DPR adds Bay Street to its list of high profile projects transforming the city of Emeryville, CA from a warehouse and heavy industry hub into a high tech and retail center.

Located across the Bay from San Francisco, Emeryville, once a thriving industrial center for steel mills, transformer plants and soap factories, is undergoing a makeover into a home for high-tech companies, retail centers and renovated warehouse space. As the builder of the 274,000-sq.-ft. retail store and four-level parking garage for IKEA and the 210,000-sq.-ft. corporate headquarters for Pixar animation studios, DPR is playing a central role in the reshaping of the city. Bay Street, a 1.25 million-sq.-ft. multi-use retail, theater and residential complex, is the most recent in DPR’s string of signature Emeryville projects.

Landmark Project

The 22-acre, fast-track development for owner Madison Marquette consists of five distinct structures, the first of which is divided into three separate sections - a 16-screen cinema with three levels of parking underneath, a five-level parking garage, and a two-story structural steel retail building that fronts both structures.

Construction on the theater parking structure began first in May 2001, along with the more than 3,800 piles that will serve as the foundation system for all but one of the buildings in the complex, a single-story, retail structure with a mat slab foundation. The remaining three buildings include two, two-story post-tension concrete buildings, with two levels of residential units on top, and a three-story post tension concrete building with four floors of residential units. Once completed, the complex will include space for approximately 65 retail stores, several restaurants and 380 residential units.

Designed by Wichita, KS-based David L. Hoffman, FAIA, Architect and Southern California’s Jerde Partnership, the layout of the Bay Street complex harkens back to early 20th century design with its traditional “Main Street” concept connecting three city blocks with plazas and walkways and stores topped with residences. In breaking away from the traditional mall configuration, the development provides a more urban atmosphere for shoppers and residents.

“This is a very complex project,” said David Hoffman who is the architect of record on the project. “We are essentially building one project on top of another. This has increased the number of parties involved and the level of coordination that must take place.”

Discovery

Just a few weeks into construction, the DPR team discovered a collection of American Indian artifacts on the site causing excavation to pause while appropriate removal of the artifacts took place. Taking into consideration the complex history of the site dating back nearly 2500 years, a comprehensive plan was put into place prior to the commencement of construction to effectively deal with such issues. The plan requires that with every groundbreaking, a representative from the American Indian community and a trained archeologist be on site to investigate any artifacts that may be found. When the discovery threatened to put the project behind schedule, DPR effectively coordinated with the archeological and American Indian monitors on site to keep the project moving.

“The discovery of historic artifacts, along with some unexpected soil conditions, cost us almost a month, and we immediately began to brainstorm alternatives to make up time,” said DPR Project Manager Peter Allen. “Our schedule was already tight, but we’re used to working aggressively and have come up with a couple of different options to gain some time through the course of the 18-month project.” For example, by erecting the steel frame of the theater in two phases and beginning framing on the retail structures earlier, DPR is planning to push the schedule back on track.

4D Modeling

DPR also squeezed additional time out of the schedule through its use of 4D modeling, a technology that incorporates the dimension of time into object-oriented drawings and allows the construction team to build “virtually” in a time- progression series. The technology, which enabled the Bay Street team to visualize the construction sequencing and, therefore, determine areas where time could be saved, also proved critical in communicating with the city and area businesses.

Largely inaccessible, the construction site is bound on three sides by a railroad and adjacent buildings. However, the project schedule required that construction begin along the only open side. DPR used 4D modeling to explain the challenges this would pose to building out the site, and the owner was then able to take that model and use it to negotiate greater site access with the city and neighboring businesses.

Despite a near record amount of rain in December 2001, a multitude of construction workers, designers, engineers and consultants are keeping the project on track. “Right now, we are all working toward an October 2002 completion of the retail portion of the project,” said Hoffman. “Once we get there, everyone will be able to put a feather in their cap and say ‘We did it.’”