Project Description
The Boldt Company served as owner, developer and construction manager for the Park Street Redevelopment project on the University of Wisconsin campus. The project consisted of three parts, representing one of the five major components of the University’s East Campus Development Plan and serves as the new gateway to the university. The three components of the project included: a residence hall, an administration building/parking ramp and pedestrian mall.
To accommodate the fast-track schedule, Boldt provided the following services:
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Acquisition of two privately owned brownfield parcels totaling 1.5 acres immediately adjacent to the university campus
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Monitoring the tight schedule
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Design, engineering and installation of utility extensions to the site
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Management of architectural and engineering services
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Site investigations, environmental remediation and demolition of three buildings
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Design and construction of a replacement service garage and fleet services to permit demolition of existing building
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Management of city architectural and engineering reviews
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Value engineering
Our development group provided a wide variety of services including land acquisition, securing local and state approvals, financing the project, along with overseeing the planning, design and construction of the project.
Administration Building & Parking Ramp
The seven-story administrative building is 290,000 sq. ft. and 342-space parking ramp contain four stories of parking and three stories of general office space. Also included in this portion of the project was the University’s Welcome Center which faces Park Street. The general office space is occupied by various administrative services such as the bursar’s office, admissions and human resources.
The parking structure includes 43-metered public parking spaces on the first floor, with the remaining 299 spaces on the second through fourth floors available for permit parking. A total of 60 bicycle parking spaces are provided in two locations, one on the exterior of the building and one on the first floor of the parking structure.
Newell J. Smith Residence Hall
The six-story, 425-bed residence hall that is 167,000 gross sq. ft. in size features:
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Fifty-five single resident rooms, five single house fellow rooms and 36 double rooms
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Student rooms are grouped in clusters, with groups of four or five students sharing a bathroom
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Academic support space
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Computer support centers
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Social and program space on each floor
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Deli-style café
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Kitchen on every floor
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Music room
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General auditorium space on the first floor
Project Challenges
From a location perspective the site was an excellent choice; however, it did have its challenges. All projects were constructed within limited confines and amid fully operational facilities. Campus traffic re-routing and special procedures for decreasing noise and interruption were necessary.
Several problems occurred with the site soils. The residence hall is located over a former salvage yard and gas station with petroleum contamination, which required special identification and handling during removal. Soils from two to seven feet contained organic materials that required removal due to low bearing capacity. As a result, many of the footings had to be dropped to a lower elevation in order to obtain suitable soil bearing capacity. This required daily coordination between contractors, engineers and testing agencies.
In the original design, the residence hall had a basement for mechanical equipment and storage. Due to the high water table elevation on site, such a basement would require a costly ballasted and "bathtub" style foundation. To avoid the cost impact and avoid damage to surrounding buildings (due to dewatering around the foundation) the building was redesigned with a penthouse for all the mechanical equipment.
The office/ramp site was the pathway through the area for Madison Gas & Electric's power feeds to portions of the city, and the City of Madison had a six feet high by twelve feet wide storm sewer box running through the site. Both utilities had to be redesigned and moved from the building site of the office/ramp foundations prior to groundbreaking.