Building shell, core creates 200 jobs for IM Pei-designed lab
[caption id="attachment_24608" align="alignleft" width="322" caption=" Ghilotti Construction moves earth at the Buck. The Buck Institute is taking continuous photos of the construction of its new stem-cell laboratory so it can show the building going up."][/caption]
NOVATO – A $41 million expansion of the Buck Institute for Age Research has moved into its second phase toward completion in 2012.
Two-hundred jobs will be created during Phase II of the construction of the building core and shell with Phase I foundation work complete.
The $17 million bid for the construction phase was awarded to Cahill-Otto, a joint venture by Cahill Contractors of San Francisco and Otto Construction of Sacramento.
Mr. Cahill, a Marin resident, has assembled a team of suppliers and subcontractors that draws heavily on the North Bay for the 18-month project.
According to Cahill project executive Blair Allison, the laboratory will be “substantially ready to move into by December of 2011.”
Then Phase III, fitting out the laboratory’s interior, will begin in July. The final phase is projected to be complete by March of 2012, he said. Phase III has not yet gone to bid.
The IM Pei-designed building is the third to be built on the Buck Novato campus.
The California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) is providing $20.5 million toward construction of the building.
The Buck was selected by CIRM to house one of six stem-cell research facilities for scientists because of its growing reputation for age research and also because the permitting was already in place for two additional buildings on the Novato hillside campus.
To finance the rest the Buck is raising $30 million in tax-exempt bonds, representing a continuance of the $55 million in tax-exempt, credit-enhanced bonds raised in 1996 – and re-funded in 2001 – to construct the first two buildings.
“We estimate 200 jobs will be created for Phase II over the course of the contract,” said Mr. Allison. “About 60 to 75 workers will be on the site for each stage.”
Shamrock Materials of San Rafael is supplying the concrete. Consulting engineers are Novato-based CSW Stuber-Stroeh Engineering and Miller Pacific Engineering Group of Petaluma.
Heating and cooling systems will be provided by Bell Products of Napa, plumbing by Sonoma-based Peterson Mechanical, electrical systems by Santa Rosa-based Northern Electric and roofing, insulation and glazing by Alcal-Arcade of Santa Rosa.
Earth moving is being done by Ghilotti Construction of Santa Rosa.
The Buck has set up cameras to take continuous shots of the site so that when the building is complete it can be seen going up.
