Project Milestone

Stellar Aviation’s campus vision is becoming a reality at Reno-Tahoe International Airport. We’re thrilled to share the latest video footage from our Stellar Aviation project at the Reno-Tahoe International Airport! The first phase includes a 5,000-square-foot stand-alone FBO terminal building and 30,000-square-foot Hangar with a 5,000-square-foot attached office is reaching its final stages, with an anticipated completion date set for February 2024. Paving at the site was completed the first week of November, and interior finishes and final site and landscaping work are underway. United Construction is fortunate to have partnered with Stellar Aviation since 2019 to help Stellar Aviation deliver the initial phase of their campus commitment at Reno-Tahoe International Airport on a design-build basis. Our thanks go out to Stellar Aviation, Reno Tahoe Airport Authority, the United project team, and the subcontractors helping deliver this important and highly visible build.

View the project video here – https://vimeo.com/885802781?share=copy

Big day at Stellar Aviation as we set the main truss across the front of the hangar today. This truss measures 250’ long by 9’ tall weighing in at 95,000 lbs with rigging. Due to the length of the truss this had to be set using two cranes qualifying this as a critical pick. Everything went smoothly during the erection and fit-up, we spent a great deal of time planning every step of the process which led to the success of this critical pick.  The next few days we will have a crane onsite setting the balance of the smaller roof trusses that make up the balance of the roof structure.

 

Thank you to The Metal Company, Elite Safety, Freedom Crane, Harlee, Dylan and the rest of the United Team who took part in the planning of today’s lift.

Congratulations to CAE on the official opening of your aviation training center in Las Vegas! The 150,000-square-foot facility is the first CAE training center to open on the West Coast and currently houses seven flight simulators, with plans for one more simulator to be installed in the future. This facility is expected to train over 2,500 pilots annually and has created 75 highly skilled jobs in the region. We were honored to be on CAE’s team for this project and excited to attend the ribbon-cutting celebration for the opening of this world-class facility here in Nevada!

On 3/6/23 United Construction obtained the Certificate of Occupancy for the Hamilton Company Clean Room Project located on Edison Way. The Hamilton Company Clean Room Project consisted of a 3-story, 64,916 square-foot concrete tilt-up and steel framed structure with a state-of-the-art clean room located on the first floor. The building will include injection molding machines and packaging automation for medical-grade pipette tips. The capital investment for the building and equipment signifies Hamilton Company’s continued and significant investment in northern Nevada.

The Hamilton Company Clean Room Project was managed by a fantastic team of United Construction professionals that delivered the project under budget and on schedule. Construction of the project was led by Superintendent Nick Crawford and Assistant Superintendent Justin Brunner, Project Manager Robert Felstead, Project Engineer Harlee Annis, Project Administrator Yajaira Medina, Accounts Payable Ariel Mooney, and Preconstruction Project Manager Zach Caron. The Hamilton Company project representative was Brian Slenker who helped lead the project to a successful delivery.

Nick Crawford discloses “This project started with the razing of two older buildings at the site, then the construction of a new 3-story building on a tight land-locked site with an existing drainage channel running beneath it. There were numerous logistical challenges on this site, including lifting 90-ton concrete wall panels with a 330-ton crane on a very tight site, none of which would have been made possible without the great work of our United Construction Team and our local engineers, designers, and subcontractors”.

Michael Russell United Construction CEO adds “Congratulations to our team for obtaining the Certificate of Occupancy for the Hamilton Company Clean Room project! The new 3-story high-tech facility will support and enhance Hamilton’s development, manufacturing, and customization of precision measurement devices, automated liquid handling workstations, and sample management systems business. We are honored and proud to have been selected by Hamilton Company for this important design-build commission, and to deliver this project with Hamilton Company as our third major project working together, previously completing several other site improvements, building, and tenant improvement projects on Hamilton’s campus over the last 10 years. Thank you Hamilton Company for selecting United Construction for this amazing project, and the United Construction project team for achieving this huge project milestone.”

Stellar Aviation held a groundbreaking ceremony to celebrate the start of construction of our Stellar Aviation project located at the Reno-Tahoe International Airport! We are excited about this new facility which will help serve the demand for air travel as the Reno area continues to grow. The first phase of the project consists of a 5,000-square-foot stand-alone FBO terminal building and 30,000-square-foot Hangar 1, with a 5,000-square-foot attached office. The FBO building will serve as a terminal for private aircraft as well as JSX hop-on jet services. The FBO building includes a reception with open seating, a refreshments area, a canteen, a pilots lounge, flight planning, line services, catering, a rent-a-car counter, a conference room, and a staff lounge. The 28’ clear-height Hangar 1 building will have infrared heating, LED high bay lighting, aircraft ground power units, eight 500-square-foot offices, a breakroom, and restrooms. Construction is scheduled to start next month and is anticipated to be completed by the end of the year.

Washoe County School District hosted a ribbon-cutting celebration for the renovation and expansion of Swope Middle School! After the ceremony, friends, family, and members of the community were able to tour the school to get an inside look at all of the upgrades. The 3-phase project includes a new gym and basketball courts, a new 38,000 square-foot two-story classroom building, a new multipurpose room, a 5,300 square-foot media center, a new kitchen, outdoor courtyards, and renovations to the older section of the building including an updated HVAC system. Congratulations to the project team for all your hard work! Many students will enjoy these upgrades for years to come.

Congratulations to the team for being granted a Temporary Certificate of Occupancy (TCO) for our Swope Middle School project! To celebrate this achievement our entire site crew including subcontractors, as well as Swope Middle School teachers, enjoyed a delicious lunch from Butcher’s Kitchen Char-B-Que. Two lucky crew members on our subcontracting team scored some YETI swag in a raffle as a special thanks for all of their hard work on this project.

Students will be welcomed back on Monday for their first day of school! The 3-phase project included a new gym and basketball courts, a new two-story classroom building, a new kitchen, and renovations to the older section of the building including an updated HVAC system. A new multipurpose room, administrative offices, nurses clinic, and courtyard are currently under construction and will be turned over to WCSD in phases by the end of this year.

The month of May marked an especially productive timeframe for the construction team at Swope Middle School. Site crews have reached completion or near completion on several aspects of both the interior and exterior of the new two-story classroom building and the existing classroom building.

“We are proud of the immense progress our team has made thus far at Swope,” said Casey Gunther, Operations Manager for United Construction. “This work is a testament to the dedication of our subcontractors, partners, and Washoe County School District.”

The roof atop the new classroom building is finished, and the building is dried in as well. The mechanical, electrical, and plumbing rough-ins are also substantially complete. Thanks to the quick work of our site crews, almost all walls and soffits are completely covered with drywall. Our team is now in the process of taping and texturing the interior walls, which will be followed by paint. On the exterior of the building, the areas in the north courtyard have been excavated for the six above-ground planters that are planned to be built. After the footings for the planters are poured, the forms will be stripped, and the concrete masonry units (CMUs) will be installed.

On the northwest corner of the new gym, the pad for the new chiller unit has been prepped for the concrete slab to be formed and poured. Crews have been working on the HVAC system in the attics of the existing classroom building after school every day, installing new duct work and mechanical equipment.

Concurrent with the physical work on site, United Construction has been meeting with their key subcontractors to plan the sequencing of all work planned to be performed during summer break.

Photos by Ryland Sweigard

Aristocrat Gaming, a global gaming content and technology company, recently held a groundbreaking ceremony at our planned logistics park in Henderson, Nevada. The company will be a tenant in one of the buildings, where they will manufacture slot machines and other gaming equipment.

Southern Nevada dignitaries, United Construction and their subcontractors, and hundreds of Aristocrat employees attended the event, excited to mark the beginning of the construction progress for their brand new building.

KLAS Channel 8 in Las Vegas covered the groundbreaking. The video clip that aired on TV can be found here.

We thank our Superintendent Kerry Brock for the logistical and on-site help and our Senior Project Manager Dane Horton for the planning support behind-the-scenes!

Students and staff at Swope Middle School are anticipating the completion of their brand new classroom building, as the site crews make notable progress witnessed by the Swope community.

“We are approaching new milestones that will help prepare us to welcome students and staff into their revamped learning space upon project completion,” said Casey Gunther, Operations Manager for United Construction. “We appreciate everyone’s patience and enthusiasm as we shape up the expansions and renovations at the school.”

In the new two-story classroom area, the on-site construction team is in the process of installing the new roof. Upon roof completion, the building will be dried-in. Crews have “one-sided” the drywall in several sections on the first floor and will continue this work on the second floor after roofing work is complete. After the building is dried-in, the team will be able to use a crane to install the new mechanical equipment onto the roof towards the end of this month. Additionally, all the metal stud framing is complete. Crews will continue to work on the rough-in of the mechanical, electrical, and plumbing systems, and this process should be complete in the coming weeks.

Concurrent to the performance of the physical work on-site, United Construction is holding pre-installation meetings with key subcontractors to plan work on the existing classroom building. Their goal is to commence work that can be done before Washoe County School District releases for the summer, as well as the work that will need to be performed during summer break.

United Construction will continue to update neighbors with current construction information.

Photos by Ryland Sweigard