A state-of-the-art kidney and liver transplant suite at Hartford Hospital and the $140 million Gateway Community College project are among the projects honored recently by the CREW CT Real Estate Exchange.
But it was a $220 million mixed-use town center and main street corridor development in Mansfield that walked off with the Blue Ribbon Award, the group’s highest honor.
CREW CT received applications for 26 developments and recognized 10 projects in 11 categories during its recent awards ceremony.
“There was a vast array of projects submitted this year, which is good news for the Connecticut real estate community,” said Pamela Torsiello, president of CREW CT Real Estate Exchange. “Selection was based on design and financial challenges, innovations, and impact on the community.”
The Best in Class for Education went to Gateway Community College in New Haven for its work designing a LEED Gold certified school facility.
Gateway Community College is one of the largest construction projects the state has ever undertaken and the first public building to achieve LEED Gold in Connecticut. The four-story building has 367,000-square-feet of space that spans two city blocks along Church and George streets. The $140 million project also includes a 600-car parking garage. It was constructed last year on the former Macy’s and Malley’s sites.
One of the biggest challenges was figuring out how to connect a college structure separated by a city street. Designers and developers came up with the idea for the spacious, brightly lit atrium with a multi-story glass wall to serve as the pedestrian bridge over George Street.
Gateway Community College campus set a new standard for energy efficiency and sustainability within the public sector.
The new development came just in time, according to designers. Gateway is credited as the fastest-growing community college in Connecticut. Gateway has the second highest number of students among the state’s 12-community-college system. More than 9,900 students are expected to enroll next year, 40 percent more than projected.
Before Gateway Community College took over the former retail sites, the school operated in two campuses in different towns.
The Connecticut Department of Construction Services, Dimeo Construction Company, Perkins+Will Architects, Gilbane Building Co., id3A, and Towers|Golde contributed to the three-year landmark project, which broke ground in 2009.
The new Gateway campus includes 90 classrooms, 10 meeting spaces, 22 computer labs, a two-story library, culinary arts program, a health clinic, a bookstore, an early learning facility and a small business center.
One of the things designers had to figure out was how to transform an urban brownfield project into a multi-faceted, state-of-the-art campus that represents best practices in sustainable design.
The result is a learning facility that includes several distinct elements: roof gardens, natural lighting, courtyards and a green wall.
The rain garden located between the school building and parking garage serves as an artistic feature and runoff management system.
The adjacent playground serves the college’s daycare and early childhood education programs, and integrates a landscaped area for quiet play and children’s garden with traditional play structures.
CREW CT Real Estate Exchange also recognized Glastonbury-based id3A for its full interior design and architectural services with Hartford Hospital’s new 11,000-square-foot outpatient kidney and liver transplant suite. The project received Best Interior Design Project award.
The biggest challenge for id3A “was demolishing and retrofitting the space within a very busy acute care hospital within 10 weeks,” said Torsiello.
As part of the Hartford Hospital’s development plan, the kidney and liver transplant and cardiac suites were relocated and combined on the third and ninth floors of the Medical Office Building in downtown Hartford.
The result is a bright functional space consisting of two separate areas for doctor’s offices and exam rooms. Webcams in the conference rooms allow referring physicians to participate remotely in patient care discussions and meetings.
CREW CT Real Estate Exchange presented its Blue Ribbon Award to the $220 million mixed-use, pedestrian-oriented town center and main street corridor development located at the University of Connecticut, Mansfield. The first phase was completed last August with 127 market rate apartments and 28,000 square feet of retail space and restaurants.
The landmark project was built from scratch, at the crossroads of UConn campus and the Town of Mansfield.
The master developer, Storrs Center Alliance, is an affiliate of New York-based Leyland Alliance. BL Companies, Inc. served as the architect and Erland Construction Inc. was the construction manager. A five-story building will be added during the second phase of the project.
The three buildings will have a total of 362,000 square feet with first floor retail, commercial and restaurants, and 322 apartments on the second through fifth floors.
The Blue Ribbon Award is the highest honor bestowed by CREW CT.
The Storrs Center faced a handful of challenges. The project required a multitude of public and private partnerships and initiatives to offset the high infrastructure costs such as roads, utilities and parking garages.
Several businesses had to be relocated and the project ended up being denser so that its footprint was as far away as possible from an important wood frog population.
