McCarthy Building Companies Reaches Construction Midpoint

FOUNTAIN VALLEY, Calif. — McCarthy Building Companies, Inc., a Southern California parking structure builder, has reached the halfway mark in the construction of a new $15.9-million design-build parking structure for Hyundai Motor America, Inc.   Located adjacent to the San Diego Freeway in Fountain Valley, Calif., the project is being built approximately 100 yards from Hyundai Motor America's new $150-million North American Corporate Campus, which is also currently under construction.

“Considering the limited site availability and the desired efficiency in land use and operations, the new parking structure is being built to serve our new North American Corporate Campus, which will house key operations that require a large amount of personnel and its inherent amenities for Hyundai Motor's operations within the U.S.,” said Harry Kim, senior manager for Hyundai AMCO America, Inc. “Our project required a strong parking structure team, allowing us to concentrate on construction of our new office building.   McCarthy's design-build expertise, ability to self-perform the concrete work and commitment in meeting the fast-track schedule has been instrumental in meeting this need.”

The 502,589-square-foot project includes construction of a five-level parking structure with 1,533 car spaces, three bays and a ground level car wash. Designed by International Parking Design with aesthetic input from Gensler & Associates, the structure will boast a modern façade with painted cast-in-place concrete elements and decorative reveals set into the concrete exterior. Two free-standing elevator and stair towers feature decorative metal panel walls with ornamental metal panel canopies, as well as full-height glass curtain walls and glass-backed observation elevator cabs.

Jerod Plante, McCarthy’s project manager, says working on a shared jobsite with another general contractor requires careful collaboration and planning.

“McCarthy has spent a lot of time pre-planning work activities and coordinating with the various entities to help ensure the success of both projects,” says Plante.

Besides a compact, shared site, McCarthy is working on a fast-track construction schedule aimed at completing the structure by summer. To expedite the schedule, McCarthy is self-performing the concrete and has instituted an aggressive deck pour cycle.

“In order to meet the tight schedule, we are conducting a three-day deck cycle,” says Plante, adding that each of the 24 decks to be poured will contain approximately 400 cubic yards of concrete.

Another large concrete element on the project is its extra thick, post-tensioned slab-on-grade, which Plante says posed an interesting challenge during the forming process.

“A typical parking structure requires mild reinforcing and a 5-inch slab,” explained Plante. “Because of unstable, existing soil conditions, we are pouring a 9-inch slab with post-tensioned cables.” He says post-tensioned cables allow for greater spans and reinforcing without intermediate supports.  

“In this instance, the slab-on-grade almost acts like a supported slab above.   It is self-supported, or in another words it doesn"t rely upon the soils beneath it for support,” says Plante. “Typically, post-tensioned slab-on-grade is used for small areas such as driveways or tennis courts.”

For underground stability to the tower, McCarthy installed more than 400 precast foundation piles drilled to depths of 70 feet.

The parking structure, which began construction in September 2012, is scheduled for completion this August. When finished, McCarthy will have self-performed more than 45,000 man hours in work (not including supervision or subcontractor hours), while placing approximately 20,000 cubic yards of concrete.