Clearwater, Fla.-based Creative Contractors is kicking off 2025 by noting completion in January of two significant projects—the $21.2-million Genshaft & Greenbaum Building of Learning and Discovery (photo above) at Tampa Preparatory School and the $6.6-million Spurlino Family YMCA Gymnasium in Riverview, Fla. The Tampa project included almost 16,000 sq ft of renovation and construction of a four-story, 34,773-sq-ft building featuring labs for biology, chemistry and physics as well as modern collaborative spaces for staff. Working with Hepner Architects, the facility's labs reflect the size and scope of those found in universities, research facilities and hospitals.

The Spurlino Family YMCA, Creative Contractors’ seventeenth such gymnasium project, is an 18,345-sq-ft addition that doubles the facility’s summer camp capacity, expands indoor programming and provides dedicated space for youth and adult sports leagues, exercise classes and family activities. With architect FleischmanGarciaMaslowski, the contractor completed the addition that company President and CEO Josh Bomstein, says promotes wellness and connect families and neighbors.

Image courtesy Streetlight Residential

AECOM Hunt broke ground Jan. 17 on The Mix, an expansive mixed-use development in Frisco, Texas, totaling 112 acres, with developer The Mix Partners, city officials and other community leaders. An event that day marked the start of work on Phase 1, which includes demolition and grading of a 28-acre site on the northern side of the development, followed by the installation of new utilities and fire lanes. Phase 1 includes more than 100,000 sq ft of retail, 114,000 sq ft of medical offices and 635 residential units. In an announcement, Monte Thurmond, AECOM Hunt executive vice president and its south region manager, says the development “will redefine the landscape of Frisco and prove to be a truly dynamic space.” When construction of all phases is completed, The Mix will include an 8-acre central park with performance pavilion, playgrounds and a promenade; more than 16 acres of green open space; a community club; upscale grocery store; townhomes; high-end apartments totaling more than 3 million sq ft; a medical office complex; a 3,000-space underground parking garage; 375,000 sq ft of retail; more than 2 million sq ft of office space; and two hotels.

Image courtesy South Florida Water Management District

The South Florida Water Management District, along with the Florida Dept. of Environmental Protection, Florida Dept. of Agriculture and Consumer Services, Garchia Land Management and other local, state and federal partners, marked completion of the El Maximo Ranch North Everglades Water Quality Project, a dispersed water management facility in Osceola County. A regional water quality improvement effort aimed at reducing nutrients flowing into Lake Okeechobee, El Maximo diverts water from the Kissimmee River and Blanket Bay Slough for treatment on about 7,000 acres of privately owned land and is expected to remove more than 2 tons of total phosphorous and 7 tons of total nitrogen annually. The project, which consists of four pump stations, 19 water control structures and more than 27 miles of berms, was completed in December 2024 and has been described by Charlette Roman, district governing board member, as “a big win for the Northern Everglades, Lake Okeechobee and the entire ecosystem of Central and Southern Florida.”

Image courtesy Robins & Morton

In late 2024, Robins & Morton and Cone Health held the ribbon-cutting of the Cone Health Medical Center (photo above)—a $72-million, 51,500-sq-ft facility in Asheboro, N.C., that began a phased opening in the fall of 2024. Perkins & Will is architect for the facility, which features an urgent care, primary care, comprehensive cancer center and pharmacy as well as a centerpiece $4-million linear accelerator. Providing radiation treatments with submillimeter accuracy, the accelerator, when combined with equipment ensuring the patient is perfectly positioned, provides the highest levels of safety, accuracy and treatment quality, say project participants. The accelerator is housed in a room made of a special high-density concrete that is 6.5 ft thick in some places.

Robins & Morton, with architect McMillan Pazdan Smith, also recently completed the Tsali Care Center—a $120-million, 131,000-sq-ft, long-term care facility for the Cherokee Indian Hospital Authority in Cherokee, N.C. Built for use by the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, the two-story, 120-room facility features skilled nursing, assisted living, memory care and dialysis services. Replacing an existing facility three miles away, the new center provides residents and visitors with ample outdoor space with four courtyards, as well as a spacious friends and family room and communal dining options. With project completion, the authority can increase bed capacity by 50 and further consolidate services closer to the hospital’s campus.