SOMERTON, Ariz.―General contracting firm McCarthy Building Companies has delivered for the Yuma Union High School District (YUHSD) the new Somerton High School, now welcoming its inaugural class. The $68 million project, which has been planned since 2019, is the seventh high school for the YUHSD. Prior to this project, Somerton was the largest city in the Grand Canyon State without its own high school.

As designed by DLR Group, Somerton High School’s campus puts particular focus on classrooms for career and technical education (CTE) programs such as welding, sports medicine, engineering, robotics, law enforcement and culinary arts. Other career-preparation courses may be added in the future, the school announced.

DLR Group’s design also incorporates Somerton’s proximity to the Colorado River Delta, whose alluvial system is part of a mechanism that provides water throughout the Southwest. The campus offers a shaded outdoor courtyard—a forward-thinking notion in this very hot region—at the heart of the campus that is meant to call to mind the river system.

The 150,000-square-foot, four-building campus is home to nearly 2,000 students. In addition to classrooms, Somerton’s campus houses a 358-seat cafeteria as well as 432 outdoor dining seats and a snack bar. A black box-style theater, media center, choir room, band room, special educational classrooms and laboratory classrooms are all on offer.

The high school’s auxiliary gym seats 193 people, and also has a weight training room. Outdoors, the football stadium can seat 500 spectators; there is also a baseball field, softball field and tennis courts.

Ongoing supply chain issues addressed by McCarthy personnel included replacing back-order steel tresses with treated wooden trusses instead in some areas—while moving the installation of those steel tresses that did arrive until much later in the schedule for the cafeteria and media center. Thus the project schedule was maintained without delays.

“The design for this high school was inspired by the strong agricultural community in Somerton as well as the nationally recognized CTE programs at YUHSD,” Carmen Wyckoff, DLR Group principal and K-12 education leader, said of Somerton’s completion. “This facility will have an immediate impact on the legacy the Somerton High students will leave in their community.”

Added John Kovesdy, project manager with McCarthy Building Companies: “We had our challenges throughout the project, but nothing was going to stop the team from opening Somerton High School. We all knew how important it is to our community.

“We feel very fortunate to have had the opportunity to help create this landmark in Somerton.”

McCarthy and DLR Group’s partners included Arizona Verde Fire Protection, Delta Diversified Enterprises, Yuma Valley Contractors and Arizona Window Coverings.

“The realization of Somerton High School is an incredible mix of joy, pride and gratitude,” YUHSD Superintendent Tim Brienza said of the school construction completion. “Decades after being discussed, the community has this incredible facility to provide the backdrop of graduating EVERY student college, career and community prepared.”

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PALO ALTO, Calif.—Cardinal students will soon have an entirely new place to teach the next generations about the school’s mascot, known as “the Tree.” CAW Architects (in collaboration with William Rawn Associates) and McCarthy Building Companies are renovating 98,000 square feet of existing space as well as building from the ground up a new 42,700-square-foot structure for Stanford Graduate School of Education (GSE) and the Stanford Accelerator for Learning, the latter designed to foster cross-disciplinary research and work toward more equitable educational models.

The project will be realized thanks to renovations to the old Education Building and the Barnum Center for Family and Community Partnerships, as well as the brand-new third building located next to Meyer Green. A new courtyard and gardens will connect the trio of edifices.

The GSE will offer modern classrooms and gathering spaces where students and educators will commune and discuss the educational needs of both the present and the future.

Donations for the GSE have come from several Stanford alumni. The project is due to be completed in the spring of 2025.

CAW Architects is based in Palo Alto, also home to Stanford University, while McCarthy operates from several offices nearby in Northern California. William Rawn Associates is based in Boston.

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PHOENIX—Staff members of general contractor McCarthy Building Companies and architect Orcutt | Winslow joined staff from the Glendale Union High School District to salute the topping out of the second phase of construction work at Sunnyslope High School. The event featured the final beam being placed atop the frame of the three-story building.

Phase 2 commenced in May of 2022. Among the initial necessary work to prep the site were demolition of older buildings on the campus to make way for the three-story, 100,000-square-foot classroom structure. That building will entail over 40 classrooms as well as a library, art education rooms and science laboratories. Additional work for McCarthy and Orcutt | Winslow encompasses revising Sunnyslope’s athletic facilities, including applying new turf on the football field and renovating the school’s baseball and softball fields. The firms will also resurface the running track, as well as install new spectator bleachers.

McCarthy completed Phase 1 work in only seven months, allowing the new spaces to open in time for the 2021-2022 school year. That work included buildout of a 72,000-square-foot classroom entailing 33 classrooms as well spaces set aside for the student ROTC program and choir and band instruction.

Phase 2 is anticipated to be finished in time for this fall. Funds for the updates to the Sunnyslope High School campus were approved by voters in 2020.

McCarthy’s subcontractors on the project include Procon Professional Concrete, Mark’s Valley Grading, Hawkeye Electrical, Sunburst Landscaping, Sun Valley Masonry, MKB/Capture, Graywolf, Midstate Mechanical and Pete King Construction.

Brandon Gonzalez, project manager for McCarthy, said that the topping out marks a major milestone in his team’s work at Sunnyslope. Next up, the contractor told School Construction News that his experts will shift to MEP systems and the building enclosure itself.

“Within these next activities come challenges to mitigate water infiltration, start-up and commissioning of MEP systems, and remaining site work activities,” Gonzalez said. “Our team is consistently pre-planning these activities to reach a safe and on-time completion for our client.”

Added Antonya Williams, who leads the education services team with McCarthy: “The excitement on campus over the past two years as students, faculty and staff have watched the campus transform and experience the new classrooms completed with Phase 1 has been energizing.

“Achieving the topping out of the newest building marks another major milestone for the Sunnyslope community, and we’re proud to be able to celebrate with them as we move closer to the completion of this incredible project and prepare to welcome new students this fall.”

McCarthy has been in business for over 150 years and operates from offices in such cities as St. Louis, Atlanta, Kansas City, Las Vegas, Denver and Phoenix.

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SAN FRANCISCO—Officials from San Francisco State University, alumni as well as personnel from McCarthy Building Companies, Inc. and EHDD Architecture were on hand this spring for a groundbreaking held for a new living-and-dining complex at SFSU’s West Campus Green (WCG).  The $179 million budget for the buildout is to be largely offset by $116.3 million funded by the State of California’s Affordable Student Housing grant program, designed to make public college living space throughout the Golden State more affordable.

The WCG entails two adjacent buildings, one a 120,000-square-foot, six-story residence hall, and the other a three-story, 50,000-square-foot facility that will be home to a dining commons and the Gator Health Center.  Residences are being designed around a pod concept wherein 12 rooms of three students each will utilize shared bathrooms and study areas.  In addition to providing a home for 750 first-year SFSU students, the WCG will include various other amenities such as psychological counseling services and a wellness center.

SFSU purchased the site from the San Francisco Unified School District in 2012, which required tearing down an older, unused building for the WCG.  A temporary fence has been placed around the construction site while the remainder of the campus facilities stay open during the ongoing work, which is anticipated to be complete by the fall of 2024.

The design-build team of McCarthy and EHDD is working to overcome all manner of challenges, not the least of which is a rather ambitious schedule of getting “heads into beds” for the 2024 academic year.

“To meet this tight deadline, we decided to split the project into separate buildings.  This allows the housing building to take off on its own schedule, undergo an efficient design process and get into the ground more quickly—while simultaneously dedicating time and resources to address the needs of the dining and health center,” said Jack Carter, McCarthy vice president.

He added that having able partners at SFSU and EHDD will ensure the project timeline is met.  “Our teams have been able to streamline reviews, approvals and authorizations to work on this project in multiple areas concurrently, furthering our efforts to bring the overall vision of the campus to life,” Carter said.

Project Design Lead and Principal at EHDD Lynne Riesselman said that the architect’s wishes for the WCG were that it would function not merely as a place for students to reside but also in which to build a thriving community—especially for first-year students who have never lived away from home before.

“To achieve this, we created a residence hall that will support all aspects of universal design to ensure equity and access to all students,” Riesselman said, adding that the pod concept “will give students more agency in how they spend time outside of their room.”

“A notable challenge we faced during the planning process for this project was figuring out a strategic way to bring both units of the Gator Health Center under one roof,” Riesselman added.  “One way of doing this is by deciding to pair the health program with the dining hall, an active hub of the project that we anticipate will generate energy and celebrate its connection to the courtyard. This makes the building a familiar place students are comfortable with [and] a place they visit on a day-to-day basis.”

At the groundbreaking ceremony, SF State Vice President of Student Affairs & Enrollment Management Jamillah Moore said that the project will add critical student affordable student housing in the notoriously pricey Bay Area of Northern California.

“When students have safe, stable and affordable housing, they are more likely to enroll, excel and graduate,” Moore said.

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YUMA, Ariz.—McCarthy Building Companies has topped out construction work at Arizona Western College’s $17.5 million Matador Activity Center, which is due to open in the fall.

The two-story, 45,000-square-foot facility will feature conference rooms, cafeteria space, lecture hall, esports arena as well as an up-to-date multimedia center that will serve as the home of KAWC radio and television studios.  Students and others will be able to observe production live as it happens via both traditional television monitors as well as glass walls outside the studios.  The Matador Activity Center will also host a food pantry and clothing donation program to help disadvantaged students.  Administrative space will be available on the second floor of the building.

“Achieving topping out on the Matador Activity Center is exciting and brings our objective of further contributing to the student experience at Arizona Western College and serving future generations closer to realization,” AWC President Dr. Daniel Corr said at the ceremony.  “We’re thrilled to see the progress on the building, and look forward to opening it up to our students and staff this fall.”

McCarthy is working on the project with designer EMC2.  Subcontractors on the project include Haxton Masonry, Delta Diversified Enterprises, Yuma Valley Contractors, Pacific Steel Inc. and Progressive Roofing.

In an emailed statement, Jakob Lund, project manager for McCarthy, said that an ongoing difficulty of the Matador construction has been the ongoing lack of trade workers, which has affected the construction industry across the board.  However, Lund remains confident that he and his team can make their fall deadline—especially important as Arizona’s rather wet monsoon season will strike over the summer. 

“The current weather conditions in the area combined with workforce challenges are impacting this aspect of the project—and have our teams working hard to maintain the schedule,” Lund said.

One of the most uniquely difficult hurdles is that the Matador Student Experience Center necessitates an antenna tower so that AWC’s programming can be beamed around to the Grand Canyon State.

“It’s been a unique experience to coordinate with the radio and TV stations to ensure that the structure supports the many different devices that will be mounted on it,” said Lund, adding that after careful work “it is correctly positioned for the transmissions.”

In addition to the Matador Center, AWC is also working on two other construction projects, a residence hall and a public safety training facility expansion.  As all three of these buildings are being built—by different contractors—as the campus remains open, Lund said it requires no small bit of logistical work on everyone’s parts.

“It’s a very active campus from a construction and student, faculty and staff perspective,” said Lund.  “The College is doing a great job facilitating the coordination, and we’re all focused on keeping everyone on campus safe.”

McCarthy, which has been in business for over a century and a half, has been ranked as the 19th largest domestic builder by Engineering News-Record.  The firm is 100 percent employee-owned.

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SAN FRANCISCO—Architecture firm DLR Group and general contractor McCarthy Building Companies have been hired by the San Francisco Unified School District to build a new school in the city’s bustling Mission Bay neighborhood.

The school will encompass 82,000 square feet of educational space on a 2.5-acre parcel of land. The school will eventually be home to 600 preK-5 grade school students, a STEM-focused learning laboratory as well as office space for SFUSD personnel. DLR’s design plan calls for ground-floor learning space that will connect directly to the outdoors to bring learning out of the classroom itself. The second and third floors will feature learning studios as well as collaborative learning spaces and breakout rooms. Meanwhile, the fourth floor will host a learning lab that focuses specifically on guiding high school students to consider potential career options in the STEM fields.

In a recent release from McCarthy, the firm’s vice president, Jack Carter, said that the addition of the new school was necessary as the Mission Bay area of the city has continued its upward swing in development.

“The addition of this vital piece of infrastructure will not only be a cornerstone within Mission Bay but also allows San Francisco Unified School District the opportunity to develop a school from the ground up to provide for today’s and future students,” he said.

Added DLR Group Principal Christopher McGiff-Brown: “The Mission Bay School will become the nucleus of community life within this vibrant neighborhood. Our team’s design solution expresses the joy of learning with dynamic architecture to create a vivid and welcoming campus for all users.”

Construction is scheduled to commence sometime this year, with the school opening its doors in 2025.

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LAS VEGAS—McCarthy Building Companies has added to the Entertainment Capital of the World for many decades, both in the commercial and educational sectors.  Accordingly, the general contractor, which operates from offices around the country, has completed expansion work at the University of Nevada-Las Vegas’ Tropicana Parking Garage.

The addition adds an additional 1,000 parking spaces thanks to the collaboration between McCarthy and Choate Parking Consultants.  The construction timeline minimized interfering with class schedules, and the end result marries the new parking area with the older structure.

McCarthy was able to source nearly 9,000 cubic yards of concrete from the quarries of southern Nevada.  In an aim at stability, the addition has charging stations for electric vehicles and will also add a solar system in the years to come.

In a recent news release about the project, Ross Edwards, senior vice president for McCarthy, called the work at UNLV “seamless” in terms of marrying existing and fresh elements at the parking garage.

“The design-build team did an incredible job integrating the two structures and ensuring the project was ready in time for the new school year,” said Edwards.

McCarthy’s previous work at UNLV includes Hospitality Hall for the campus’s William F. Harrah College.

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YUMA, Ariz.—McCarthy Building Companies has turned over the ceremonial first shovelfuls of dirt at Arizona Western College’s Student Experience Center, a 45,000-square-foot building that will be home to classrooms, a multimedia center, lecture halls, conference rooms and other education amenities.

The two-story, $17.5 million Student Experience Center will serve more than 11,000 students. Its high-tech multimedia center will house the student radio station KAWC as well as television broadcast operations. Glass partitions will allow for observation of production by both faculty and other students as well as campus visitors. Unique for a modern university, the SEC will feature an esports arena and other gaming areas. The SEC will also have a food pantry and clothing donation program for disadvantaged students that is to be called Andale’s Pantry. Some 13,000 square feet of administrative space will be available on the SEC’s second level.

The construction is being bankrolled thanks to revenue bonds, which won’t raise property taxes in Yuma or in surrounding La Paz County. McCarthy is working with design architect EMC2 to realize the SEC dream. Subcontractors for the work include local firms Haxton Masonry, Delta Diversified Enterprises, Yuma Valley Contractors, Pacific Steel Inc. and Progressive Roofing.

McCarthy’s project manager Jackob Lund said that the SEC will take the campus experience at Arizona Western “to the next level and will afford community members an opportunity to attend special events in the lecture hall.”

In a subsequent statement about the project, McCarthy’s offices said that, unsurprisingly, one of the main difficulties has been hiring enough qualified personnel to work on the school. However, the firm has been ramping up its recruitment efforts—and not just in Arizona—to fill those empty jobs.

“As a result, McCarthy has established a strong presence in Yuma and has a significant number of employees who are Yuma-area residents, many of whom work on this project,” the statement read. The company also said it is fortunate to have many workers throughout the Grand Canyon State that could be transitioned to the work at Arizona Western College.

McCarthy is also battling the ongoing supply chain crisis, which has affected all facets of the construction trade, not only the educational side. The contractor’s statement also took note of the difficulty of working on the SEC while students and staff continually utilize the nearby buildings.

“The team worked with Arizona Western College for an early [guaranteed maximum price] so that all of the underground activities outside of the construction area were completed prior to the commencement of school,” McCarthy’s statement read. “We also established a separation from campus traffic and are working within a secure area while school is in session to ensure the safety of students, faculty and staff.”

Construction of the SEC is projected to be finished by next summer and open for students in the fall 0f 2023.

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PHOENIX—McCarthy Building Companies is rolling out the metaphorical welcome mat at South Mountain Community College’s new Science Complex. The $13.6 million project is fully built out, with students anticipated to commence instruction there in the spring.

McCarthy’s job was to meld two existing buildings with an entirely ground-up additional structure to create the SMCC Science Complex, which will eventually serve approximately 5,000 students across the STEM fields.

McCarthy renovated nearly 35,000 square feet of space, and the skeletal structure of those two older buildings were incorporated into the frame for the redesigned complex. This allowed the project to move along at a brisker clip and save money at the same time.

The redesigned Science Complex will host a 19,000-square-foot Physical and Life Science building, and offer state-of-the-art laboratories and support space, faculty offices, classrooms and even a modern cadaver lab—which will help the school’s healthcare students to gain practical knowledge.

McCarthy added structural connections between the previously existing Physical Science and Life Science buildings. Additionally, the general contractor relocated the complex’s botanical garden.

In the fall of 2020, McCarthy previously worked with SMCC personnel to commence the school’s Construction Trades Institute, which offers crash courses in carpentry, framing, electrical and plumbing trades.

“McCarthy values STEM education programs and having the opportunity to be part of making this project a reality in South Phoenix is something we’re all very proud of,” Mike Gonzalez, vice president of McCarthy Building Companies Education group, said in a recent statement. “Thanks to the extensive collaboration with SMCC and its program end-users, the designer and our trade partners, we found solutions to challenges, and this remarkable new Science Complex is being delivered earlier than planned to help more SMCC students pursue their dreams.”

Gensler came aboard the SMCC Science Complex redesign as both architect of record and design architect. Gensler’s design incorporated a “forward-thinking” layout as well as a modern look and feel to the complex.

“We are proud to have an impact on the next generation of STEM leaders in our community with the completion of the new Science Complex,” Martha dePlazaola Abbott, principal and managing director at Gensler Phoenix, said of the project. “The design of the new building enhances the on-campus learning experience with high-functioning classroom spaces and adjacent areas to foster connections and collaboration.”

“Our students deserve a space to pursue their dreams of becoming engineers, scientists and medical professionals,” SMCC President Dr. Shari Olson said of the expansion at her campus. “The community in South Phoenix needed this new facility, and we’re bringing it to them with the latest technology and labs to help students pursue their desired careers.”

Subcontractors at the SMCC project included Urban Energy Solutions Inc., S&H Steel, Wholesale Floors, SKF Tile & Stone, Gothic Landscape, Marks Valley Grading and Kinkaid Civil Construction.

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GOODYEAR, Ariz.—Agua Fria High School District’s Millennium High School now hosts a state-of-the-art gym thanks to the combined efforts of general contractor McCarthy Building Companies and BWS Architects.

The $16.25-million edifice, known around campus as the “Rise and Roar Center,” encompasses 45,000 square feet of multipurpose athletic space. The Rise and Roar Center entails three full athletic courts with fixed seating, with additional retractable seating that can be added if necessary. Total seating capacity for the courts is nearly 2,500. A tunnel leads from the locker rooms to the court, allowing for both dramatic entrances and quick retreat to the showers afterwards.

The new athletic complex was constructed atop what had been the freshman softball field, which was relocated to another place on Millennium’s campus. McCarthy and BWS also worked jointly to alter the school’s previous gymnasium into a building that now hosts classrooms, a dance studio, and band and choir rooms.

McCarthy completed the project work in 14 months. The general contractor’s partners and subcontractors on the job included Stone Cold Masonry, GrayWolf, K2 Electric, Pete King Construction, Mark’s Valley Grading, McCarthy Plumbing, Comfort Systems USA Southwest and LR Cowan Concrete.

In a recent statement about the project, Tyler Shupe, project director for McCarthy’s Education Services Group, said that the relationship with both the high school and the architects at BWS allowed for a smooth and on-time delivery of the Rise and Roar Center.

“The remodel demolition and insulation project scopes were self-performed by the McCarthy team due to the market’s current trade labor challenges,” Shupe said, adding that this “provided the project cost savings and shored up potential industry setbacks.”

“We are excited to have a state-of-the-art facility that allows the entire school to gather all our students together for school functions and pep assemblies,” added Millennium Principal Todd Stevens. “This new space offers a central location to celebrate academic accomplishments, a beautiful venue to showcase our choir, band and artists, a facility where our athletes can practice, and a classroom for our physical education classes.”

In a generous move, McCarthy’s Education Services team also upgraded the high school’s performing arts center at no additional cost to the district. The general contractor installed new sound controls and light fixtures, updated the stage floor itself, and crafted an entirely new control booth as well.

“The Center will be a point of pride and a special place for our students and the greater community,” said Principal Stevens, adding that when not in use for student athletics, the Rise and Roar Center will be rentable to summer camp activities, art shows and various other functions. “The options are endless,” he said.

The Agua Fria High School District was established in 1955, and now encompasses six high schools in Avondale, Buckeye, Goodyear, Litchfield Park, Waddell and parts of Glendale.

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