Top 2008 Projects

We are making an annual presentation of the Midwest's biggest projects in our Top Projects coverage.

Top Projects features the biggest completions and starts by cost in Illinois, Indiana, eastern Missouri and Wisconsin. Cost figures are based on the best available information.

The top-20 starts are presented here:

Top Projects Started 1
Prairie State Energy Campus
Cost: $2.9 Billion

Foundation and civil work have started on the Prairie State Energy Campus, a 1,600-MW supercritical, coal-fueled power plant in Lively Grove, Ill., about 30 mi southeast of St. Louis.

San Francisco-based Bechtel was named as the engineer, procure and construct contractor. It has an agreement with the Southwestern Illinois Building and Construction Trades Council to hire craft workers.

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The project is expected to last four years. Christopher Smith, a spokesman for St. Louis-based Fleishman-Hillard, a publicist, says the owner, Shiloh, Ill.-based Prairie State Generating Co., is an organization made up of nine energy suppliers and several municipal agencies.

Purchase orders have been signed with Babcock & Wilcox Co. for a boiler system; Toshiba International Corp. for the turbines; and Siemens Power Generation Inc. for emission controls. These technologies will reportedly allow Prairie State to achieve efficiencies and generate additional power.

Construction is expected to create about 2,000 skilled and inject more than $560 million into the Illinois economy, according to a study by Southern Illinois University. Prairie State will create more than 450 jobs and inject nearly $100 million in economic benefits into the regional economy each year, according to the same study.

Permits Received

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Environmental Appeals Board has affirmed the air permit for the facility.

The ruling confirms that the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency conducted a proper and thorough environmental review and that Prairie State’s technologies will comply with state and federal regulations to protect the environment. The facility will use generation and emissions control technologies.

A mine permit was also received from the Illinois Department of Natural Resources. The mine in Washington County is being developed to annually produce about 6 million tons of coal for the energy campus.

Top Projects Started 2
Ann & Robert Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago
Cost: $1 Billion

The 125-year-old Children’s Memorial Hospital in Chicago is building a replacement facility in part because space constraints.

Every year the existing care facility in Lincoln Park turns away “hundreds if critically ill children,” says Mary Kate Daly, director of communications for Children’s. Other reasons include the existing hospital’s age, the difficulty of leveraging partnerships with Northwestern University due to Children’s location and need to accommodate new medical technologies and innovative therapies.

Philanthropic Support

The replacement facility, which broke ground in April, is named after philanthropist Ann Lurie in part because of her $100 million gift. Other funding is derived from borrowing, investment earnings, real estate proceeds and operating support.

The replacement 22-story hospital in the city’s Streeterville area will cover 1.2 million sq ft.

It will have 288 private beds with the capacity to expand to 313 beds, Daly says. The 290-sq-ft rooms will be almost double those of the existing hospital.

“There will be space for at least one family member in the room,” she adds.

The design esthetic of the building serving children will evoke building blocks, Daly says. Another design goal was to fit in with the Northwestern University medical campus in terms of materials.

Inside, a unique design collaborative is under way, the Community Partnership Charrette. Twenty of Chicago’s top-20 cultural and civic organizations were solicited for ideas on how to make the replacement hospital unique and healing, including the Chicago Botanic Garden, the Chicago Fire Department and the Chicago History Museum.

“We had a day-long design charrette where each organization sent its creative staff members to come with some ideas of what could be unique to make this an uplifting experience for children,” Daly says.

Next up, performance arts groups will be invited to participate in a future charrette.

Another key element in the planning is that both medical professionals and families are being solicited for ideas via mock-ups, Daly says.

A mock-up of a patient room was built in the lobby of the existing hospital where both groups can send feedback via e-mail, and more than 100 comments have been received.

Other mock-ups were built across the street of facilities for future acute care, intensive care and operating rooms to get feedback from medical professionals only. Simulations will also be done in the facilities.

Top Projects Started 3
North Tri-State Tollway Rebuild
Cost: $1 Billion

Illinois’ North Tri-State Tollway is being rebuilt overall a 39-mi corridor to provide congestion relief.

The project includes reconstruction and widening from the existing three lanes to four lanes in each direction between Dempster Street and Illinois Route 173, says Jan Kemp, assistant press secretary for the Downers Grove-based Illinois State Toll Highway Authority. The new pavement calls for 12-in. subgrade aggregate, 3-in. stabilized base (asphalt) and 12-in. jointed portland cement concrete.

The less-congested section north of Route 173 to Russell will be reconstructed only, and the section between Russell and the Wisconsin line will be resurfaced only.

Three lanes of traffic will be available in both directions during daytime hours throughout the duration project through the use of counterflow lanes and shoulders. Lane closures will be permitted off-peak only.

Infrastructure improvements include new guardrail, storm sewers, noise walls in certain locations, signs, interchange lighting.

Construction activity in the northbound lanes from Grand Avenue to Russell Road is in a counterflow configuration, and an additional counterflow lane will be in place from the Waukegan Toll Plaza to the Wisconsin line.

The southbound exit to U.S. Route 41 will be closed while the northbound lanes are under construction.

Bridge Elements

Seventeen bridges will be improved to accommodate mainline construction.

The comprise Ballard Road, Golf Road, Central Road, Milwaukee Avenue, Lake Avenue, Willow Road, Sanders Road, Lake Cook Road, Half Day Road, Townline Road, Rockland Road, O’Plaine Road, Belvidere Road, Washington Street, Grand Avenue, Rosecrans Road (IL Route 173) and U.S. Route 41.

The project is expected to last through 2010. It is part of the Tollway’s Congestion Relief Program, which seeks to modernize and reduce delays on the 45-year-old system.

Top Projects Started 4
Rush University Medical Center Expansion
Cost: $901 Million

Because of aging facilities, Rush University is modernizing and expanding its campus on the Near West Side of Chicago.

Kim Waterman, director of media relations, says that some buildings are more than a century old. “Rather than spend millions on renovations, we decided to construct new facilities,” she adds. Four structures will be demolished.

New elements include a 600-bed impatient care tower, ambulatory care building, power plant, underground receiving and distribution area and parking, she says. The existing patient care facilities will be renovated and integrated with the new ones.

By far the biggest project element is the inpatient care tower, which will cost $617 million alone. The 14-floor, 806,000-sq-ft facility at Ashland and Harrison streets will house acute and critical-care patients and surgical, diagnostic and therapeutic services. All beds will be in private rooms, rather than in old-style wards.

The project is being financed through debt financing, income from operations, grants, private funds and philanthropy.

Guiding Design Philosophy

The design of the patient tower will evoke a butterfly, but practicality was the guiding philosophy, Waterman says.

Interviews were conducted with clinicians about what they sought in the new building. Advantages of the final design include unobstructed sightlines from nursing stations to patient rooms and duplicate layout of rooms to reduce clinical errors.

Other design elements emphasize views and daylight. A green roof also will be incorporated, an environmental initiative encouraged by the city.

Closer to the ground, Rush plans to shade the campus with trees, put in native plants and use pervious paving and recycled materials for walkways and parking.

Rush’s new hospital also will include an emergency services facility designed to care for victims of major catastrophes. It will be named the McCormick Tribune Center for Advanced Emergency Response in recognition of the foundation’s $7.5 million contribution.

Rush is expecting to open the hospital in 2011, Waterman says. Located across the Eisenhower Expressway from the United Center, the two facilities will form a kind of gateway to the Loop.

Top Projects Started 5
Harrah’s Horseshoe Casino
Cost: $505 Million

The replacement Harrah’s Horseshoe Casino is for entertainment but the facility might bring to mind a battleship.

The floating casino will encompass five levels and 380,000 sq ft of space, says Brad Benhart, vice president of Chicago-based Pepper Construction Co., the contractor. It will hold 3,500 gaming positions, a 3,500-seat events center and 750-person buffet.

The site is protected by a seawall, and half the piers were removed so the construction could be done. In mid-April, the existing casino was still in operation, but plans call for it to be unhooked and backed away so the new casino can take its position.

South to North

Construction began when six modules were constructed in ship yards in the South, Benhart says. They were shipped to northern Indiana via inland waterways.

The modules, which are steel, were connected to form a floating foundation, and bridges were built.

“The floating platform is strong enough to drive cranes and semi-trucks onto it,” Benhart adds.

Naval and building engineers, who normally do not work together, have been involved on this project, Benhart says.

“Because something like of this size had never been done, no one knew how it was going to behave as far as the stresses and strains,” he says. “It’s uncharted territory for everybody.”

The facility will have thrusters and a propeller, though the boat will be stationary during gaming operations.

In spite of the casino being seaworthy and in a marina, the facility will not be shaped like boat, Benhart says. Previously, a quirk in Indiana law had required all casinos to look like boats, but he says the rule was repealed.

As a result, the casino will look like a building, including a colonnade, and the facility will be clad in composite metal panels. It will look like a rectangle.

“It’ll look like a regular building that happens to be floating on water,” Benhart adds.

Inside, the finishes will be “ornate,” and there will be themed rooms. For instance, the finishes for an Asian-themed gaming section are being carved in China.

Construction is moving fast so the replacement casino can be put in operation to generate revenue. Two shifts are at work six days a week.

“We been exceeding $1 million in work a day,” Benhart adds.

Top Projects Started 6
Dallman Unit 4
Cost: $470 Million

Demand in Springfield, Ill., for energy is growing. Also adding to the strain is that two coal-fired units in the city that produce about 70 MW are expected to be shuttered due to age.

As a result, the 200-MW Dallman Unit 4 generating station is under way at City Water, Light & Power’s generation station on Stevenson Drive adjacent to Lake Springfield on the city’s Southeast Side, says Amber Sabin, public information officer for CWLP.

The new, coal-fired plant with Foster Wheeler pulverized coal boiler will comprise the generating building, 440-ft-tall chimney, cooling tower, administration building and other buildings. The 4,500-ton boiler will hang from the top of the generating plant, and the chimney will be the second-tallest structure in Springfield after the State Capitol Building.

The major issue of the project, which broke ground in summer 2007, was a delay in construction start, Sabin says. A number of environmental organizations had challenged the air permit.

The issue was resolved through negotiation with the groups—primarily the Sierra Club—to allow the plant to go forward while satisfying some environmental concerns by committing to pursue other environmental initiatives, such as investment in wind energy and enhancement of customer efficiency programs, Sabin says.

In part because of the delay, crews are typically working 10-hour days with work also occurring on Saturdays and some Sundays. About 560 craft personnel are on the job, with a peak of 650 expected this summer.

Has Environmental Controls

The plant itself will also have several environmental controls, Sabin says.

These include a selective catalytic reduction unit for removal of nitrogen oxides; jet fabric filter baghouse to remove fine particles; wet flue-gas desulfurization (scrubber) to remove sulfur oxides; and wet electrostatic precipitator to remove acid mist and ultra-fine particles.

Another element is that the 850,000-gallon cooling tower will reduce the heat stress on Lake Springfield because it will not be used to dissipate heat from the power cycle. Moreover, the heat input on the lake will go down about 27% because of the shutting of the existing units.

About 7,000 tons of steel will frame the buildings, and more than 22,000 yds of concrete will also be used. Also, 644 drilled-pier foundations will support the structures.

The project is expected to finish in January 2010.

Top Projects Started 7
Jane Addams Memorial Tollway Reconstruction
Cost: $269 Million

The Illinois Tollway is reconstructing and widening a 13-mi section of the Jane Addams Memorial Tollway (Interstate 90).

The project is located between Rockford in northern Illinois and reaches to the Wisconsin border, says Jan Kemp, assistant press secretary for the Tollway. Currently, there are two lanes in each direction, but the project is adding a third lane in each direction between Newburg Road and Rockton Road.

The new roadway will be a full-depth bituminous pavement over an aggregate base from the rubblized existing pavement, Kemp says. The thickness of the aggregate base and the asphalt will each vary from 12 in. to 15 in.

Infrastructure improvements include upgrades in drainage and bridges, median barrier wall, guardrail, noise wall in certain locations, retaining walls and new sign trusses.

A major project element is the reconfiguration of the interchange near Cherry Valley between I-90 and Interstate 39—estimated to cost $89 million alone.

Work to reconstruct and widen the intestate to three lanes in each direction began this spring.

The project is part of the Tollway’s Congestion-Relief Program. Widening the section of road to three lanes is expected to provide congestion relief and reduce travel times.

In late spring, traffic was shifted to the westbound side of the road while eastbound lanes are reconstructed.

Advance work was completed in late 2007. It included shoulder resurfacing, construction of median crossovers, adjustments in existing guardrail and intermittent pavement repairs.

Bridge Repairs Coming

There are nine crossroad bridges over I-90 between the South Beloit Toll Plaza and Newburg Road that will be impacted.

While the existing structures will remain in place, the bridge deck and structural repairs will be made. Additional pier protection will be added since the additional travel lanes along I-90 will be closer to the existing piers.

Also, mainline bridges over Burr Oak Road and over a railroad will be widened and partial bridge decks will be reconstructed. The bridges over State Street in Rockford—the city’s main thoroughfare—will be widened and new bridge decks reconstructed.

A 45-mph speed limit will always be in effect in all construction zones to maintain safety

The project is scheduled for completion by the end of 2009, Kemp says.

Top Projects Started 8
155 N. Wacker Drive
Cost: $250 million*

The 48-story, 1.4-million-sq-ft 155 N. Wacker Drive is on the corner of Wacker and Randolph streets.

The building will include two levels of below-grade parking. The lower floors will house a fitness center, retail space and conference center, in addition to the office space.

The building will rest on a caisson and core mat foundation system, says Jeff Riemer, executive vice president of Bovis Lend Lease, the contractor. The core mat system connects the concrete elevator/stair core with the steel framing of the floors and the steel of the building’s perimeter.

“The exits and fire stairwells are located in the concrete core, which makes them very safe,” he says.

Has Green Focus

The project has been awarded LEED Silver pre-certification, but Gold certification is the goal upon completion.

“To maximize the points the project can get, it’s been important to plan from the beginning for things like recycling,” Riemer says.

The target is to divert 75% of the total weight of the project’s demolition and construction waste from landfills and make certain that 5% of the project’s materials costs go into recycled materials. A goal of securing 10% of the project materials from regional manufacturers and sources also supports the LEED certification.

Other environmental initiatives include low-flow toilets and green roof. Adhesives, sealants, paints and carpet will feature low volatile organic compounds. An interior-air-quality plan was devised that protects the HVAC system from dust during construction, protects construction materials from moisture and prohibits smoking in the building once wall board is installed.

No wood products will be used on the project, including such items as cabinetry and paneling, which contain urea formaldehyde-based resins.

Law firm of Skadden Arps is the anchor tenant, slated to occupy the high-rise portion of the building, with Bridge Financial Group LLC and the American Hospital Association as other major tenants.

The project is slated for completion in June 2009.

*Midwest Construction estimate

Top Projects Started 9
Indiana Convention Center Expansion
Cost: $250 Million

Construction has begun on a two-level addition to the existing Indiana Convention Center in downtown Indianapolis.

The expansion will add 254,000 sq ft of exhibit space, 63,000 sq ft of meeting room space, 103,000 sq ft of registration and pre-function space and three-story entry pavilion.

The project started because of the completion of Lucas Oil Stadium, which will be the new home field of the NFL's Indianapolis Colts. An enclosed, street-level connector will link the two.

"Although new construction starts in the fall, we've been rerouting all the mechanical, electrical, security, data and phone lines and the chilled water lines from the dome itself," says Tom Scheele, vice president of Indianapolis-based Shiel Sexton, a joint-venture partner on the construction management team, and project executive on the expansion. "We've been working behind the scenes while they've been having events."

The expansion will rise on the site of the RCA Dome. Scheele says soft demolition on the interior of the dome will begin in May, followed by demolition of the structure itself in July.

"Once we get far enough on the dome demolition, we'll follow behind with the new construction. There's too much work to do for us to wait until the demolition is done to get started on the next step," he says.

Raising Indianapolis

The expansion is being done to raise Indianapolis from 33rd to 16th place among America's major convention cities in meeting-space available-and second only to Atlanta among its customary 13 peer cities, according to Indianapolis-based Sease, Gerig & Associates, the project's public relations manager.

The combined Indiana Convention Center Expansion and Lucas Oil Stadium projects are expected to generate $2.25 billion in economic benefits over 10 years and create about 4,200 permanent jobs. They are also expected to generate about $26 million in new tax revenues over the same period, Sease, Gerig & Associates says.

The convention center will be done in 2010.

Top Projects Started 10
NCH Patient Care Addition
Cost: $250 Million

The eight-story, 332,573-sq-ft Patient Care Addition at Northwest Community Hospital is being built to accommodate growth. The facility is planned for the south end of the hospital’s campus along Central Road in Arlington Heights.

Designed around the needs of patients and families, the addition will feature a range of visitor amenities and all-private patient rooms to enhance comfort and healing. The patient bed area will increase the hospital’s staffed bed count from 410 to 488.

The design encourages plenty of natural light and views of nature, and was planned with our mission of family-centered healing in mind.

Has Several Upgrades

Several elements are planned, including an additional 24-bed Critical Care Unit on the second floor. Each room will be modeled after those in the current Critical Care unit, which allows for patient privacy and comfort.

The labor, delivery rooms on the fourth and fifth floors will each be a relatively spacious 400 sq ft. Comfort was also taken into consideration for the 34 private postpartum rooms on the fifth floor.

Floors six, seven and eight are each designed to be a 34-bed medical/surgical unit, with rooms that include baths, space for family members and overnight accommodations for guests.

The emergency services addition will serve more than 60,000 patients each year. It will include eight triage spaces, 45 patient care rooms, 19,300 sq ft of expansion on the ground level and a visible entry way.

While the multiple triage rooms will allow for the most minor or nonacute patients to be treated efficiently, the rest of the design is based on a universal concept of care, meaning that “any patient can be treated in any space.” The pediatric emergency department, especially designed for the comfort of children, will continue to be a part of the hospital Emergency department.

A seven-level, sheltered parking deck will hold 780 vehicles. It will be located on the east side of the campus, with two levels below ground level and five levels above. A glass curtain wall system will provide the deck with the appearance of a building rather than a parking structure.

Finally, a new lobby will provide a modernized entry point for the facility, making it easier for guests to find their way throughout the hospital.

Top Projects Started 11
BJC Institute of Health
Cost: $235 Million

The 700,000-sq-ft, 11-story BJC Institute of Health will house research laboratories and support facilities for an entity known as BioMed 21, Washington University School of Medicine’s initiative to accelerate scientific discovery and the process of bringing breakthroughs to patients.

Five floors of the structure will be devoted to support services for Barnes-Jewish Hospital, including a cafeteria, food and nutrition offices, clinical laboratories and a pharmacy. Clinical space will also be included in the facility.

Careful Choreography

A portion of an existing parking structure was left through the early stages of construction to solve a more pressing issue.

“We left part of the first floor of the structure in place as a shelf as protection for the [MetroLink] rail line,” says Richard Hendzlik, program director for the ownership. As a result, the building will be completed without disrupting service to the MetroLink transit system through the footprint.

Once a significant portion of the building is in place, the remaining section of the parking garage will be demolished during overnight hours when the trains are not running.

Spring adjusted pads will be employed beneath mechanical equipment to shield sensitive electron beam microscopes from vibrations. Wind tunnel studies were done on a model of the building and campus to study the dispersal of airborne materials exhausted from the labs to avoid creating a long-term problem.

A tight construction site means that some of the largest deliveries, such as 73-by-23-ft trusses, must be accomplished in the traffic-free, wee hours of the night.

The facility is going for LEED certification. Although LEED certification is “doable” in a research facility, Hendzlik points out that it’s tough to increase energy efficiency in systems like lab exhausts. Points have to be sought in other areas, such as providing bicycle parking and cyclists’ locker and shower facilities.

Top Projects Started 12
OSF St. Francis Medical Center Milestone
Cost: $234 Million

The Milestone project at OSF St. Francis Medical Center in Peoria, Ill., involves 440,000 sq ft of new construction and the renovation of 35,000 sq ft of existing space. The project started in July.

The project will allow St. Francis to be a POD hospital—a facility designated to take the lead in the event of a health care disaster. The project is slated for completion in 2010.

The expansion will be the new home for the Children’s Hospital of Illinois, bringing all services for children under one roof. The new building will also feature a new Emergency Department, surgery and procedures rooms, cardiac floor for adults and a new entrance for patients and visitors.

The project will also expand and update the hospital’s emergency department and create roomier, more efficient surgery suites for both the pediatric and adult surgery areas. In addition, all cardiac services will be relocated under one roof. The project will also increase the hospital’s number of adult and pediatric intensive care beds.

The project also addresses today’s standards in patient care, creating a quiet environment to foster healing, as well as rooms centered on the comfort of patients and families, all in a space that is easy to navigate.

Top Projects Started 13
Roosevelt Collection
Cost: $225 Million

Roosevelt Collection, an 2.1 million-sq-ft mixed-use residential development, shows the South Loop in Chicago continues to be strong even in a down residential market.

“That piece of property is a destination,” says David Scott, vice president and project manager for Chicago-based A. Epstein and Sons International Inc., an architect on the project. “It is so close to the Loop and near the universities.”

The project on 8 acres comprises four elements: residential, retail, a theater and parking.

Plans call for 342 loft condominiums in two 6-story buildings centered near Roosevelt Road and Clark Street, with prices ranging between $300,000 and $1 million. Looming is the possibility of a 40-story, 290-unit tower to be added to plans, but that element is not definite.

The status of condominium sales is unknown, Scott says.

The other elements comprise 360,000-sq-ft of retail or about 50 units; a 16-screen, 95,000-sq-ft movie theater; and 1,700 parking spaces in a garage.

The development will take a U shape, with the units along the edge, a drive-around and island in the middle with the theater.

The retail will be in the buildings’ base. Plans call for athletic outlets, spa, eye-care specialist and grocery. Entertainment destinations include a health club, bowling alley, multi-screen theater plus several restaurants, cafes and coffee shops.

A 2-acre park is also being developed as part of the project.

Dealing with the Site

Early on, sitework issues have been complex, Scott says.

For instance, more than 40 mi of steel H-piles were driven 70 ft to bedrock to support the development.

In addition, a network of abandoned freight tunnels below grade was discovered, Scott says. The solution called for grouting them so they were solid or transferring columns loads to multiple pile groups straddling the tunnels.

The facility is expected to open in October 2009.

Top Projects Started 14
Camp Grove Wind Farm
Cost: $200 Million

The Camp Grove Wind Farm is a 100-turbine, 150-MW project that straddles the line between western Illinois’ Stark and Marshall counties.

In addition to the turbines, the project required 25 mi of access roads, 61 mi of a 31.5-kilovolt underground collection system, 9 mi of 138-kilovolt overhead transmission lines, 138-kilovolt interconnection switchyard and 34.5/138 kilovolt step-up station, according to MaryLou Wick, spokesperson for Minneapolis-based Mortenson Construction Co., the contractor.

A maintenance building and meteorological towers were also constructed.

Has 262-Ft-Tall Columns

The site covers more than 50 mi. Each of the turbines requires a 262-ft-tall concrete column, which is grounded to protect it from lightening strikes. The towers are octagonal, sitting on a double mat of rebar. The concrete of the foundations is a 5,000- to 6,000-psi mix.

On top of the columns, the blades of each of the giant turbine rotate in the hub to take maximum advantage of wind speed. The rotors turn with only 8- or 9-mph winds.

Since cranes are required for the construction of the towers, which are erected in several sections, and the hub and rotors, which are assembled and then lifted into place, wind and weather become enormous issues in constructing a wind farm.

“One of our biggest challenges is wind,” Wick says. Although work can continue during rain, the prospect of lightening brings work to an immediate halt.

A first responder system was in place in case of medical or other emergencies on the rural site. Mock runs were done with the various trades to ensure that workers knew how to respond in an emergency. As work progressed and the trades on the job changed, the mock runs were repeated with the new trades.

Top Projects Started 15
Wisconsin Institutes for Discovery
Cost: $180 Million

A 300,000-sq-ft chameleon of sorts is under way on the University of Wisconsin campus in Madison.

“We are trying to design a changeable, state-of-the-art research facility,” says Peter Heaslett, architect, engineer and supervisor with the university. The task has been complicated by the fact that the building’s eventual occupants have not yet been defined.

Houses Two Entities

The project, a joint venture of State of Wisconsin and University of Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation, will house two separate entities: the Wisconsin Institute of Discovery and the Morgridge Institute for Research.

The university is hailing the structure as “a campus hub for interdisciplinary research spanning biotechnology, nanotechnology and information technologies, which will lead to the development of new biomedical treatments and technological applications aimed at enhancing human health and welfare.”

The building will house bio-medical research facilities. The WID will engage faculty members from across the campus and all divisions of the university in creative, collaborative research, education and outreach.

“This is a lab layout unlike any we have built,” Heaslett says. “The lab pods are internal with public space more external in the building.”

A “town center” on the ground floor is meant to be a pass-through area for pedestrians and a space to encourage interaction between the various people working in the building. Retail spaces for such businesses as coffee shops are intended to encourage that interaction. A space for meetings or conferences will also occupy the lower levels of the building.

With no defined users at present, the building’s design has had to take specialized, large research equipment into account, Heaslett says. Space has been allocated for such equipment in specialty labs located in the below-grade story of the structure.

Despite the fact that the building will be divided vertically for the two institutes that will occupy it, Heaslett says, “We have tried to not make the building seem like two separate entities.”

Construction began in spring 2008 and is slated for completion in late 2010.

Top Projects Started 16
Union Hospital Expansion
Cost: $178 Million

Preparing for the aging of the baby boom generation means expanding medical facilities. At Union Hospital in Terra Haute, Ind., that means expanding 500,000 sq ft to create a four-story structure.

Kym Pfrank, vice president and chief information office of Union Hospital, says the project will not add beds to the hospital. Instead, the project that began during summer of 2007 replaces semi-private rooms with the private rooms that are the standard in hospital care today.

A Community Hospital

Keeping in mind that Union is a community hospital has been paramount throughout the design and construction.

“Many of our people would be highly offended if this were a highly ornate structure,” he says. “It needs to be like a bank, in that it should be functional, nice and clean.”

With an eye toward practicality, a slanting glass façade on the building provides a striking first impression and draws daylight into the building, including into the lower-level dining space.

Accountability to the community is also what kept the hospital from moving to a new location with this project.

“We have been here since 1892,” Pfrank adds.

Connection to the community extends to the choice of a construction manager for the project. A joint venture of Chicago-based Pepper Construction Co., a national firm, and Garmong Construction Services, a firm that’s been in Terre Haute for more than 80 years, has been “honed” by previous work on the hospital.

“I encouraged the two firms to come to some agreement,” he says. “They formed the LLC and were the construction manager on the cancer center that we completed in December 2007.”

One man working on the project has particularly deep ties to the hospital. His grandfather worked on the hospital’s construction project in the 1920s and his father worked on the one that was completed in the 1970s.

This existing project will wrap up in 2010.

Top Projects Started 17
Private Residences at Chase Park Plaza
Cost: $170 Million

One of St. Louis’ grand dames is getting more than just a facelift.

A renovation/restoration project is tearing to the studs the 30-story, 1928-era Park Plaza apartment building and creating condominiums, corporate apartments and hotel rooms for the adjacent Chase Park Plaza Hotel.

“We are trying to maintain the building’s historic value while bringing it into current code compliance,” says James Smith, president of IFC Inc., the developer and partner. The entire complex encompasses 1.2 million sq ft of space.

The tower’s main lobby spaces, mezzanine and attending stairways are not being gutted in the renovation, but Smith says the rest of the structure “is a true gut, right down to the bones.”

Preservation Preference

The design and development phase of the project was a tough process.

“We went through a lot of, ‘maybe we should do this or maybe we should do that,’ while trying to live within the original design criteria and maintain the historic integrity of the building,” Smith says.

To preserve that historic integrity, as much original wood and travertine as possible is being taken down, numbered and refurbished. It will be put back in its original location. Exterior brick is being tuck-pointed and terra cotta preserved.

Floors three through five will be converted into additional hotel rooms, with furnished corporate apartments occupying floors six through eight. Floors nine through 30 will house 87 condos, with 30 different floor plans. Prices for available units, which give buyers quite a few interior design options, range from the high $400,000s to $2.5 million.

To date the biggest construction issue has been the structure’s old parking garage. “There were a lot more structural issues in the garage than we had anticipated,” he says.

Site constriction and constrictions within the historic structure have required careful choreography of deliveries and debris removal and have required buck hoists on the building’s exterior to facilitate movement of workers and materials.

Work is slated for completion in June 2009.

Top Projects Started 18
One Earth Energy
Cost: $166 Million

Seeking to take advantage of the increasing demand for ethanol, the One Earth Energy plant started in the heart of the corn belt this fall in Gibson City, Ill. The town in the east-central part of the state is south of Kankakee but north of Urbana-Champaign.

The facility on 84 acres of land is expected to produce 100 million gallons of ethanol annually, says Steve Kelly, president of One Earth. It is composed of fermentation tanks, evaporators, finished-product tanks and buildings.

Fermenting the Future

The 50-ft-tall, 55-ft-diameter fermentation tanks are the most visible project element, Kelly says. They were received on site in sheets and assembled.

A unique project element is that “geopiers” support the fermentation tanks, Kelly says. A metal plate was drive into the ground to displace about 8 to 10 in. of dirt, which was replaced by rock.

“Dewatering has been a key component of our dirt work,” he says. “We have five retention ponds surrounding our facility.”

The project is expected to finish in spring 2009.

Currently, there are 153 ethanol facilities in the United States, and 59 facilities are under construction, according to the American Coalition for Ethanol.

Top Projects Started 19
Cedar Ridge Wind Farms
Cost: $165 Million

The hills and fields of the Wisconsin townships of Eden and Empire will yield a new harvest: electrical power. Madison-based Alliant Energy is erecting a 41-turbine wind farm on 12.2 sq mi of countryside near Fond du Lac.

Construction began in October 2007, says Steven Schultz, spokesperson for Alliant Energy, the owner. Access roads and foundations were in place by the end of November.

Although record-breaking amounts of snow over the winter months stalled construction, Schultz says the project is still on target by the end of the year.

“We didn’t plan on this much snow but did plan on a Wisconsin winter,” he adds.

Work recommenced as the snow melted, with crews creating crane access routes and laying the underground cable that will transmit the power.

400-Ft-Tall Towers

The turbines consist of fiberglass-reinforced polyester or wood-epoxy blades mounted on tubular steel towers reaching 230 to 265 ft at a blade’s hub. The towers are about 13-ft wide at the base. Total height, including blades, is approximately 406 ft.

Erection of the wind farm required the purchase of development rights of the land for the turbines. They stand on parcels that have been leased from the landowners for a period of 20 years, with the option to renew the lease for an additional 10 years. The predicted functional life of a wind turbine is 20 to 30 years.

When fully operational, the wind farm will produce about 170,000 MW-hours of electricity per year, enough to power about 17,000 homes.

Although wind farms consume no resources and create no emissions, they can be hazardous to bird and bats. Studies and reviews of the area concluded that placement of a wind farm in this location would have minimal impact on this wildlife.

A construction issue to come will involve the logistics of getting enormous cranes in place to erect the steel towers and lift the blades into position.

Top Projects Started 20
555 W. Kinzie St.
Cost: $161 Million

The 555 W. Kinzie St. apartment project will involve two towers—one 37 floors and the other 42 levels—atop an eight-story parking garage.

Brian Fish, senior project manager of Chicago-based James McHugh Construction Co., the contractor, says the building will cover approximately 1.16 million sq ft. with about 600,000 sq ft will be in the East Tower, the largest. The structure overall will hold 848 units, with the East Tower containing 428.

The roof of the garage will hold an amenity center that includes pool, basketball court, fitness room and 36-seat indoor theater. It’s a concrete building with painted architectural concrete dressing it.

Power Line, Post-Tensioning

A couple construction issues were encountered early in the project.

For instance, the developer, Chicago-based Fifield Cos., deeded about 25 ft of the property on the east side of the site because the city implemented an easement due to an expected underground bus station in planning, Fish says. In return, the city deeded about 25 ft on the property’s west side.

“Basically, they relocated Jefferson Street,” he adds.

This gave rise to an problem because of 4,000-kilovolt transmission line installed in the 1950s was under the section of Jefferson deeded to Fifield. ComEd, the electrical utility, does not usually allow construction over lines of such high voltage.

“Getting them [ComEd] to bless our building over the top was the No. 1 issue early on,” Fish says. “That slowed us down.”

But the approval came, and the teams will build around the line. Earth retention was designed and special rooms in the building will only be accessible to ComEd personnel.

Plans originally called for post-tensioned concrete in the garage because its strength allows for thinner concrete levels and more space therewith. Post-tensioning was also done in the west tower.

“When they (the engineers) sought our opinion on the east tower, we said post-tensioning wasn’t needed,” Fish says. “When it comes to the schedule they’re pushing for, it hurts our pour sequence.”

The project is expected to be finished in the early part of 2010.

The project is part of Fifield’s Kinzie Station development, which calls for 2,400 residential units and retail. Other projects include Allure at K Station, a 39-story tower at Kinzie and Des Plaines streets, and the 37-story Left Bank at K Station at Lake and Canal streets, both completed.

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