| Virginia’s
top construction projects
Related
story:
- Tourism gives construction
a boost
Virginia
Business
October
2004
Each
year Virginia Business publishes a list of the state’s
largest construction projects based on dollar value.
We combine the largest projects from the year’s
new construction report — ones that have actually
broken ground — with large ongoing projects still
under construction that have appeared on previous lists.
To make room for new developments, we dropped a couple
of long-term highway projects.
Woodrow
Wilson Bridge
Virginia and Maryland: $2.5 billion.
Virginia is picking up the tab for $1 billion, while
Maryland and the District of Columbia carry the rest
of the cost. Originally built in 1961 to carry 75,000
vehicles a day, the bridge now supports more than twice
that number. Two side-by-side drawbridges will ultimately
divide the flow, and upgrades to four interchanges will
ease traffic congestion. Various contractors.
Springfield Interchange
Fairfax County: $755 million.
Smoothing out the accident-heavy Mixing Bowl, where
more than 400,000 vehicles a day pass through the juncture
of Interstates 495, 395 and 95, the project is more
than halfway finished. Slated for completion in 2007,
the eight-year, seven-phase project is on schedule.
Lead contractors: Shirley Contracting Corp. and Lane
Construction.
The Riverfront
Suffolk: $545 million.
Developers recently added 130 acres to this community
on the Nansemond River for a total of 550-acres, with
1,200 residences (half in condos), an 18-hole golf course,
swim club, and club house. Banks and office space will
be built on the new acreage, with completion scheduled
for the end of 2006 or mid-2007. Various contractors.
Pentagon Operation Phoenix
Arlington: $526 million.
Work continues on the rebuilding of the Pentagon, which
suffered 2 million square feet of damage during the
terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. Currently crews
are working on wedge two. Over the next ten years, wedges
three, four and five will be rebuilt. General contractor:
Hensel Phelps Construction Co.
The Town Center of Virginia Beach
Virginia Beach: $400 million.
Three years into construction of this 17-block mixed-use
project in the middle of Virginia Beach’s emerging
business district, the Town Center’s Hilton Garden
Inn is open for business, joining an office tower and
parking garage completed last year. When finished in
2006, the center will include multi-level retail, residential,
office space, a performing arts center, hotels and restaurants.
Current construction includes a residential high-rise,
the Town Center Square, and more retail.
New Port
Portsmouth: $300-$400 million.
Construction began in early fall on 1,628 houses, town
homes and condos on approximately 200 acres south of
I-264 near Victory Blvd. A community center and some
retail and office space are also planned.
General contractor: Chesapeake Homes
City Center at Oyster Point
Newport News: $300 million.
With plans for one million square feet of office space,
not to mention a quarter-million square feet of retail
and entertainment, 600 residences, and an eight-acre
park, this 52-acre mixed-use development is expected
to be a comprehensive downtown district for Newport
News. Initial infrastructure and the first parking garage
are complete. Both five-story office buildings are open
and occupied. Although residential components are still
under construction, some were expected to be ready for
occupancy by this month. Phases II and III, which include
residential units, parking, conference center and additional
retail space, are underway. The Center is expected to
be complete by 2009. Various contractors.
Riverside Regional Medical Center
Newport News: $246 million.
Originally a $114 million renovation, this project has
turned into a 320,000 square-foot expansion which will
include a new parking garage, more patient rooms, a
day surgery unit, new critical care units and a new
mother/baby unit. The hospital opened its new $17 million
emergency/trauma center on June 1. By summer’s
end, the project was 25 percent complete, with a projected
opening date in 2007.
General contractors: WM Jordan/McCarthy
Va. Route 288
Metro Richmond: $236 million.
With completion imminent, this road will connect southeastern
Chesterfield County with Goochland County, southwest
of the city. A key portion of the project, which includes
the bridge over the James River, opened in August, leaving
just one more stretch of the 17.5-mile extension left
to complete.
General contractor: APAC-Virginia Inc.
Virginia Beach Convention Center
Virginia Beach: $202 million.
Phase I, which encompasses approximately one-half of
the center, was 60 percent complete by the end of July.
Set to open in 2007, the center will include a 150,000-square-foot
exhibition hall, a 31,000-square-foot ballroom and more
than 2,000 free parking spaces.
Construction manager: Turner Construction
Virginia Capitol Square renovation
Richmond: $190 million.
Construction and renovations began this summer on three
of the four buildings slated for overhaul by 2007. Complete
interior and exterior renovations on the Old Finance
Building are underway, including a 50,000-square-foot
addition. The steps of the Capitol, as well as several
trees, have been removed to begin digging a 27,000-square-foot
extension under the south lawn, which will house a visitors’
center, gift shop, multi-purpose rooms and exhibit and
museum space.
Primary general contractor:
Gilbane/Christman
Westminster Canterbury expansion
Richmond: $153 million.
Current phase: $93 million. This multiphase project,
now more than half complete, will ultimately include
independent and assisted living facilities, as well
as houses, and a 320-seat performing arts theater. By
the end of the year, the project’s new memory
support unit will be completed. Next year, residents
will be moving into new condominiums on the property.
General contractor: W.M. Jordan Co.
Route 460 Bypass
New River Valley: $150 million.
This joint effort by the Virginia Department of Transportation,
Virginia Tech’s Transportation Institute and the
Federal Highway Commission is nearly complete. The result
of the collaboration will be a bypass that connects
I-81 with Blacksburg and a test facility for innovations
like VDOT’s intelligent transportation systems.
General contractors: Vecellio & Grogan Inc/PCL Civil
Constructors Inc.
Christopher Newport University
Newport News: $140 million.
CNU is finishing phase I of a comprehensive project
that will add a new library, more student housing, a
student center, and a performing arts center designed
by I.M. Pei.
General contractor: W.M. Jordan
John Paul Jones Arena
University of Virginia
Charlottesville: $129 million.
This summer cast-in-place concrete structures for the
parking garage and arena facility were set, cranes are
in place and construction is beginning for the new 15,000-seat
arena to replace 20-year-old University Hall as the
future home of the Cavalier basketball programs. Parking
will accommodate 1,500 vehicles. Amenities in the new
facility include 20 luxury suites.
General contractor: Barton Mallow
The Power Plant at Hampton Roads
Hampton: $129 million.
According to a 1999 project report, as well as the developer’s
Web site, the Power Plant at West Mercury Boulevard
and Interstate 64 should have been up and running a
year ago. While things haven’t moved as quickly
as hoped, the newly opened Bass Pro Shops of Hampton
hold down more than 100,000 square feet of retail space,
with room to do hands-on product demos. Various contractors.
Hampton Roads Convention Center
Hampton: $106 million.
Near the Power Plant, the new convention center is wrapping
up for a March 2005 finish. Finishing touches on the
344,00-square-foot center include interior waterfalls,
an entrance with a Teflon canopy (like Denver Airport’s),
and granite-faced fountains indoors and out.
General contractor: W.M. Jordan
Riverside on the James
Richmond: $86 million.
The foundation is finished and walls are going up on
this mixed-use complex on the site of a former power
facility that sat abandoned for more than 50 years.
Riverside is scheduled for completion next spring, with
120 residential units, 800 parking spaces, and 76,000
square feet of retail/entertainment space.
General contractor: Brasfield and Gorrie
St. Francis Medical Center
Chesterfield: $75 million.
Floors are up and rooms outlined on the six-story, 130-bed
acute care hospital scheduled to open next year. Surgeries
are already scheduled in the new medical office building,
which opens this month. Foundation and structure of
the new emergency department are complete. Work is underway
on the chapel. Meanwhile, construction continues on
other components of the 40-acre campus including 150,000
square feet of doctors’ office space, an ambulatory
care center and a birthing center.
General contractor: Whiting-Turner
Southwest Virginia Regional Jail System
Abingdon, Duffield, Haysi: $70 million.
Scheduled for completion next year, walls are up on
all three sites, and roofs are in the works for this
multi-jurisdictional jail system, which upgrades and
expands three existing local jails serving nine localities.
Various contractors.
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