Suffolk Construction awarded Phase Two of Boston’s Old Colony redevelopment project

Upon successfully completing Phase One, Suffolk Construction has been selected to manage construction on Phase Two of The Homes at Old Colony redevelopment project in South Boston.

The $50 million project will feature demolition of 223 distressed units and construction of 169 affordable rental units located in four three-story townhouse-style buildings and two four-level elevator buildings.

Suffolk recently joined developer Beacon Communities Development LLC, The Architectural Team, and government officials to celebrate the groundbreaking of Phase Two, which will be completed in May 2014. Prior to the redevelopment, the Old Colony public housing development was the most physically distressed property in the Boston Housing Authority’s portfolio.

As a result, the BHA developed a master plan and successfully applied for and received $44 million in federal funding which allowed the multi-phase redevelopment effort to go forward.

Old Colony’s redevelopment is designed to include extensive green building and energy efficient measures and utilize low impact development strategies. In addition to the LEED Gold certified community building completed in Phase One, each townhome and midrise building is targeting LEED for Homes Platinum and the entire community is designed to achieve LEED certification for Neighborhood Development.

Phase One featured demolition of 164 deteriorated units and construction of 116 new affordable housing units located in a midrise building and four clusters of wood frame townhouses. In addition, Suffolk built a 10,000-sf community center and maintenance garage, and managed improvements to roadways, parking areas, utility infrastructure, and landscaping. +

LPA Architects conducted a post-occupancy evaluation, or POE, of the eSTEM Academy, a new high school specializing in health/medical and design/engineering Career Technical Education, in Eastvale, Calif. The POE helped LPA, the Riverside County Office of Education, and the Corona-Norco Unified School District gain a better understanding of which design innovations—such as movable walls, flex furniture, collaborative spaces, indoor-outdoor activity areas, and a student union—enhanced the education program, and how well students and teachers used these innovations.

Rider Levett Bucknall's Construction Cost Index rose again in the first quarter of 2021

Market Data | Jul 8, 2021

Encouraging construction cost trends are emerging

In its latest quarterly report, Rider Levett Bucknall states that contractors’ most critical choice will be selecting which building sectors to target.

Interior designer Creative License International fashioned this community room for P83, a 250-unit rental community in Peoria, Ariz. 2021 Multifamily Amenities study

Multifamily Housing | Jul 7, 2021

Make sure to get your multifamily amenities mix right

One of the hardest decisions multifamily developers and their design teams have to make is what mix of amenities they’re going to put into each project. A lot of squiggly factors go into that decision: the type of community, the geographic market, local recreation preferences, climate/weather conditions, physical parameters, and of course the budget. The permutations are mind-boggling.

Industrial Facilities | Jul 2, 2021

A new approach to cold storage buildings

Cameron Trefry and Kate Lyle of Ware Malcomb talk about their firm's cold storage building prototype that is serving a market that is rapidly expanding across the supply chain.

Since May 2020, spending on nonresidential construction has been on a downward trend.

Contractors | Jul 1, 2021

Nonres construction spending down again in May

And the industry is still beset with labor and materials issues that could impede future growth

A post-pandemic ‘new normal’ for apartments, Grimm + Parker, Building Design+Construction 2021 Exercise area

Multifamily Housing | Jun 30, 2021

A post-pandemic ‘new normal’ for apartment buildings

Grimm + Parker’s vision foresees buildings with rentable offices and refrigerated package storage.

Resiliency | Jun 24, 2021

Oceanographer John Englander talks resiliency and buildings [new on HorizonTV]

New on HorizonTV, oceanographer John Englander discusses his latest book, which warns that, regardless of resilience efforts, sea levels will rise by meters in the coming decades. Adaptation, he says, is the key to future building design and construction.