Read and learn about it here! Finding 7,000 construction workers in an environment that is already booming with building during a time when there is a national shortage of people working in the trades presents a significant obstacle for the state of Ohio’s largest-ever economic development project, which is also the state’s largest employment challenge. Additionally, the Casper-Natrona County Health Department has been working with county and city leaders to either develop a new building or renovate an existing facility in order to better serve the community. Meanwhile, the PAE Living Building in Oregon, which was designed by ZGF Architects, features sustainable components such as mass-timber construction, biodegradable toilets, and a rooftop solar array. Over and above that, a firm with headquarters in Florida has expanded its holdings in the Richmond metropolitan area by purchasing an apartment complex in Chesterfield that was built only six years ago.

Ohio needs 7,000 workers to build Intel chip plants

Original Source: Ohio searching for 7,000 construction workers to build Intel chip plants

This year, Intel launched a $20 billion semiconductor manufacturing operation in the state capital. When the two fabs open in 2025, they’ll employ 3,000 workers, making an average of $135,000.

First, the 1,000-acre property must be leveled and semiconductor manufacturers created.

“This initiative reverberated nationwide,” said Michael Engbert, an Ohio-based LIUNA representative.

“We don’t get calls every day from members thousands of miles away requesting to transfer to Columbus,” he added. Because Intel’s coming

Ohio paid Intel $2 billion in incentives for the project, including a 30-year tax break. Intel will spend $150 million on education to promote the regional and national semiconductor sector.

Construction is likely to accelerate after Congress approved a package last month bolstering the semiconductor industry and scientific research to create more high-tech jobs in the US and help it compete with overseas rivals. It includes $52 billion in subsidies and incentives for the semiconductor industry and a 25% tax credit for corporations that invest in U.S. chip operations.

The central Ohio project won’t need all 7,000 workers at once. They’re only a piece of what will be needed to alter hundreds of rural acres east of Columbus for the Intel project.

Just six months after Intel launched the Ohio operation, VanTrust Real Estate stated it was creating a 500-acre business park to accommodate Intel suppliers. The 5 million square foot property is comparable to nine football fields. We foresee more supplier projects.

California-based Intel would use lessons learned from past semiconductor locations to ensure enough construction workers, the firm said.

“One of Intel’s top reasons for picking Ohio is its strong workforce,” the firm added. It won’t be easy, but we’re convinced these jobs will be filled.

Labor groups and state officials admit there aren’t 7,000 extra workers in central Ohio, where other projects include a 28-story Hilton near downtown Columbus, a $2 billion addition to The Ohio State University’s medical center, and a $365 million Amgen manufacturing factory near the Intel plant.

Not to mention three new Google and Amazon data centers, a $200 million municipal courthouse south of downtown Columbus, and solar array projects that might create 6,000 jobs.

Federal numbers suggest 45,000 house and business builders in central Ohio. That number rose by 1,800 from May 2021 to May 2022, indicating a projected deficit given current and future demand.

“I don’t know of a single commercial construction company not hiring,” says Mary Tebeau, executive director of the Builders Exchange of Central Ohio.

Offsetting the imbalance are training programs, a campaign to attract more high school students to enter the trades, and economics. With overtime, qualified tradesmen can make $125,000 a year, says Dorsey Hager of the Columbus Building Trades Council.

Or, as Lt. Gov. Jon Husted, the state’s economic development point man, puts it, the Intel project is so enormous and lucrative that it will create construction jobs for individuals who didn’t see them in their future.

“If you spend more, you’ll find talent,” he remarked.

In addition to new and out-of-state workers, some home builders may be laid off, said Ed Brady, CEO of the Home Builders Institute in Washington, D.C.

This presents a housing shortage concern that might hamper Intel’s economic progress, said Ed Dietz of NAHB.

How can you encourage corporate investment if you can’t supply enough homes for the labor force?

By 2050, Central Ohio might have 3 million residents, requiring 11,000 to 14,000 housing units a year. That was before Intel was disclosed, said Jennifer Noll of the Mid-Ohio Regional Planning Commission. The region came closest in 2020 with 11,000 units.

We have work to do as a region, “Noll stated.

Shortage or not, work is underway at and near the Intel facility, where parades of trucks rumbled down country roads on a recent August morning.

Taylor Purdy drove 30 minutes from Bangs, Ohio, to his work widening a road near Intel’s plant.

Purdy, 28, works in trenches laying sewers and water lines. When deadlines loom, overtime is common. Intel development is in its early stages as earthmovers reconfigure 1,000 acres (400 hectares) of previous farm and residential areas.

Purdy enjoys the job stability of a huge project. He’s also noted that, unlike previous occupations, he doesn’t have to explain himself.

He answered, “They all get it.”

Casper-Natrona County Health facility awaits $10M ARPA grant; overall project estimate is $25–30M

Original Source: New Casper-Natrona County Health building awaits $10M ARPA grant; total project cost ~$25–30M

CNCHD Executive Director Anna Kinder and Natrona County Attorney Eric Nelson updated the Casper-Natrona County Board of Health on Thursday. Kinder said an application for a $10 million grant to fund the project was submitted on August 11.

The application is for $10 million in American Rescue Plan Act health and human services funds handled by the Wyoming Office of State Lands and Investments. Kinder hopes the CNCHD will know in September whether the funding has been accepted. If authorized, the county will need to give a 20% match.

Kinder said she’s working on an application for $500,000 extra in grant funding due Sept. 1. Nelson stated Monday that this second funding is administered by the Wyoming Department of Health.

Nelson said the repair will cost between $25 and $30 million. The final cost depends on whether a new building or renovation is done. Outside of grant financing, the county is allocating $15.5 million in ARPA direct funds to the CNCHD project, Nelson said.

Some more financing for the project could come from money U.S. Rep. Liz Cheney’s office campaigned for in the proposed new federal budget, Nelson added. The plan allocates $1.5 million for the project.

Nelson is optimistic the Wyoming Office of State Lands and Investments’ $10 million grant proposal will be successful.

Securing funding and identifying a location for the new health department building are the next steps, Nelson said. City of Casper Public Information Officer Rachel Bouzis stated Monday the city’s support for the project will come in the form of a land donation.

Nelson is unsure of the new building’s square footage. As the county works closely with Healthcare for the Homeless and Community Action Partnership, they may move into a new building. Nelson hasn’t thought out the details of these possibilities.

A state organization like the Women, Infants, and Children Program may also move in, Nelson said. If a program leased space in the new building, it would help offset operational costs.

While some uncertainty exists as the project waits to hear if grant cash will be made available, Nelson noted that once such issues are answered, there will be some impetus to move forward because ARPA funding must be encumbered by 2024 and spent by 2026.

The world’s largest commercial apartment building is in Portland

Original Source: Mass-timber office in Portland is world’s largest commercial Living Building

Mass-timber framing, biodegradable toilets, and a rooftop solar array are sustainable aspects of ZGF Architects’ PAE Living Building in Oregon.

The PAE Building is located in Portland’s Skidmore/Old Town Historic District. Built on a parking lot, the building is near landmarks, transportation routes, and rail lines.

The team says the building is the first in Portland to receive Living Building Challenge certification from the International Living Future Institute.

The building “produces more energy than it needs,” processes its own water, and employs “healthy” materials, says the institution.

The building is Oregon’s largest living building and “the world’s largest urban living building,” the team declared.

The project was planned and funded by ZGF Architects. Unusually, the firm developed the project with Downtown Development Group, Edlen & Co, Walsh Construction Co, Apex Real Estate Partners, and PAE.

The group wanted to show how to scale mass timber, minimize commercial buildings’ carbon impact, and construct a sustainable, lucrative building.

team: “The project illustrates to the private sector that fulfilling the greatest sustainability ambitions for new buildings is doable in a developer-driven paradigm.”

The 5-story skyscraper is nearly square, at 58,000 square feet (5,388 square meters). Both inside and outside are green.

The building’s gridded facade consists of local brick and high-performance fiberglass-framed windows.

The structural system is made of CLT, Glulam, and concrete. Concrete shear walls form the core.

ZGF: “The wood framing in this building has three uses.”

It supports the building, finishes the interior, and cuts embodied emissions by 30%, the researchers added.

Retail space, a tenant fitness center, showers, restrooms, lockers, and bike storage are on the main floor.

Floors one to four hold office space, with PAE occupying 33,000 square feet (3,066 square meters). The rest will be leased out.

A room on the top floor has sliding glass doors that open onto a balcony, dubbed the “deckony.”

For interior finishing, the team exposed the building’s concrete and wood. Materials include recycled wood and felt acoustic baffles.

To save energy, the team used plenty of natural light and movable windows.

“Careful arrangement of windows with high window heads allows daylight to enter deeply,” the researchers added.

Two photovoltaic arrays supply power: a 133-kW rooftop array and a 215-kW offsite array.

The facility was “conceived as a microgrid with off-grid capacity,” the architecture studio said.

Extra energy is stored in onsite batteries. The two-way connections allow electricity to be transmitted to the city’s grid, which is rare in this part of Portland.

Buildings use collected, treated rainwater. A 71,000-gallon cistern is under the slab.

Composting toilets save water and turn human waste into fertilizer.

The researchers explained that the nutrient recovery device turns urine and waste into liquid and powder fertilizer on-site.

The structure lies near earthquake faults, so the team added seismic components to make the structure as safe as hospitals and fire stations after a disaster.

All of the aforementioned prompted the researchers to assume the building could withstand 500 years.

Architects in various places use mass timber for tall buildings.

Seven-story Minneapolis tower by Michael Green Architecture was among the first tall wooden buildings in America, and an 86.6-metre-tall Milwaukee skyscraper by Korb + Associates Architects is the world’s largest timber building.

The $96M Stonebridge sale

Original Source: Stonebridge apartments sell for $96M

A Florida-based corporation has added a 6-year-old Chesterfield apartment complex to its Richmond-area assets.

American Landmark Apartments bought Element at Stonebridge in a $96 million loan assumption agreement on Aug. 16.

Drew White and Carter Wood at Berkadia represented Boyd Homes. Friday’s online property records did not reflect the $240,000-per-door deal.

The 12-acre property was worth $96.1 million.

Boyd President David Rudiger said the Virginia Beach-based company didn’t want to sell Element but did so due to market conditions and other initiatives.

The opportunity arose, and the market was heated. ” We’re building another project about 2 miles down the road, so it’s good timing,” Rudiger said, referring to Boyd’s Marcella at Gateway apartments that are commencing construction along Midlothian Turnpike.

Rudiger: “We’re pleased with Element.” Working with the county to redevelop that location was an opportunity. We thought it had great promise, and it did. “

Boyd created the flats as part of Stonebridge, a mall makeover. The $60 million Element project debuted in 2016 along Midlothian Turnpike and Chippenham Parkway.

Boyd bought the site at 301 Karl Linn Drive for $3.45 million in late 2013. The apartments are in three buildings with courtyards and include eight floor layouts ranging from 560 to 1,260 square feet.

White said the apartments were 95% occupied when the purchase was completed, with average rates topping $1,350. White said rents have jumped $50 on average since the property hit the market in April. The property was under contract by June, he claimed.

White said they had demand from across the country and that it was high considering the price range. He claimed Berkadia had sold most of Boyd’s largest Class A multifamily buildings during the previous 20 years.

“We were quite delighted with the outcome in this turbulent, shifting market,” White added.

In an announcement, American Landmark underlined the property’s closeness to Boulders Lakeside, a freshly completed complex it purchased late last year from Richmond-based Dominion Realty Partners and Florida-based Amzak Capital Management. It paid $71.6 million for 248 apartments on 24 acres in the Boulders Office Park.

The two deals signal a return to the Richmond market for American Landmark, which previously co-owned Millspring Commons in Henrico and sold it in 2017. American Landmark owns and operates 34,000 units in multifamily communities throughout the Carolinas, Georgia, Florida, Tennessee, Texas, and Arizona.

Boyd constructs and operates multifamily and single-family communities in Virginia, North Carolina, and Florida. Rudiger said the success of Element encouraged the company to construct a comparable project near its Virginia Beach headquarters.

With Element off its portfolio, Boyd is focusing on Marcella at Gateway, a 245-unit project in the Gateway Center office park near Midlothian Turnpike and Powhite Parkway. Rudiger said site work is beginning and the first building will be delivered in late 2023, with completion a year later.

Also in Chesterfield, the company just finished Towns at Swift Creek, a for-sale and for-rent townhome complex near Route 288 and Genito Road, just south of Clover Hill High School. Rudiger said the rental units are almost full, and another project in the county is in the works.

While not the priciest deal this year, Element’s $96 million price tag is one of the larger multifamily sales in metro Richmond this year.

In Chesterfield, the 320-unit Hunter’s Chase complex sold in May for $79.2 million, and the 248-unit Glenmoor Oaks at Magnolia Green sold for $72 million in July.

Across the river, the 664-unit Acclaim at Carriage Hill sold in May for $138 million, and the 11 North at White Oak apartments sold in February for a record-breaking $154 million.

Summary of today’s construction news

During the course of this year, Intel established a semiconductor manufacturing facility in the state capital that is valued at $20 billion. When the two fabs finally open their doors to the public in the year 2025, they will have a combined total of 3,000 employees who will make an average of $135,000. Michael Engbert, a spokesperson for LIUNA based in Ohio, stated that “this initiative echoed nationwide.”

Meanwhile, Nelson is unable to provide an accurate estimate of the new building’s floor space. It is possible that Healthcare for the Homeless and Community Action Partnership will move into a new building as the county continues to strengthen its relationship with both organizations. The specifics of any of these alternatives have not been given much consideration by Nelson.

Furthermore, a skyscraper in Milwaukee designed by Korb + Associates Architects that stands 86.6 meters tall and has seven stories is the tallest timber building in the world. The tower in Minneapolis was designed by Michael Green Architecture and was one of the first tall wooden buildings in the United States.

Moreover, in states like Virginia, North Carolina, and Florida, Boyd builds and manages both multifamily and single-family communities. According to Rudiger, the company’s decision to build a new development similar to Element close to its Virginia Beach headquarters was inspired by the success of the latter.