The largest development project in Southeast Michigan is proceeding in New Center as we speak. And by proceeding, we mean moving really, really quickly.
In September 2009, the redevelopment of the Argonaut Building will be finished and will open as the home of the
College for Creative Studies' undergraduate and graduate programs
in design, additional student housing and a design-oriented middle and high school.
With that looming deadline, many tasks have already been completed, including remediation, complete demolition of a parking structure and selective interior demolition. All new windows will be installed starting this week, foundation and mechanical systems work is underway, and interior buildout and construction of a new parking structure and gymnasium are just over the horizon.
Up to 200 tradespeople have been onsite at any given day through the current phase of construction; that will now begin to ramp up considerably. Eric Larson of
Larson Realty Group, the project's development manager, estimates that up to 400 per day will be kept working until the project wraps up in July.
Larson is managing a large and diverse group of talent to complete the task at hand, including architects-of-record
Albert Kahn Associates; general contractor
Walbridge Aldinger; parking garage contractors
Colasanti Group and consultants
Rich & Associates; architectural design consultants, San Diego-based
Luce Studio; Preservation Development; and
Jones Lang LaSalle.
That's the kind of team needed to pull off a $145,000,000 restoration of a 760,000-square-foot building. "This is an important project and a big project and a very dynamic project in what it is doing to restore a piece of Detroit history and what it can do in terms of going forward, by helping to change Detroit's economic engine," says Larson.
Read more about the specific uses of the building
here.
Source: Eric Larson, Larson Realty Group
Writer: Kelli B. Kavanaugh
Photo:
Marvin Shaouni
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