University Construction Graduates

Current activity is more than just classrooms and dorms

by Debra Wood

From dormitories to science centers to museums, the higher-education segment of the Southeast's construction market remains strong at a time when colleges must deal with high enrollments and also develop innovative financial arrangements to meet their capital improvement needs.

"Building types vary across the board from classrooms all the way to performing arts center venues," said Rob Baker, senior vice president of Centex Rooney Construction Co. of Tampa. "For us, it's been real busy."

Centex Rooney has built or is working on projects for eight Florida state universities, with four of the schools seeking construction management services for new projects.

In a joint venture with LLT Building Corp. of Tallahassee, Fla., Centex Rooney broke ground last year on a 270,000-sq.-ft., $60 million complex for the three-year-old Florida State University College of Medicine, which should take two years to complete.

Other schools building entire campuses include Johnson & Wales University and Florida A&M University College of Law.

Johnson & Wales began a new campus a year ago in Charlotte, N.C. The college selected the RodgersDooley joint venture of Charlotte to construct the five-story academic center and FN Thompson/Tyler II Construction, also of Charlotte, to build two four-story residence halls. The $82 million campus is expected to be complete by September.

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Turner Construction Co. and PSA Constructors, both of Orlando, formed a joint venture to provide construction management services for the $31 million, 160,000-sq.-ft. Florida A&M University College of Law in downtown Orlando. The structure includes classrooms, moot courtrooms, a law library and office space and is located near federal and county courthouses.

At the University of Florida in Gainesville, Turner is heading into the latter half of its work on a 110,000-sq.-ft. teaching, research and clinical-care facility for the Orthopaedic Surgery & Sports Medicine Institute, a part of the College of Medicine. Scheduled for completion in June, the structure will provide treatment and administrative space.

The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill has several health-related projects under way. Clancy & Theys Construction Co. of Raleigh, N.C., is just coming out of the ground with its $15 million, eight-story addition to the school of nursing. The contractor is also working on the $8 million Stone Center, an African-American cultural center located at the university.

T.A. Loving Co. of Goldsboro, N.C., has started work on a $17 million, seven-story medical research center and a three-story, $28 million public health teaching and research center. Both are scheduled for completion in 2005.

Beck broke ground last fall on a Health Sciences Center at the University of South Florida in Tampa. The $14 million structure will double space available for the College of Nursing. While funding primarily came from the state budget, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Florida, Jacksonville, and a private donor made sizable contributions.

A second health sciences building is scheduled to break ground this year and a third project will begin in 2006.

Donations helped make construction of the $20 million Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University a reality. The Eastern Division Office of Beck in Atlanta is building three art pavilions, a 175-seat auditorium and an administrative building and education center. A Grand Hall with a 10,000-sq.-ft. atrium includes a canopy of faceted glass roof held together by intersecting steel beams that radiate over the five surrounding pavilions.

Innovative Financing

Schools are becoming more creative in funding expansions, including allowing developers to build on university campuses. The University of Georgia formed the UGA Real Estate Foundation, which allowed it to use private debt financing to build a $100 million student-housing complex and a Complex Carbohydrate Research Center.

The Athens Housing Authority, which provides low and moderate-income housing, backed the bonds for the campus housing.

Clemson University in Clemson, S.C., is funding construction of its $21 million, two-building advanced materials research complex from university resources and research revenue. The university anticipates related companies will build on adjacent parcels in the Clemson Research Park.

Carter & Associates of Atlanta is developing the University of South Florida Research Park in Tampa. Skanska USA Building of Tampa will build the first two buildings, a $30 million project.

"A private developer does the funding for them, and the university supplies the land," said Fred Hames, executive vice president of Skanska.

Student Housing

With increasing enrollment, student housing is in great demand at some schools. Ellis-Don Construction of Atlanta is building a $27 million replacement barracks for the Citadel Military College of South Carolina in Charleston. The poured-in-place concrete facility is designed to withstand hurricanes and earthquakes and will accommodate 526 cadets.

The University of South Florida in Tampa awarded Turner a design/build contract for a $23 million, five-building, on-campus student-housing facility.

Some universities are bringing in developers to build dormitories. "To address student housing needs, we're seeing more and more privatized student housing, with the developer building the dormitories to satisfy the needs of students," said Sam Ellison, managing partner, Beck of Tampa. "In the last two to three years, this has been a growing trend."

Baker, the Centex Rooney vice president, said universities "are looking for new ways to get things done, and they're optimistic about finding creative new ways to fund projects and go about business."

Useful sources:

Duke University Nasher Museum of Art
http://www.duke.edu/web/duma/

Florida A&M
http://www.famu.edu/index.cfm?a=law
http://www.turnerconstruction.com/orlando/content.asp?d=878

Florida State University
http://www.lltbldg.com/projects/fsusciencesbuilding.html

Johnson & Wales University
http://www.jwu.edu/

The Citadel
http://www.citadel.edu/pao/e_let/02aug/PT.html

University of Florida
http://www.ufspace.ufl.edu/

University of Georgia
http://www.ccrc.uga.edu/

University of North Carolina
http://www.clancytheys.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=news&startrow=3

University of South Florida
http://www.turnerconstruction.com/corporate/content.asp?d=3074&p=2188
http://isis.fastmail.usf.edu/researchpark/about.html