Project Team
Owner: Tampa Preparatory School, Tampa.
Contractor: J.O. DeLotto & Sons, Tampa.

A tight site and constraining project logistics were the rule of the day on J.O. DeLotto & Sons' recent $18 million Tampa Preparatory School project.

The project constituted an entirely new campus for Tampa Prep on an 11-acre site in downtown Tampa. Phase one included site work, relocation of utilities, and relocation of athletic fields and the field house. Phase two included construction of a 125,000-sq.-ft., three-story classroom building, as well as a 15,000-sq.-ft. athletic facility, and a 10,000-sq.-ft. "black box" theater with a black granite façade. The upper-division classroom facility included eight chemistry laboratories and facilities for visual and performing arts. The new campus also featured an outdoor swimming pool with a diving well.

In building the project's three main structures, the contractor faced three issues:

• The need to build all three virtually simultaneously;
  
• The tight conditions of this urban site, which made project phasing a challenge; and,
  
• The need to build the project in approximately 18 months - between November 2000 and May 2002.
  

Originally, the contractor planned to complete the smaller black-box theater facility prior to the other two buildings. However, because of certain logistics, the contractor re-scheduled the project, which resulted in the theater structure completing at roughly the same time as the other two structures. The close proximity of the three buildings to each other was a main factor in the contractor's decision to re-stage the project this way.

J.O. Delotto & Sons acted as both construction manager and general contractor on the project, self-performing some of the concrete work, finish doors, hardware and finish trims. The project team utilized different subcontractors for some of the same trades on the three different buildings, which were actually managed as if they were three separate projects.

As one of the area's top private schools, the new Tampa Prep campus features items perhaps not found at other educational facilities. Some of these features include:

• A state-of-the-art gymnasium, with automated bleacher systems and a built-in closed-circuit camera and television system.
  
• A central computer room features enough high-tech equipment that it requires two dedicated air-conditioning units (one is for backup), weighing approximately 7 tons total, to keep it at the appropriate temperature and overall environment.
  
• A dance room with springboard wood flooring is located in the three-story classroom building. Additionally, each classroom features a large color television.