Real estate developer Panattoni Development Company is making history with the second phase of its North Valleys Commerce Center project in Reno, Nev.
The 1.36-million-square-feet project is the state’s largest speculative industrial project ever undertaken at one time. Panattoni plans to construct five buildings within 18 to 22 months in order to capitalize on the region’s low vacancy rate in Class A industrial space.
Panattoni has already completed four new buildings totaling 2.28 million square feet for Phase 1 of North Valleys Commerce Center, and recently broke ground on the first building in the second phase of the project. The 313,000-square-foot building should be finished in about six months, says Brett Olson, senior project manager for Alston Construction, Panattoni’s construction partner.
To pull off a project of this magnitude in such a short time frame requires extensive planning, especially during concrete placement for flatwork and tilt-up walls. The entire project requires more than 65,000 cubic yards of concrete—enough to fill more than a 50-foot deep football field.
It’s no small task to get that much concrete on site during pour days, Olson says. “It can take between 25 to 30 trucks, which pretty much brings to a halt all concrete activity throughout the area,” he adds.
Bonanno Concrete will perform all concrete work for the building pads and tilt-up walls. Alston will use Harris Salinas Rebar of Livermore and local suppliers for the required rebar.
Preparing the site for construction is equally challenging. The land on the south side of the jobsite slopes 80 feet from front to back, Olson says. Sierra Nevada Construction will move more than 650,000 cubic yards of dirt to cut and fill the site during mass grading. That’s enough dirt to fill that same 50-foot deep football field 10 times.
Additionally, more than 36,000 tons of rip-rap will be used to secure slopes, as well as for storm drain retention and detention ponds, and more than 40,000 linear feet (7.57 miles) of water, sewer and storm drain pipe will be installed.
“This is definitely one of the larger projects in my career and for Alston in Reno,” Olson says. “Due to the quantity of buildings and the overall time frame that we have to complete it, along with the overall demand of manpower required to finish the project, the scope far exceeds anything in my career for a single project.”
