Read, understand, and enjoy the latest news about the New Frontiers Agricultural Hall of Oklahoma State University, which is currently under construction at the intersection of Monroe Street and Farm Road. Additionally, despite a general decline in the home-start market, some of the largest institutional players in the single-family rental sector are increasing their home construction. Furthermore, the Ferland EDDC building at the University of Maine has finally been completed after a construction period of two years. Just recently, a ribbon was cut and an open house was held in the building that cost $78 million. Moreover, the significant renovations and repairs that are currently being carried out at the location are contributing to an improvement in the overall quality of life that residents of the Olson Hall barracks are able to take pleasure in. The initial stages of this modernization procedure began with sections A and G being the ones to go through it first. It is anticipated that construction on sections B and C would not commence until the year 2023.
The new OSU Agriculture building progresses
Original Source: Construction progresses on new home for OSU Agriculture
Oklahoma State University’s New Frontiers Agricultural Hall is under development at Monroe Street and Farm Road.
Dr. Thomas G. Coon, vice president and dean of OSU Agriculture, said construction is making campus noisier. We’ve been planning to replace Agricultural Hall for six years, so we’re at a turning point.
Kayleen and Larry Ferguson announced a $50 million contribution in January 2020, launching the New Frontiers campaign and renaming the campus the Ferguson College of Agriculture. One year later, OSU Agriculture broke ground on a project that will boost teaching, research, and Extension.
More than 600 donors helped the New Frontiers campaign raise $50 million for the Agricultural Hall in July. The campaign was launched 2.5 years ago.
OSU President Kayse Shrum stated that the new facility will modernize OSU Agriculture. It will boost OSU’s innovation leadership and continue our record of recruiting exceptional students and staff. New Frontiers supports OSU’s land-grant program and the state’s economy.
Beginning construction
The parking lot and Agriculture North were demolished in May 2021 for phase one of construction.
More than 1,000 truckloads of fill, gravel from the parking lot, and Ag North debris were hauled to the building site. Civil engineering and utilities work followed to prepare for phase two.
Construction crews demolished the 4-H Youth Development building, originally the Poultry Science building, to make way for the New Frontiers project’s staging area and headquarters.
Procurement
With the first development phase completed, OSU Agriculture began the second bidding phase in 2022.
“Given the volatility and uncertainty of the building sector, we remained responsible stewards,” Coon said. “However, we couldn’t lose momentum and kept generating excitement for the new building’s prospects and innovation.”
Randy Raper, OSU Agriculture’s assistant vice president of facilities, said bidding helped determine the building’s ultimate cost.
Due to market uncertainty, he expected the building’s cost to rise. After bids were opened, reviewed, and approved, the cost was around $15 million higher than $100 million.
Coon cooperated with OSU to reduce building costs.
“The Oklahoma A&M Board of Regents approved an extra $15.2 million to fund New Frontiers in April 2022,” Coon stated. This allowed us to continue building while preventing market inflation.
Construction is booming. During peak construction, 100+ workers are on-site per day. The building project will require 350 to 400 individuals.
Fall 2024 is the projected opening date.
Highpoints
Flexible laboratory areas will serve numerous disciplines, and interactive classrooms will harness Ferguson College of Agriculture students’ enthusiasm and ingenuity, Coon added.
He said it will make OSU Agriculture’s activities more collaborative, bringing its knowledge to bear on Oklahoma’s challenges and possibilities. It will modernize OSU Agriculture.
The new facility will strengthen teaching, research, and Extension missions, attracting and retaining scientific leaders and students while providing collaborative teams with state-of-the-art lab and field capabilities.
The structure will also feature an expanded Student Success Center and a re-imagined Dairy Bar, a school mainstay from 1928 until 2006.
Our instructors, staff, and students deserve a facility like this, said Raper. The new facility will attract teachers and students.
Extras
The OSU Agriculture team collaborated with architects to create a base concept and alternate add-ons, or a wish list, for the building.
When developing a facility, you want more than you can afford, Raper remarked. “So, you must figure out what is vital to the mission of the building. We hope to create a tighter integration of teaching, research, and extension, as well as an upgraded student experience, with this building.
Heidi Williams, OSU Foundation assistant vice president, said capital campaign money will be used only for the base renovation. Add-ons must be privately funded.
“Even after surpassing the $50 million campaign goal, we will continue to raise support for the project,” Williams stated. These naming options and features require further donations.
Add-ons include bird-friendly glass for select windows to reduce bird collisions; a rainwater catchment system for sustainable teaching and research; colonnades for the building’s front facade; an artistic monolith in the lobby; and a media wall for programming visibility inside the building.
Raper stated the monolith is the most important add-on. I imagine graduates will want to have their photos taken there. It will improve everyone’s experience. “
Three orange oblique structures rise vertically through the lobby. The three structures reflect teaching, research, and extension and the need to investigate as the world changes.
Raper said the add-ons appeal to various populations.
“The media wall could be mission-critical,” he warned. “Everyone in the building benefits.” Programming and maintaining the media wall will be important.
Rainwater catchment improves sustainability and efficiency.
Williams: “We’re always searching for ways to embrace people’s passions.” This project’s rainwater catchment is one of many naming opportunities.
Partners
Many partners contributed from concept to execution.
The OSU Foundation and consultants Marts & Lundy conducted a feasibility study to determine how to seek private funding for a new agriculture building.
The capital campaign was launched with early donations and a major gift from the Fergusons.
Kayleen Ferguson thanked the donors who helped make the Ferguson College of Agriculture building a reality. Thanks for helping OSU Agriculture’s programs, people, and facilities feed the globe.
The design approach involved teacher and student input.
Raper leads Studio Architecture, PGAV, Flintco, and OSU Long Range Facilities Planning.
Building is a generational transition, Raper added.
“Not everyone gets to work on a project like this,” he remarked. Moving in and adjusting to change can be difficult, but seeing everyone work together will be exhilarating.
Wall Street backs build-to-rent players
Original Source: Wall Street-backed players boost build-to-rent market
Toronto-based Tricon Residential Inc., which manages more than 33,000 single-family rental properties in the U.S. and Canada, will invest $500 million to create 2,500 single-family rentals in the U.S. Sun Belt.
This is the second Tricon-ASRS partnership. In 2019, they committed $450 million to building 2,000 “built-for-rent” residences.
Tricon has committed $1 billion to creating new, high-quality rental housing and has over 7,000 new units in the pipeline.
Tricon CEO Gary Berman: “The U.S. housing crisis cannot be ignored.” Families struggle to find and afford suitable housing due to a shortage of over 4 million dwellings.
We have decades of experience in residential real estate development around the country and are happy to join with ASRS again to build high-quality, professionally-managed rental housing in locations where people want to live.
Tricon is helping boost SFBFR building statewide. Scottsdale, Arizona-based Progress Residential, which operates 85,000 SFRs worldwide, has 2,600 build-for-rent homes in development.
The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) identified 21,000 SFBFR construction starts in the second quarter of 2022, up 91% from 2021.
In the last four quarters, 69,000 SFBFRs began construction, a 60% increase from the previous four quarters. The SFBFR market is a way to boost inventory amid housing affordability and down-payment requirements in the for-sale market, especially when more individuals demand greater room and a single-family structure.”
In 2022, despite a dramatic decline in the home-purchase market caused by rising interest rates, the institutional-backed SFR sector expanded.
Mortgage rates have been rising since the [Federal Reserve] began an aggressive sequence of rate hikes in March to rein in inflation, said Mitch Rosen, head of real estate at Yieldstreet, an online investment platform. ” Demand for mortgages hit a 22-year low in June due to rising interest rates and recession fears.
This affects existing-home sales. In July, home sales were down 30% year-over-year and 14.4% in the Midwest.
Institutional SFR players continue to buy existing homes at a robust rate to extend their rental-property portfolio. Kroll Bond Rating Agency’s tracking of SFR private-label securitizations shows this tendency (KBRA).
KBRA has tracked 12 institutional-sponsored private-label securitizations involving $8.6 billion in single-family rental properties through August. Single-family rental (SFR) securitizations are Wall Street deals since they involve enormous firms with hundreds of rental homes.
KBRA figures show that this year’s volume and quantity of SFR securitization deals are above last year’s. In 2021, nine SFR transactions involving 30,000 rental properties were worth $7.7 billion. KBRA’s data shows there were only five SFR purchases indirectly collateralized by 18,000 properties worth $4.3 billion through August of last year.
The SFR transactions are securitized differently than standard mortgage-backed securities, which are guaranteed by a pool of mortgages. Institutional SFR bonds are often collateralized by a single fixed-rate loan and a large pool of mortgages on income-producing single-family homes.
NAHB reports that single-family housing starts were down 10.1% in July and 2.1% year to date. Rising building costs, elevated mortgage rates, and supply-chain disruptions continue to impact the market.
The NAHB reports the lowest single-family house starts since June 2020.
NAHB Chief Economist Robert Dietz said builder sentiment has fallen for eight months and single-family home development has slowed for five.
The University of Maine’s Ferland EDDC building opens after 2 years
Original Source: Ferland EDDC building at University of Maine open after 2byears construction
After two years of construction, the University of Maine’s Ferland EDDC building has opened. The $78M building just had a ribbon cutting and open house. Over 500 people from across the state attended UMaine’s biggest project celebration.
UMaine alumni, philanthropists, and the state supported the Ferland EDDC building’s construction. Alumni worked on the project from April 2020 until February 2021. Maine invested $50 million in the project. The rest came from 500 donations.
Ferland EDDC facilities
Ferland EDDC has 44 student workstations for biomedical engineering, electronics, and 3D printing. Vehicles, metal, wood, and composite shops will also be available. The facility also houses the STEM Outreach Center and Campus Welcome. This area will be utilized for orientations and campus tours. It has five collaborative classrooms that are campus-wide.
The 115,000-square-foot Ferland EDDC building aims to triple engineering enrollment. So, 600 extra engineering students will have space. The new facility will house mechanical and biomedical engineering programs. This covers instructional labs for MET.
Joan Ferrini-Mundi, UMaine’s president, called Ferland EDDC a state-of-the-art facility to produce top engineers. He said the university should increase its economics and become more competitive.
The Ferland EDDC building was designed by WBRC Architects, Engineers, and Ellenzweig. Overseeing construction was Consigli Construction of Milford, Massachusetts, and Portland, Maine.
Fort Benning barracks upgrades improve soldier lives
Original Source: Barracks renovations boost Soldiers’ quality of life at Fort Benning
Major upgrades and restorations at Olson Hall barracks improve soldiers’ quality of life. Sections A and G were modernized first, with B and C to follow in 2023.
Fort Benning’s Directorate of Public Works renovates barracks and other key infrastructure to support long-range modernization plans, improvements, and energy initiatives, which help provide the quality of life soldiers and families deserve and the mission support the Maneuver Center of Excellence needs.
Olson Hall barracks are called “cuartels” in Spanish. The “cuartels” are massive, permanent structures that were designed in the 1920s.
The 29th Infantry Regiment built the post. The 29th lived in tents for eight years while building Cuartel-style barracks. The three-story concrete, brick, and steel building was 3/4 mile long. It might be erected in pieces but seem like one continuous U-shaped building when finished.
The initial part cost $325,000 in 1925, approximately $5.5 million today. Sections were added every two years until 1929.
Fort Benning is home to the Army’s Infantry and Armor Schools. This is the Army’s maneuver force. MCoE trains Rangers, paratroopers, and snipers.
Olson Hall barracks, which houses soldiers attending MCoE Maneuver Senior Leader Courses, is 361,390 square feet and has seven sections.
The continuing renovation project uses new construction techniques and replaces old building systems.
“The renovations of Olson Hall offer soldiers a modern area to reside, allowing them to focus on training and enjoy their downtime,” said U.S. Army Corps of Engineers project engineer Cynthia Sewell.
Phase one of the rehabilitation of sections A and G was overseen by the Army Corps of Engineers. Both the interior and exterior of each 40,500-square-foot building were renovated.
Building 399, phase one, is a $31 million facility repair project, stated Derick Wolf, Directorate of Public Works head engineer. Since the 1930s, building standards have improved. Therefore, we want to update them so soldiers can focus on training.
Outside finishes included demolition and abatement; new roofing water and ice shields; exterior wall repair and cleaning; concrete repair; stairwell and entry repair; lighting replacement; and painting.
Interior repairs and renovations included demolition and abatement; remodeling of living spaces, renovation of common areas; repairs and upgrades to mechanical, electrical, plumbing, HVAC, and other utility systems; painting; replacement of flooring, ceilings, and lighting; and safety upgrades.
The makeover included new floor coverings; ceramic tile in the toilet and shower areas, upgraded lighting; plumbing fixtures; toilet accessories; and doors. Fire sprinklers, fire alarms, and energy-efficient upgrades will replace old systems and equipment.
Amy Vaughn, resident engineer, USACE Savannah District, stated phase one is $31 million and phase two is $30 million. “Based on these calculations—and there are two more phases–the total makeover might cost $125 million.”
Energy-efficient features include spray foam insulation, insulated windows, LED lighting, low-flow plumbing fixtures, and computerized HVAC controls.
Energy-efficient thermal performance windows were installed. Programmable environmental controls, doors with weather stripping and gaskets, and repairing and tuckpointing the brick veneer assist in protecting the building’s appearance.
The U.S. Army is improving soldiers’ quality of life by renovating housing and barracks. Major renovations, like those at Olson Hall, improve soldiers’ quality of life and boost Army preparedness and retention.
“Olson Hall is being renovated by the Savannah District Corps of Engineers.” “This important project will update a facility to improve soldiers’ and families’ quality of life,” Garrison commander Col. Colin Mahle remarked.
Summary of today’s construction news
In today’s construction news, the vice president and dean of OSU Agriculture, Dr. Thomas G. Coon, stated that construction is contributing to the increased noise on campus. Because we have been working on the replacement of Agricultural Hall for the past six years, we have reached a pivotal moment in the process.
In addition, the company Tricon Residential Inc., which is headquartered in Toronto and manages more than 33,000 single-family rental properties in the United States and Canada, plans to invest $500 million in order to develop 2,500 single-family rentals in the Sun Belt region of the United States. This is the second relationship between Tricon and ASRS. In 2019, they pledged $450 million to the construction of 2,000 houses that were “constructed for rent.”
Furthermore, the Ferland EDDC building, which is 115,000 square feet in size, has the goal of doubling the number of students majoring in engineering. Therefore, there will be room for 600 additional students majoring in engineering. Both mechanical and biomedical engineering disciplines will have a home in the brand new building. This addresses the practical exercises associated with MET.
On top of that, renovating housing and barracks is one way that the United States Army is working to enhance the quality of life for its service members. Major modifications, like those that were made to Olson Hall, increase the quality of life of soldiers, which in turn boosts Army readiness and retention rates.
