KAISER ANAHEIM PARKING STRUCTURE

Reno Contracting started construction on the Kaiser Permanente Anaheim Medical Center Parking Structure on July 24th, located at 3416 East La Palma Avenue in the northern portion of Anaheim known as "The Canyon". This project marks a new relationship between Reno Contracting and Kaiser Permanente, the nation’s largest nonprofit health plan, which serves more than 8.2 million members throughout the nation.

Reno Senior Project Manager Kevin Horst, sees the project as an important opportunity to establish a long-term working relationship with Kaiser Permanente, as well as build on Reno’s reputation in Orange County. Horst notes, "Reno Contracting is very excited about building this project, to have an opportunity to get "Kaiser-ized", and to see the relationship between Reno and Kaiser thrive. We look forward to doing more work with this great organization in the future."

The seven (7) level cast-in-place, post-tensioned parking structure will contain 1,566 parking stalls within 493,000 square feet, and the layout will be an open structure with natural ventilation. This will be utilized by Kaiser Permanente members, patients, employees, physicians and visitors. The structure has an aggressive eleven (11) month schedule with a completion date of July 18, 2010.

Pending final LEED® credit interpretation by the USGBC, the team may be able to exceed the originally planned “Certified” rating and actually achieve a "Silver" level certification, due to the focus on site sustainability, recycled materials, energy performance, and environmental quality. The following are the specific design criteria and construction methods used to achieve this rating:

• Recycled Material: Many of the construction materials used to build the concrete structure will be produced using recycled content. By specifying required levels of post-consumer content in rebar, miscellaneous steel, and concrete, the team is anticipating that over 20% of the materials used on the parking structure will come from recycled products.
• Site Selection: The site on which the parking structure sits has many characteristics that lend sustainable attributes to the building itself. This project is actually being built on a reclaimed Brownfield, which is defined as a previously contaminated site. Before construction began on site, Kaiser Permanente went through an in depth remediation process, so that the project could sit on a clean piece of land which would no longer be a source of pollution in the neighborhood.
• Community Connectivity: The project site is located very near basic services and residential areas. Grocery stores, restaurants, banks, cleaners, and housing complexes are located within walking distance from the site eliminating unnecessary car trips to and from the site.
• Stormwater Control: The stormwater system for the parking structure has been designed so that untreated rain run-off cannot leave the site. This keeps pollutants, which could otherwise be washed down the storm drains, from entering the local watershed.
• Water Use: This project is slated to receive reclaimed water service from the City of Anaheim. This means that all of the irrigation water needed for the site plantings will use no potable water, which relieves strain on an already limited utility.
• Indoor Air Quality: Although most of the parking structure is open to natural ventilation, there is an indoor security office area that will not be open to elements. To make sure that the air quality in the office area is of the highest quality, the following measures will be taken.
• Volatile Organic Compounds (VOC’s): VOC’s have a negative impact on air quality and are often contained in adhesives, paint, and composite woodwork. In order to combat this, all of the materials specified for the indoor areas contain very low levels of VOC’s.
• Pollutant Source Control: All of the filters used on the HVAC equipment serving the indoor area are extremely absorbent so that pollutants in the outside air are kept from entering the space.
• Electrical Efficiency: Through the use of low energy consuming fluorescent light fixtures, the parking structure will be able to achieve an even higher level of energy efficiency than set forth by the already stringent Title 24 requirements. The amount of energy consumed by the parking structure may be even further offset by a series of power-generating photovoltaic arrays that, pending final approval, would sit on the roof level deck of the project.

To support the sustainable initiatives set by Kaiser, Reno constructed a LEED® Trailer that is occupied by on-site personnel during the parking structure’s construction. Seeking LEED® Certification itself, the trailer is made of recyclable and reclaimed materials, and will be used for future Reno projects.

The Anaheim Medical Center Parking Structure is part of Kaiser's 27-acre master-planned project which has a campus-like setting focused on health care services in Anaheim and Orange County. Along with the parking structure, it will include a hospital, a medical office building (MOB), and a central utility plant. Hensel-Phelps is the general contractor for the hospital and central utilities plant, while PCL is finishing up the MOB.

Reno Contracting would like to congratulate Kaiser Permanente on the recent acquisition of one of the Terraces at Copley Point office buildings in San Diego. Reno completed the Terraces’ campus in November 2008, and both office buildings recently became LEED® Certified Silver for Core and Shell. The campus encompasses two steel-framed 6-story office buildings totaling 175,000-sf and 205,000-sf respectively, while an adjacent 3-story, concrete, open-air parking structure accommodates 1,052 cars. The parking structure was honored with the "2009 Parking Structure Award" from the American Concrete Institute.

Reno Contracting and Kaiser Permanente are extremely excited about the progress of the new LEED® parking structure and hope that it sets a high standard of sustainable construction for the Kaiser Anaheim facility and many more projects like it in the future. Reno Contracting has also recently been awarded a second contract with Kaiser Permanente for replacement of handicap parking at their Brea facilities which is schedule to begin in October.