INDEPENDENT 9/18/07 11:49 AM Page 8

NEWS

Diverse Strategy
AUSTIN AECOM USES MINORITY SUBCONTRACTORS TO BUILD THE $254 MILLION
KENNEDY-KING COLLEGE CAMPUS IN CHICAGO. By Kathryn Jones

C
hicago-based Austin AECOM has completed work
on the $254 million Kennedy-King College campus
in Chicago (right). The 40-acre campus includes an
academic building, library building, applied sciences
building, athletic and student services building, culi-
nary and theater building and a daycare facility. The campus also
features a $30 million television station and radio station.
“This project demonstrates the flexibility and range of Austin
AECOM’s services,” President Steve Helms said. “Kennedy-King
has been a professionally rewarding project for the entire team.”
Managing 95 subcontractors, Austin AECOM says it used its
Sub Guard program to break contracts into smaller packages.
This allowed small and minority firms to bid on the project, with
47 percent of the construction dollars awarded to minority and
women-owned firms.
St. Louis-based McCarthy Building Companies Inc. has com-
pleted construction on a $30 million, green-certified Student
Academic Services Facility for the University of California, San
Diego (UCSD), in La Jolla, Calif. The five-story, 141,000-square-foot
building was self-certified by UCSD using the LEED rating system.
The project was coordinated through the use of 3-D building
information modeling (BIM) technology. “The 3-D program
allowed us to detect high-class zones and modify ducts before
installation,” Ross Malik, project manager, explained. The project
received an Honor Award by the San Diego American Institute
of Architects.
Skanska USA Building Inc., in Parsippany, N.J., has completed
a $93.9 million construction management project to expand the
Liberty Science Center in Jersey City, N.J. The company was recent-
ly selected by the United Nations as the construction manager to
renovate and upgrade the agency’s headquarters in New York City.
Skanska expects the $1 billion project to be completed in 2014.
Santa Ana, Calif.-based Sukut Construction Inc. has begun
work on the largest master-planned community in Southern
California history, it says. The New Model Colony will encom-
pass 13 miles in Ontario, Calif. The project is expected to take 20
years to complete and will include 30,000 homes, as well as com-
mercial centers, schools and parks. Sukut won the $96 million
contract to build the roads and underground infrastructure on
the 4,000-acre first phase.
San Francisco-based URS Corp. has been awarded a six-year
contract to provide on-call geotechnical site investigations and
reports for the California DOT, and provide services on an as-
needed basis related to stormwater quality monitoring and
reporting. It was also selected by the Forth Worth, Texas,
Transportation Authority to develop an Environmental Impact
Statement and conduct initial engineering design for a proposed
commuter rail line in Tarrant County, Texas.
In addition, the company was awarded a contract by the U.S.
Army Corps of Engineers Far East District to provide civil works,
environmental remediation and humanitarian assistance sup-
port services in the Far East.
The Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD), the second-
largest school district in the nation with 800,000 students, has
awarded Tampa, Fla.-based PBS&J a master services agreement
to provide environmental services for new school sites through-
out Los Angeles. The district has plans for 250 new schools or
additions, and PBS&J will prepare environmental documents for
board of education approval.
Fort Meyers, Fla.-based J.L. Wallace Inc. has completed con-
struction of an 8,800-square-foot recreation center for The
Reserve at Estero, a residential community in Estero, Fla. The
recreation center is a single-story building with block walls and
wood roof trusses. It includes an open-air breezeway, a piazza
built on the lake, an exercise room, and shower and restroom
facilities for an adjacent pool and spa. ■

8 ■ CONSTRUCTION TODAY ■ OCTOBER 2007