehicles.

Altogether, Swedish plans to invest $16 million to $20 million in tenant improvements and the purchase of medical equipment and furnishings.

The first of its kind in Washington state, the freestanding emergency-room complex will be staffed by approximately 75 physicians, nurses, technicians and support personnel. It will be open around-the-clock to treat patients with problems requiring immediate and specialized attention.

Callison of Seattle is the project's architect. A general contractor has not yet been named.