Over the Hump

Camelback Corridor Projects Offer Views of Recovery

By David M. Brown

The Camelback Corridor remains a bright spot in an otherwise dim new office construction market. Two sizeable office projects on Camelback Road are underway and going for LEED silver at minimum.

Developed by Houston-based Hines, the second phase of 24th at Camelback offers 300,000 sq ft of office space within an 11-story structure above a two-story underground parking structure. (Image courtesy Payne Rowlett)

Two Class A office projects are reaffirming the vitality of the Camelback Corridor in Phoenix.

The 11-story 24th at Camelback II is owned and developed by Houston-based Hines while the three-story 3900 Camelback Center is owned and developed by the Ryan Companies US, headquartered in Minneapolis. Both are precertified LEED silver core & shell buildings.

Hines has had an Arizona office at 24th at Camelback I since the building’s completion in 1998. Atlanta-based contractor Holder Construction Co. expects to deliver the second phase on time to Hines in February. Hines will manage the property.

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The 300,000-sq-ft mid-rise, matching the size of Camelback I, includes two subterranean parking levels and an adjacent six-level structure built during phase one. The construction cost was not released, but McGraw-Hill Construction Network, owned by the parent company of Southwest Contractor, estimates construction hard costs from $30 million-$50 million.

Begun by Holder’s Phoenix office in August, phase two will include retail space on the street level for restaurants and shops.

Holder is working as construction manager at risk with a guaranteed maximum price, but the company prefers to call this methodology the “team approach.”

“We feel we are an industry leader in bringing our entire construction team (subcontractors, vendors, design consultants, owner and inspectors) together to meet the challenges of the project and exceed expectations in a way that makes our clients want us to build their next project,” says Chuck Salt, project manager.

The Holder team is using the same fundamental cast-in-place concrete system used on phase one, maintaining overall project consistency for structure and building skin. Floor-to-floor heights will remain 12 ft, 2 in., and a 9-ft finish ceiling elevation will be maintained on floors two through 11.

“The slab depth maintains a minimum amount of structural depth, which allowed the floor-to-floor spacing to be maximized for ceiling heights while fitting within the zoning restriction for the height of the building,” says Brett Spearman, LEED-AP, manager and designer with New Haven, Conn.-based Pickard Chilton, the project’s design architect that master planned the 10-acre complex in 1997.

Crews pour concrete for 24th at Camelback II. Floor plates range from 25,000 sq ft to 38,000 sq ft on the balconied second floor. (Photo by Patti Reznik Photography)

Phase two faces Camelback Mountain, and both buildings share landscaped public space.

Similar to the existing building in form, the lobby in phase two will be clad in stained figured anigre wood veneer and feature black granite floors highlighted with stripes of Brazilian white granite, Spearman says. He adds that the “resort-style” bathrooms are somewhat different, too, with tiled walls, for example, separating each stall.

Parking required particular attention. “The garages are linked as a single garage, and the service drive for the new building was constructed over the existing precast garage access lane, which created a number of coordination issues,” says Scott Hughes, AIA, project manager with Kendall/Heaton Associates of Houston, the project’s architect of record.

Because of the building’s proximity to existing office, residential and retail, Holder minimized impact to the neighborhood by restricting deliveries to certain routes and times of the day.

Energy codes and LEED silver requirements called for more energy-efficient glass than the original building, Spearman says. The new glass type still maximizes light for the workspace and views but reflects more heat from the sun. In addition, light-covered roofing material reduces the heat-island effect, and water-efficient landscaping and plumbing fixtures reduce water use.

Other LEED credits include diverting 85% of waste from disposal landfills, the use of low-emitting VOC materials, natural lighting and using regional materials.

Just east of 24th and Camelback is Ryan Cos.’ 3900 Camelback Center. Designed by PHArchitecture, Phoenix, the $62-million 3900 office building broke ground in April 2008. Ryan, also serving as the general contractor, targets completion of the redevelopment/infill project for December.

Scheduled for completion in December, the 177,000-sq-ft 3900 Camelback Center office building will be submitted for LEED gold certification.( Image courtesy PHArchitecture)

Built with post-tension concrete, the three floors comprise 177,000 sq ft of office space. The building includes two underground parking levels with 631 stalls as well as 114 surface parking spaces. The exterior façade includes stone, EIFS, granite-clad columns, aluminum composite panels for the cornices, high-performance reflective glass and suspended metal mesh panels set off of the glass for shading and aesthetics.

Casey Cartier, Ryan’s division manager, says that excavation was a hurdle in the beginning of the project. Two medical office buildings and a parking lot with canopies were demolished on a site that backs up to a canal on the north, existing retail buildings to the east and an established residential neighborhood on the west. That meant that 150,000 cu yds of dirt had to be hauled out via one of the city’s busiest streets.

With 20 neighborhood meetings in 18 months, the design/construction team addressed concerns of homeowners regarding height, density, impacts of construction and aesthetics. “It was important that the neighborhood felt it was a partner in the new development,” Cartier says.

Patrick Hayes, AIA, principal of PHArchitecture, adds: “We had the development team working with the active neighborhood groups and the city of Phoenix to ensure that reasonable compromises that were made still reflected the initial design concept of an exceptionally inviting Class A office development.”

Primarily for this reason, post-tension construction was preferred — allowing for lower floor-to-floor heights and thus lowering the total height and impact of the building, Hayes says.

Landscaping at the street level and third levels, placement of the mechanical system in the underground parking structure, metal screening and restricting site lighting within the project boundary emphasize the project’s sensitivity to the neighborhood — and earn LEED credits.

The Ryan team also scored LEED points by buying high-efficiency water fixtures, using regional materials within a 500-mi radius; and installing a 285,000-gallon water cistern to capture 100% of site rainwater for landscape use. Crews also recycled materials from the demolished buildings into the new structure, including copper, asphalt from the parking lot, concrete and masonry from the building’s walls and foundations plus steel and metal from the car canopies.

“Ryan will submit for LEED gold in December,” says Alex Tsuji, project manager with Phoenix-based Green Ideas, the project’s LEED consultant.

Key Players

24th at Camelback II
Owner/Developer: Hines
Architects: Pickard Chilton; Kendall/Heaton Associates
General Contractor: Holder Construction Co.
Engineers: Entellus; Alvine & Associates; PK Associates
Subcontractors: Suntec Concrete; Walters & Wolf; Cannon & Wendt Electric Co.; TD Industries; Coreslab Structures; Buesing Corp.; S Diamond Steel; Pete King Construction Co.

3900 Camelback Center
Developer/GC: Ryan Companies US
Architect: PHArchitecture
Consultants: PK Associates LLC; DEI Professional Services; Green Ideas; G.K. Flanagan Associates; Kraemer Engineering; OMB Electrical Engineers
Subcontractors: Midstate Mechanical; Kearney Electric; MJ Schneider Plumbing; Suntec Concrete; Poers Steel and Wire; Buesing Corp.; KT Fabrication; Dickens Quality Demolition

Useful Sources

Visit www.24atcamelback2.com and 3900camelback.com for more info.

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