Manhattan Construction Completes Historic Church Building Project

DALLAS, Texas — Manhattan Construction has completed First Baptist Dallas’s landmark campus in downtown Dallas, Texas. The 500,000-square-foot facility includes a 3,000-seat worship center and sanctuary, with a 150-foot-wide viewing screen spanning two-thirds of the room and seven high-definition projectors making it one of the largest screens in any church in the world.

A glass sky bridge connects the worship center to the five-story Horner Family Center, featuring children’s and youth classrooms, a gymnasium, three age-appropriate indoor playgrounds and a seven-story parking garage. In addition, a high-impact cross-tower and fountain are surrounded by three-quarters of an acre of public community space.

The new $130-million campus is part of an extensive, ongoing revitalization of downtown Dallas that includes the recent opening of several multimillion-
dollar museums, theaters and parks. The facility is registered under the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design green-building certification program with the goal of LEED Silver.

“It has been our honor to serve as the builder for First Baptist Dallas. We believe the new campus is a reflection of the spirit and commitment First Baptist Dallas has for the downtown community and the city of Dallas,” said Bob Bowen, executive vice president, Manhattan Construction.

More than 1,500 workers and subcontractors served on the project, with as many as 500 people on site at any one time. Nearly 974,000 work hours were logged during construction.
In fact, from March 7 to Sept. 19, 2011, Manhattan Construction crews placed more than 16,000 cubic yards of concrete, then fabricated and erected more than 800 tons of steel in just 138 working days. The project has already received regional and national attention, wining multiple awards for its design and construction.

“We could not have asked for a better partner and builder than Manhattan Construction. Their team worked tirelessly to make our vision for First Baptist a reality and the leadership was with us every step of the way,” said Senior Pastor, Dr. Robert Jeffress.