Tag Archives for: Bomel Construction

San Diego Community College District: Rock-hard soil leads to rock-solid solution as Bomel Construction completes Miramar College parking structure

March 24, 2018

San Diego Community College District: Rock-hard soil leads to rock-solid solution as Bomel Construction completes Miramar College parking structure

SAN DIEGO, March 12, 2018––There’s no substitute for experience. And when it comes to design-build parking structures, Irvine, Calif.-based Bomel Construction has lots of it, decades to be exact.

A thorough understanding of the many methods to successfully design and build a garage within a customer’s budget and schedule earned Bomel Construction the contract to erect and complete a parking structure at fast-growing Miramar College in San Diego.

Moreover, Bomel’s ingenuity in the planning of the 499-stall, design-build project was so sharp that it blew away the competition. Unlike other bidders, whose plan required a high-volume excavation, Bomel and design-build partners Choate Parking Consultants (architect) and Coffman Engineers (structural engineer) had a faster and less costly solution.

“The other bidders took the Request for Proposal literally, which said there needed to be a first and second level with entrances on each,” said Adam Perrington, Bomel’s project manager.

Saving time and money

“Because of the 18 feet of elevation change across the site, we did not propose a flat slab on grade,” Perrington explained. “We simply followed the natural slope of the formational material, so the garage would ramp up from the south to the north. This simple scheme would require only a partial first level and a second level that extends above the first. This method reduced the need to do a tremendous amount of excavation, which the other bidders were proposing. It saved time and money, and convinced the district that we were far and away the best team for the new parking structure.”

Knowing the territory

Having worked on other buildings at Miramar College during the last several years, Perrington had a firm grasp of the density of the local terrain, Linda Vista Formation in geological terms, and how important it would be to limit the amount of excavation.

“In our previous projects at Miramar, classrooms A and B, and the math and science project in 2010, we had an excavator with a 15,000-lb. breaker and it literally was not putting a dent into the subgrade,” he explained. “At first, we had a single long shank or ripper at the end of the excavator and it would only create dust leaving a shallow two-inch indent in the ground. We typically do not come across hard soil like this in the San Diego area.

“In the end, we used a bucket with tiger teeth, so instead of using one point and trying to pressure our way through the soil, we just kept hitting it with 16 hardened steel tips and it broke up the dirt like a chisel on ice. After we changed the plan of attack, the equipment started eating right through it.”

A similar scenario greeted Bomel’s crews when it was time to excavate for the parking structure after workers demolished three modular classroom buildings, finished grading and prepping the site pad and relocating 18 feet of utilities.

“There were rocks everywhere,” noted Emerson Flint, project manager at Choate Parking Consultants.

Perrington said “nature’s concrete” is the best term to describe the stubborn sandstone and conglomerate underneath the 120-acre college campus.

“Our grader was able to use a drum cutter to dig the footings which saved a lot of time and frustration,” he explained. “It ate through the formational material a lot faster than what would have happened with a breaker. It also broke down some of the cobble stones to an acceptable size.”

Faster finish

Bomel started construction on what Miramar College calls the G4 parking structure last March and finished in December, at least three months faster than what it would have taken the other project bidders. The rapid construction schedule not only saved the college money but allowed the parking structure to open nearly two months before the start of the spring semester.

The garage, which requires parking permits, opened December 4 on the southeast side of campus. G4 has 48 marked stalls for staff, nine disabled parking spots and 442 student-parking stalls. It is accessed by Gold Coast Drive from South Campus Drive and by Miramar College Driveway and Hillery Drive from North Campus Drive.

In addition to Perrington, the Bomel project team included Jim Sheffield, project superintendent; Manuel Mendoza, formwork superintendent; and Angela Byan, assistant project engineer.

“Bomel did very well,” Flint said. “They always do a great job on the finishes.”

The parking garage is the first one that Bomel completed at Miramar College. Bomel has built two other garages at two other district campuses.

The last decade has been a transformational period for the San Diego Community College District as it nears the completion of Propositions S and N, a $1.555 billion construction bond program. The capital investment plan has greatly modernized the built and natural environment at Miramar College, Mesa College and San Diego City College, and seven campuses of San Diego Continuing Education. As the second largest of California’s 72 community college districts, the San Diego Community College District serves approximately 100,000 students annually.

Satisfied customer

District architect Lance Lareau enjoyed his latest experience with Bomel Construction.

“Bomel really knows how to build parking structures,” he said. “Everybody on the project was talking about the great progress being made. Bomel gets it done on time or ahead of time. The parking structure looks great.”

ABOUT BOMEL CONSTRUCTION: Established in 1970, Irvine, Calif.-based Bomel Construction Co. Inc. is widely regarded as the dean of design-build parking structure construction in the West and one of the largest concrete contractors in the United States. It placed 117th on Engineering News-Record’s ranking of the largest specialty contractors in 2017 in the U.S. In addition to its award-winning parking structure portfolio, Bomel is a one-stop source for all concrete construction needs. The company maintains a highly skilled staff for its structural, architectural and site concrete divisions. Bomel works directly for property owners, developers and general contractors. Its work includes a wide range of projects built at well-known casino-resorts, shopping malls, office buildings, mass transit centers, airports, universities and community colleges.

Toyota of Downtown Los Angeles: Bomel Construction completes versatile parking structure

February 01, 2018

Toyota of Downtown Los Angeles: Bomel Construction completes versatile parking structure

LOS ANGELES, Feb. 1, 2018––A five-level parking structure recently completed for Toyota of Downtown Los Angeles is serving the business in multiple ways.

The basement level is for vehicle maintenance and repairs. The showroom is inside a portion of the parking structure’s ground level, which is designated for customer parking. There is a small amount of parking on the first two above-grade levels. The top level will be used to park inventory.

The parking structure measures 386 feet by 154 feet and is 41-feet, 11-inches tall at the roof level parapets. Most cars will enter or exit from Washington Boulevard or Figueroa Street. A third gateway will be on a side street called Lovelace Avenue.

Irvine, Calif.-based Bomel Construction erected the 196-stall parking structure for general contractor ConAm Building. Trammell Crow was the developer of the entire 290,000-square-foot project.

In addition to the parking structure, ConAm Building was responsible for the construction of the new 22,600-square-foot, two-story showroom; wholesale and retail parts boutique and 40-car-bay, below-grade service department. The entire facility opened in November.

Officials with Trammell Crow say the new location is expected to serve as a prototype for urban dealerships, vertically integrating its uses to maximize efficiency. For example, the dealership features a double-height showroom and has a façade that meets the sidewalk.

In addition to working so close to the busy Washington-Figueroa intersection, Bomel Construction, widely regarded as the dean of parking structure construction in the West, had the challenge of working on a small site when it began construction in September 2016. Unlike suburban dealerships that occupy many times the acreage, the Toyota site was comparatively tiny at 1.6 acres.

Ryan Hill, vice president of ConAm Building, said he appreciated the depth of experience and cooperation that Bomel brought to the project.

“Bomel was awesome to work with on the parking structure portion,” he said. “It couldn’t have gotten any better having them out there.”

Alex Matranga, Bomel’s project manager, said the feeling was mutual. “ConAm gave us the flexibility to schedule and do things the way we like to do it,” he explained. “ConAm wanted to help us in any way they could. It was a good back-and-forth relationship.”

In addition to Matranga, the Bomel team included Bill Godwin, project executive; Dan Landini, project superintendent and Tim Brown, formwork superintendent.

ABOUT BOMEL: Established in 1970, Irvine, Calif.-based Bomel Construction Co. Inc. is widely regarded as the dean of parking structure construction in the West. Bomel-built parking structures are located at a wide range of venues, including airports, car dealerships, casinos/hotels, colleges, malls, mass transit stations, office buildings, regional retail-entertainment centers and universities. From fourth quarter 2017 to fourth quarter 2018, the company will have recently completed, be well underway or beginning the construction phase for at least 20 parking structures in California. Bomel Construction is ranked number 117 on Engineering News-Record magazine’s current list of the 600 largest specialty contractors based in the United States. In addition to its Irvine headquarters, Bomel has regional offices in Carlsbad, Calif., and Las Vegas, Nev. For more information, visit www.bomelconstruction.com or call (714) 921-1660.

Bomel Construction: Orange County Mass Transit Project Presents Plenty of Infill Site Challenges

February 01, 2018

Orange County Mass Transit Project Presents Plenty of Infill Site Challenges

Feb. 1, 2018––In terms of sheer size, a new project in the city of Orange may not be as large as many of the parking structures Bomel Construction has built, but successfully completing the five-level garage in 16 months will be no small feat.

Bomel Construction recently completed shoring and mass excavation and has begun footings for the 608-stall parking structure, located on the former site of a city-owned parking lot and adjacent to the Orange Transportation Center. The construction site is two blocks west of The Circle, the retail heart of the Old Towne Orange Historical District, a one-mile-square area that contains many of the original structures built shortly after the city’s incorporation in 1888. Old Towne was listed on the National Registry of Historic Places in 1997.

The parking structure has a construction cost of $18,404,000. It will be owned by the city and used mostly by Metrolink commuters and visitors to Old Towne. The Orange County Transportation Authority is overseeing construction of the project along with construction management firm Hill International. Choate Parking Consultants is the architect for the plan-and-specs garage. Ficcadenti, Waggoner and Castle is the structural engineering firm.

“It’s a super, super small site,” Bomel Project Manager Bert Williamson said, addressing one of the project’s chief challenges.

The cozy construction zone is bordered by Chapman Avenue and a United States Post Office on the south side, Maple Avenue (north) and Lemon Street (east).

Chapman University’s highly regarded Dodge College of Film and Media Arts is just north of Maple. Three small homes built in the early 1900s and several businesses on Cypress Street form the site’s western border. West of Cypress is the Orange Transportation Center, home to an existing Metrolink railway station and an OCTA bus depot served throughout the day and evening by multiple routes.

Old Towne’s charm puts extra pressure on workers who must shoehorn a garage with two subterranean levels into a tight site while not disturbing neighbors close enough to see and hear what is happening every day.

“The project team has placed seismic monitors to measure vibration around the site,” Williamson said. “Before we started, we had to make sure nothing would be damaged while we’re digging and shoring because we’re literally right up against businesses and homes.”

Before Bomel began the 22-foot-deep excavation phase in mid-October, a three-month site remediation phase was completed. Prior to the site being used as a parking lot, it was home for many years to a fruit packing plant and train depot. Williamson said train tracks removed from underneath the site were given to the city, which intends to display them.

In addition to Williamson, the Bomel project team includes Kasey Shay, project executive; Richard Martinez, project engineer; and Dave Mosham, project superintendent.

When completed, the garage will measure 344 feet by 127 feet by 40-feet tall. In addition to two below-grade levels, there will be one level at grade and two elevated levels. The surface of the lowest parking level will be 22 feet below grade. The structure will have two entrances and exits.

The garage will have a number of architectural embellishments. All elevations will feature orange brick veneer and dozens of precast concrete panels. It will also have 30 window openings.

On the environmental side, Bomel will install a turnkey solar energy system on the top level.

The facility will have about 500 stalls reserved for train riders and more than 100 will be designated for general use, which will more than triple the parking capacity of the 172-space lot it replaces.

There will be three concrete pours for each deck for a total of 12 deck pours. That phase should be done by May. The next part of the schedule has Bomel spending a few weeks installing dozens of precast panels around the entire garage.

“When the panels arrive, we’ll have a 350- to 510-ton crane out in the middle of the street,” Williamson said. “We’ll have a sliver of a lane on Lemon for traffic to pass through. That should be interesting.”

The $33.2-million development is funded by the city of Orange, Measure M, State Transportation Improvement Program and Federal Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality Improvement Program funds. Approved by more than 70% of voters, Measure M is Orange County’s half-cent sales tax to fund transportation investments.

In addition to erecting parking structures of various sizes at mass transit stations in Covina, Fullerton, Irvine, San Bernardino and Tustin, Bomel has a long history of success in Orange, having completed multiple garages for rapidly expanding Chapman University.

“The city of Orange is a very involved customer,” Williamson said. “They’re very helpful in a lot of ways. The residents are very involved, too. They attend city meetings and tell the city how we’re doing.”

ABOUT BOMEL CONSTRUCTION: Established in 1970, Irvine, Calif.-based Bomel Construction Co. Inc. is widely regarded as the dean of design-build parking structure construction in the West and one of the largest concrete contractors in the United States. It placed 117th on Engineering News-Record’s ranking of the largest specialty contractors in 2017 in the U.S. In addition to its award-winning parking structure experience, Bomel is a one-stop source for all concrete construction needs. The company maintains a highly skilled staff for its in-house structural, architectural and site concrete divisions. Bomel works directly for property owners, developers and general contractors. Its portfolio of work includes a wide range of projects built at well-known casino-resorts, shopping malls, office buildings, mass transit centers, airports, universities and community colleges.

http://www.bomelconstruction.com

Bomel Construction – The ‘problem solvers’ earn an ‘A’ from the University of La Verne

February 09, 2017

Bomel Construction – The ‘problem solvers’ earn an ‘A’ from the University of La Verne

Chip West, assistant vice president of capital planning and facilities management at the University of La Verne, thinks Anaheim Hills, Calif.–Bomel Construction is one classy builder.

“Once we got out of the ground, it was boom, boom, boom, boom. We were shocked at how quickly it was going, and there were no issues,” he beamed.

West was referring to Bomel’s and International Parking Design’s completion of the university’s 940-stall, design-build parking structure––the newest of four components in the college’s master plan. Next in line are a new residence hall, academic building and the closure of two campus streets. The five-level garage eliminated a longstanding campus-parking crunch. Pre-construction activities focused on relocating 8-inch chiller lines and upgrading to 15-inch sewer lines. Once that phase was over, the university secured a temporary parking lot at the nearby Los Angeles County Fairplex––a sprawling facility that hosts the L.A. County Fair, NHRA events and RV shows––to replace the surface parking lot uprooted by the new parking structure.

Bomel Construction, a builder of multi-level garages at public and private universities and colleges throughout Southern California, drew high praise even before winning the contract last year.

“They were problem solvers. They hadn’t been awarded the job and they were looking at ways to problem solve outside of what we had asked them to do,” said West, who has worked in higher education for more than 15 years and earned a Ph.D. four years ago from nearby Claremont Graduate University.

The new parking structure’s entrances are accessible via a driveway off D Street to the east. Arrow Highway is just to the south. The university’s athletic complex is to the west; South Quad is to the north.

The 125-year-old university has about 20 surface parking lots, ranging from 10 spaces to 400. La Verne’s main campus, between Bonita Avenue on the north and Arrow Highway on the south, is 38.4 acres. The newer Campus West, south of Arrow Highway, is 57.2 acres. The university hosts about 5,500 students on its main campus.

Incorporated in 1906, the city of La Verne is in Los Angeles County, bordered by San Dimas, Pomona, Claremont and the San Gabriel Mountains. It has a population of 31,063, according to the 2010 United States Census Bureau.

Before the debut of the 500-foot-long by 128-foot-wide parking structure, too many drivers were milling about between the lots. Some arrived at the 10-space lot only to find it full and then continued to a 20-space lot, only to find that at capacity, too. Moreover, many students parked on city streets and in front of shops, restaurants and other small businesses. That is certainly not the case these days.

“The students and the community have said this is the first opening of our school in the last two decades when no one has complained about parking,” West said a week after the garage opened. “The centralized location is easy to get in and out of. We had no parking issues at all during the first two weeks of the semester.”

West and his construction team had about 100 university departments to please, but once construction began, the project ran smoothly due to a high-degree of timely collaboration.

“They were team players all the way,” Babcock said about the university’s construction staff. “Anything they needed, we provided, and anything we needed, they provided. They were just good owners to work with.”

Unfortunately, “good” could not be used to describe the natural resources on the site. Due to a footprint foundation of deep clay and sand, the project called for 524 Geopiers at an average depth of 20 feet.

“It would have cost more to over-excavate and re-compact with proper fill material,” Babcock said. “Using Geopiers gives us a better soil-bearing capacity, allowing us to reduce the size of the foundations to help compensate for some of the extra cost.”

He praised Bomel’s project superintendent for doing an exceptional job from start to finish.

“Dan Landini was awesome,” Babcock said. “This was the first time I worked with him as a super and he is definitely one of the best. He plans ahead, reaches his goals and is fast.”

Landini joined Bomel eight years ago. He has 23 years of experience in the construction industry. The outstanding La Verne team also included critical contributions from Doug Smith, the formwork superintendent. He has been with Bomel for 29 years.

The $14.5-million parking structure’s brick veneer on half of the east side and on about 20 feet of the north and south sides matches the Vista La Verne residence hall, which opened in 2012. A total of 18 eye-catching banners, each measuring 4-feet-wide by 10-feet, 2-inches tall, dress up two sides of the garage, which has two entrances and exits on the north side.

Additionally, Bomel built and installed a fully functioning photovoltaic system on the garage’s roof. A 250-foot-long trellis system running down the center of the garage’s top level supports the PV panels. Provisions allowing for expansion were also put in place.

In addition to Bomel Construction and International Parking Design, the design-build team includes Bomel’s Architectural & Site Concrete Division and structural engineer Culp & Tanner.

West said the design and construction process from start to finish was “tremendously professional.” He was very impressed with the level of quality that the design and construction team brought to the table.

“We had a great experience with the group we had,” West recalled. “They regarded us as part of the team and had a team mindset, so they anticipated problems before they came up and were great about brainstorming with us and moving forward.

“In the end our community got a beautiful, functional structure that really transforms the way people will experience our campus for years and years to come.”

About Bomel Construction Co.: Established in 1970, Anaheim Hills, Calif.-based Bomel Construction is a family-owned, design-build contractor that has completed multi-level parking structures for universities, municipalities, casinos, stadiums, airports and large-scale commercial and retail developments throughout the western U.S. In addition to the corporate office in Anaheim Hills, Bomel has regional offices in Las Vegas, Nev., and Carlsbad, Calif. For more information, visit bomelconstruction.com or call the corporate office at 714-921-1660.

Cal Poly Pomona opens second parking structure – International Parking Design and Bomel Construction

January 12, 2017

Cal Poly Pomona opens second parking structure

The southwestern section of Cal Poly Pomona is a larger focal point for parking with the debut of a 1,800-stall parking structure.

The university opened the three-level garage at the start of the 2016-17 school year. A design-build team directed by International Parking Design and Bomel Construction produced the facility. The university’s other garage, on the opposite side of campus, has 2,300 stalls.

Cal Poly Pomona, largely a commuter school with a total enrollment of about 20,000 students, lost approximately 900 parking spots when construction of a 138,000-square-foot student services building adjacent to the main library began last year. The university’s ambitious plans to increase enrollment and build residence halls and other academic buildings in the years ahead are driving the need for additional parking.

The new parking structure is positioned close to the intersection of heavily traveled Temple Avenue and University Drive, a hilly thoroughfare exclusively serving the campus. The garage borders I-Poly High School, Cal Poly Pomona tennis courts and soccer fields and the university’s latest crown jewel, the 165,000-square-foot Bronco Recreation and Intramural Center, commonly called the BRIC, which opened in 2014.

The main construction challenges for the new garage, which was built on an existing surface lot with 600 stalls, were considerable: Starting construction after the end of the 2014-15 school year and ending it before the start of the fall 2016 quarter; relocating 2,000 feet of storm drains that were below the new garage’s footprint; excavating about 120,000 yards of soil to a depth of 11 feet; erecting a poured-in-place parking structure on a naturally sloping site and adding multiple turn lanes on an active Temple Avenue and a narrow University Drive without shoulders.

One of the many reasons why the IPD-Bomel design-build team won the contract was the ability to rapidly design and build a parking structure that has six gateways: an at-grade entrance from Temple Avenue to the south, one at grade from an existing campus parking lot to the east, one above grade from University Drive to the west and three below grade from Collins Avenue, a narrow university street behind I-Poly and parallel to Temple. The half-dozen entrances and exits are essential due to the structure’s proximity to Temple, University, Collins and I-Poly.

Another important reason is the need for quick entry and exit for thousands of students rushing to and from classes during peak morning and afternoon periods. Thirdly, a large number of visitors will frequent the BRIC and various outdoor sporting and public events, often arriving or departing at the same time.

Some of the tan-colored garage’s features include Wi-Fi, two elevator cores, 77 security cameras, 24 electrical vehicle charging station, two rows of EV-only parking stalls nearest to the entrances and exits and solar-energy panels shading dozens of vehicles on the upper level. A pedestrian plaza and bridge landscaped with drought-tolerant vegetation intersects the garage at grade level, between the structure and an expansive surface lot to the east.

In addition to International Parking Design and Bomel Construction, the design-build team included Steinberg Architects, Air-Tec Mechanical, Apollo Electric, structural engineering firm Culp & Tanner, Civil Works Engineers, Don Brandel Plumbing, Integrity Fire and Lynn Capouya Landscape Architects.

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