Article toolbar There are top project starts and there are non-starters, making ENRMidwest’s list of 2010’s Top Starts as notable for what’s absent as for what’s present. Image Courtesy Of Perkins + Will Old Man River A bridge linking St. Louis and St. Claire County, Ill., is the Midwest’s top project start. Still among the missing is just about anything smacking of commercial construction, particularly in the office, retail and hospitality sectors. Ditto multi-family housing, a sector suffering from foreclosures and plummeting housing values. In some areas, values continue to decline. The downturn is particularly acute in metropolitan Chicago, ground

Article toolbar The fat lady is about to sing. O’Fallon, Mo.-based contractor and co-developer Paric Corp. is orchestrating a long-awaited second act for the 77-year-old Peabody Opera House in downtown St. Louis. div id="articleExtrasA" div id="articleExtrasB" div id="articleExtras" Shuttered in 1991, the 320,00-sq-ft, limestone-clad Peabody will be dressing the part when it reopens next year, thanks to painstaking efforts to preserve the Beaux-Arts beauty, whose facade features eight Corinthian columns flanked by sculptured panels and a pair of 10-ton limestone Missouri bears adorning its main entrance. “The challenge is inserting 21st-century systems while respecting the building’s original appearance,” says Gary

Award of Merit - Multi-Family Residential/Hospitality Mather LifeWays of Evanston, Ill., says it has broken the mold of locating a Continuing Care Retirement Community on a suburban campus by embracing the renaissance in urban living and its many benefits for adults 62 and older. div id="articleExtrasA" div id="articleExtrasB" div id="articleExtras" The 496,000-sq-ft community encompasses redevelopment of a 3.2-acre urban infill site previously occupied by two outdated senior residences. The community provides 243 homes comprising 40 different unit plans averaging nearly 1,400 square feet per unit. The community also provides a variety of living options, located in five distinct neighborhoods. Two

Project of the Year - Health Care (Tie) Gilbane Building Co. performed construction management services for Lake Health’s new, four-story, 119-bed, 300,000-sq-ft replacement hospital. Photo: Scott Pease Photography div id="articleExtrasA" div id="articleExtrasB" div id="articleExtras" TriPoint Medical Center rests on a 44-acre, greenfield site in Concord, Ohio. Hospital features include private rooms, an ICU, medical/surgical and ICU beds, special-care nursery units, general radiology facilities, gift shop, pharmacy and chapel. Just 16 months into construction, Gilbane was already performing interior framing and in-wall rough-in of the patient room headwalls on the third and fourth floors. However, shortly after Gilbane began constructing the

This project required the renovation and expansion of one of the largest football stadiums in the country.

Project of the Year - Higher Education The program called for large pieces of equipment, including a strong wall, gantry cranes and a hydraulic flume. In addition to these items, the design developed to incorporate three large 36-ft x 24-ft operable doors to facilitate the movement of the cranes through the building and a French drain system to manage stormwater on site. Photo: Kate Joyce Studios div id="articleExtrasA" div id="articleExtrasB" div id="articleExtras" Since the civil engineering program was new to the university, key stakeholders such as the program head and professors were not yet in place during the design process

Award of Merit - Small Project This highly-visible project in Madison, Wis., was a collaboration between the Urban League, the city, the Community Development Authority and other contributors throughout the area. div id="articleExtrasA" div id="articleExtrasB" div id="articleExtras" Federal money was given to the project, therefore DBE goals of 22 percent were placed on the project. The goal was exceeded and the project set a new record for any City of Madison project. The conditions at the site were tight, which made it difficult to stage equipment. The location of the project in the parking lot of the Villager Mall gave

Award of Merit - Higher Education/Research The Washington University South 40 campus redevelopment project involved a two-phase demolition and reconstruction of the main campus dining facility, several residential halls, student activity areas and logistical delivery docks for the kitchen and campus services. Photo Courtesy: Washington University div id="articleExtrasA" div id="articleExtrasB" div id="articleExtras" The new construction embodies a European streetscape design, with a pedestrian spine central to the planning. The spine is a formal extension of the normal pathway that connects the South 40 residential campus with the academic campus to the north. The development included the construction of two new

Award of Merit - Interior Design/Tenant Improvement The City of Waukesha has embarked on a series of incremental projects to improve the Waukesha Public Library service. Photo: Daniel Kabara Photography div id="articleExtrasA" div id="articleExtrasB" div id="articleExtras" The latest project involves a complete remodeling and expansion of its second-level children’s services area into a bright and vibrant new space. Improvements include a new multi-function story and program room for approximately 75 children, expanded computer facilities, additional seating and study options and new large windows allowing more natural light into the space. The new layout extends the sense of entry onto a

Award of Merit - Higher Education/Research This new state-of-the-art facility, hands-on teaching laboratory and parenting education center houses Harris-Stowe State University’s early childhood education unit and a childcare center for children ages six weeks through five years. Photo: Sam Fentress div id="articleExtrasA" div id="articleExtrasB" div id="articleExtras" The project contains nine child-development classrooms, a gross motor skills room, courtyard playground, four conference rooms, eight higher education observation rooms, full-service kitchen, eight offices, a parents’ library and education room, computer lounge for students and a multimedia classroom/lecture hall. Other amenities include high-tech audio and video systems, smart board technology in all classrooms