Real Estate Roundup

$47M Classroom Complex Completed at Carlsbad High

Carlsbad High School, located on Lancer Way in Carlsbad, recently unveiled 11 new education buildings and a central plaza. The $47 million classroom complex was constructed by McCarthy Building Cos. Inc. on behalf of the Carlsbad Unified School District.

The education building complex represents the third phase of an overall $87 million renovation and modernization of Carlsbad High School that McCarthy began in June 2008. The project is being funded by Proposition P, a $198 million bond measure passed by voters in 2006.

The one- and two-story education facilities comprise a total of 99,000 square feet of space and provide new classroom, performing arts, vocational education lab and food-service space. The buildings surround the newly created Lancer Plaza, which resembles a college campus quad and serves as a central gathering and event area for students.

A grand opening celebration and official ribbon-cutting ceremony was held in late January to commemorate the completion of the education building phase.

Built on the site of the school’s former parking lot on the east side of Carlsbad High School, the 11 new steel-framed stucco buildings were designed to harmonize with the surrounding structures, while giving the campus a more contemporary appeal. The buildings feature curtain walls on one side, and cantilevered walls with metal sunscreens on the opposite sides to help reduce energy use. Masonry was incorporated in some areas, including the plaza ticket booth.

In all, the education building phase encompasses 54 new instruction spaces, including 34 regular classrooms, six computer/digital labs, and 14 other instructional rooms to accommodate the school’s highly specialized and widely acclaimed curriculum and programs. It also encompasses 18 new restrooms, four faculty rooms and a full-size commercial kitchen.

A professionally equipped broadcast studio accommodates Carlsbad High School’s live, daily scholastic broadcasting for which the school has received 19 Emmy Awards and been ranked No. 1 in the nation. A new backdrop set is currently being fabricated to complement the built-in news desk and guest couch area.

A 2,071-square-foot woodshop features a sophisticated dust collection system and air blast system that lend to the open-ceiling, industrial look of the interior. A large dance studio, featuring maplewood hardwood flooring and full-wall shatterproof mirrors, provides practice space for Carlsbad High School’s dance team, which has been the national champion for seven consecutive years. Other instructional rooms are custom-built for students enrolled in arts, ceramics, fashion, choral, drama, music, construction tech, and functional skills classes. Computer and digital lab rooms accommodate CADD, business, graphic design, digital photo, computer and video classes.

With the education building phase complete, McCarthy crews will now have a few months to demolish some of the existing classroom buildings on the south side of the campus, and convert the site into a new, larger parking lot.

Design consultants involved in the Carlsbad High School renovation project include Perkins+Will, architect; John A. Martin & Associates, structural engineer; Leighton Engineering, geotechnical engineer; Cornerstone Engineering Inc., civil engineer; Johnson Consulting Engineers Inc., electrical engineer; Donn C. Gilmore & Associates, mechanical engineer; and Lightfoot Planning Group as the landscape architect. Gafcon is the program manager.

Ceremony Dedicates New Education Facilities

El Cajon Valley High School, joined by Grossmont Union High School District, dedicated its expanded metal works facility and new special education suites on Jan. 25. The Career Technical Education Metal Masters Program, located in building 600, now has an expanded welding shop with an additional 2,704 square feet of workspace and a new welding classroom. Each lab is equipped with modern technology and learning resources through partnerships with large welding equipment and supply manufacturers.

The renovations to building 600 also created new classroom suites equipped with life skills modules for special education students. In addition, the removal of selective demolition and removal of hazardous materials created space for another classroom and expanded the staffing space for department faculty.

The ceremony featured a student cutting a chain using an OxyAcetylene torch in honor of the welding building.

The metal works facility is part of the only public education program in the county with American Welding Society certification, providing students with the opportunity to explore careers in manufacturing and welding.

The modernized metal works facility and special education suites align with Grossmont Union High School District’s Career Technical Education plan to repair and modernize old classrooms for CTE student programs. This building is one of many new CTE facilities constructed under the leadership of the governing board.

The project was respectively funded by the Proposition U school bond, passed by voters in 2008; the statewide Proposition 1D; and the Regional Occupation Program Capital Reserve funds. The project team includes program manager Gafcon Inc., architect Sprotte+Watson Architectural Planning and general contractor Erickson-Hall Construction.

Construction Begins on College Science Building

More than 80 faculty, staff, contractors and district dignitaries turned out recently to kick off construction of the latest instructional facility for San Diego City College — a $57.2 million Science Building project that caps more than two decades of dreaming and planning for the state-of-the-art facility.

The four-story building will house the astronomy, life sciences and physical sciences programs, and will include multiple laboratories, science lecture rooms, teaching gardens, a rooftop observation deck and a planetarium.

Designed by architects Harley Ellis Devereaux, the four-story Science Building encompasses 98,978 gross square feet of new construction. It is on track to obtain a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design Gold certification from the U.S. Green Building Council. It will be one of seven LEED-certified projects for City College, and one of 30 across the district.

The building includes a variety of sustainable features including sunshade devices used on the south elevation to reduce solar heat gain and glare. Light shelves harvest daylight which reduces energy demands from artificial lighting, and helps to reduce eyestrain and increase productivity. All windows utilize “high-performance” glass that allows sunlight to filter into the building, but reduces the amount of ultraviolet light and solar heat entering the building.

Project partners include structural engineer Stedman & Dyson Structural Engineers; civil engineer Bureau Veritas N.A. Inc.; fire alarm and security Xnth Technology Design; fire protection Protection Design & Consulting; landscape architect Spurlock Poirier Landscape Architects; Propositions S and N program manager Gafcon Inc.; campus project manager Thomas J. Fine of JE Moore Consulting; furniture, fixtures and equipment project manager Tricia Hendrickson of Gafcon Inc.

The project is targeting completion for June 2013.

Bastyr University Leases Space in Sorrento Valley

Cassidy Turley BRE Commercial recently announced that Bastyr University has signed a 10-year lease valued at $3 million for office/lab space in Sorrento Valley.

The university leased 19,300 square feet at 4108 Sorrento Valley Blvd. in the Sorrento Pines Business Park from Sorrento Valley Blvd. LP. Bastyr is the largest university for natural health arts and sciences in the United States, combining a multidisciplinary curriculum with research and clinical training.

Brian Starck and Dave Odmark of Cassidy Turley BRE Commercial represented both the lessor and the lessee in the transaction.