CONROE, Ala. ­— Grand Central Park has announced the addition of Sam Houston State University’s (SHSU) proposed College of Osteopathic Medicine, a major step in fulfilling the master-planned community’s goal of bringing a higher education component to the City of Conroe.

Situated on a 7.3-acre property on I-45 just south of South Loop 336, the college will feature a five-story, 216,000 square foot building. Phase one of the building will be 108,000 square feet with surface parking. A future phase two expansion will add another 108,000 square feet. Surface parking will then be decreased with the addition of a parking garage.

Construction of the building is scheduled to start by the end of 2018 with substantial completion by December 2019.

“An academic setting has always been a part of our long-range plan,” said Shannon League, director of marketing for Grand Central Park. “We’re delighted to serve as the home of Montgomery County’s newest medical school.”

Page, a 500-plus person multidisciplinary architecture and engineering firm with offices in the U.S. and abroad, was awarded the prime architectural and engineering contract in June of 2018 and is working in association with The SLAM Collaborative, a nationally recognized medical school planning and architecture firm.

Page will provide pre-planning and development of project-specific design criteria to support SHSU’s decision-making process to confirm site restrictions and development options. Then, working with the construction manager-at-risk, Vaughn Construction, Page will develop contract documents for construction.

The 107,000-square-foot facility will be constructed less than fifty miles from the SHSU main campus in Hunstville. Instructional spaces intended to support students’ first two years of pre-clinical instruction, research, academic programs, and student life include a teaching theater, a large active learning classroom, case-based learning team rooms, a gross anatomy lab, skills lab, and standardized patient and simulation suites.

In August, the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board (THECB) approved SHSU’s doctorate in osteopathic medicine, bringing the university one step closer to helping millions living in rural and underserved areas of East Texas.

“After approximately four years of researching, analyzing and planning, this endorsement represents a major leap forward in helping to train doctors who will predominately practice in rural, underserved areas,” said SHSU President Dana Hoyt. “Sam Houston is one of the best-suited universities to address our state’s rural healthcare crisis.”

Unlike other medical schools in the state, SHSU’s proposal requires no new state funding and will bring approximately $68 to $93 million annually in new federal funds to Texas. The proposed College of Osteopathic Medicine will collaborate with hospitals in rural East Texas counties to establish residency-training programs that will benefit the people living in those areas. To date, the proposed college has confirmed 20 affiliation agreements with 26 hospitals.

According to the site visit team, comprised of esteemed medical education professionals, who reviewed the proposal, “The proposed school has the potential to set new standards for addressing health care shortages among a patient population that is both rural and underserved and to define through research the relation of social determinants of health to optimal delivery systems.”

“I am humbled at the outpouring of support received from numerous state legislators, community leaders, medical associations, healthcare providers and thousands of Texans. Their confidence in our ability to deliver on our mission is inspiring,” said Hoyt.

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“We are thrilled to be moving forward with the new Miwok Aquatic and Fitness Center on our Indian Valley Campus,” said Isidro Farias, director of capital projects at COM.

A design-build project by long-time partners Blach and ELS Architecture and Urban Design, the state-of-the-art building will house a fitness center including cardio equipment, weights and group fitness spaces. Locker rooms, classrooms, offices, a lobby and storage space will surround the Miwok Center. Adjacent, outdoor Olympic-size and lap pools will serve COM as well as the aquatic needs of the community for swim classes, team meets, recreation and youth camps. Using Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) standards, the project has the potential to earn zero net energy (ZNE) consumption. Construction of the Miwok Center is anticipated to complete by summer 2020.

“We are happy to partner with our friends at ELS to bring College of Marin a facility that will meet so many needs in one space. From enhancing the school’s overall educational and wellness offerings to bringing high-caliber fitness and recreation options to the community, we look forward to the next exciting phase of building the Miwok Aquatic and Fitness Center,” said Kim Scott, vice president of Blach Construction.

Established in 1926, College of Marin has campuses in Kentfield and Novato, offering students of all ages affordable access to a variety of credit and noncredit courses as well as community education classes for lifelong learning. Founded in 1970, Blach Construction builds structures throughout the Greater Bay Area and Central Coast, including a broad cross-section of corporate, mixed-use, educational and institutional building types. Blach Construction is headquartered in San Jose, Calif. and operates a branch office in Monterey, Calif.

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COSTA MESA, Calif. ­— Orange Coast College (OCC) is making waves with a new Kinesiology and Athletic facility set to be complete in June 2020.

According to Coast Report Online, Little, an international architectural and design firm, is working with college officials to build a $32 million facility that houses one competition-sized pool, another pool for physical education, and several coaches offices.

“It’s a brand new, ground up construction,” said Rita Carter, higher education studio principal at Little. “Right now we’re in the bidding phase. Bids are supposed to close in a couple weeks. We’re supposed to have our shovels in the ground in December.”

The project is reportedly a collaborative effort between OCC’s Kinesiology and Athletics division and the Little project team. During the early planning stages, the division’s goals were defined through visionary and programming exercises. These identified goals served as guidelines for Little’s project team by tackling both design and budgetary challenges throughout the project’s phases in a swift and efficient manner.

Kinesiology, also known as the subject of bodily movement, was the main theme during the design of the facility. According to Carter, the Little team worked to maintain the concept of movement throughout the facility — from the entrance to the windows to the bleachers. Movement is reflected in the architectural elements that flow from the Northern welcoming wing of division offices and athletic training to the southern end facilitating the aquatic portion of the complex.

“As the sun moves across the sky there’s a concept of movement of the shadows coming across the building and swooping over the bleachers,” said Carter.

The facility in total reportedly consists of a site of approximately 113,00 square feet, with 37,650 ground square feet of conditioned program, a 9,250 ground-square-foot shade canopy, a 65-meter competition pool and a 25-yard instructional pool.

Carter said that school officials had a distinct vision for the facility, wanting it to become an iconic building at the front of their campus.

“At Little our philosophy when we approach design, is that we really go with what the client wants,” remarked Carter.

Carter said that one of the challenges during the planning process has been holding tight to the vision for the facility amid a tough bid climate deeply impacted by steel tariffs.

“Bids are coming in higher,” said Carter. “Everyone’s holding their breath, but this is a collective shared concern by folks in our industry right now.”

Even with the challenges currently facing the industry, Carter and her team worked to ensure the school’s vision to have an iconic building for students, staff, and the surrounding community was met, including it possibly being a destination for those who wish to train for the Olympics in 2028.

According to Coast Report Online, the center is expected to be fully functional by early 2021 and will be moved from its current location near the school’s gym to the west side of the LeBard Stadium, next to the Adams Avenue Parking Lot.

The project has reportedly been in the works since 2012 and comes as a result of Measure M, which has helped provide the school with additional funding for new construction projects.

A report from the Coast Report Online contributed to this story.

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