As forces to be reckoned with in the Southland Conference, the Texas State University Bobcats softball and baseball teams needed a facility that would support their upward trajectory. The baseball complex and neighboring softball facilities at the San Marcos campus needed to be upgraded, refurbished and expanded. The project began with demolishing the existing structures and ended with two complete complexes — playing fields, batting cages, dugouts, press boxes, amenities buildings, restrooms, luxury box seats and new cantilevered roofs. The complexes share some facilities — a ticket services center with a team merchandise sales area, a new maintenance building, a picnic area, bus stop and parking, including ADA accessible spaces. The $8.3 million project began in September 2008 and was completed on March 2, 2009.
The Texas State University System used a two-step RFQ/RFP process beginning in March 2008. The initial qualifications included previous team experience on design-build projects and with the TSU system, the ability to stick to budget and schedule as well as the ability to solve problems. The TSU selection committee short-listed three teams.
At the second stage, the committee required detailed descriptions of the team’s preconstruction and construction phase services, past performance history, cost control measures, safety management program, proposed fees and general conditions and the team’s solutions to the project’s challenges. The RFP included questions that required detailed answers demonstrating the teams’ ability to deliver the project successfully. Past performance and examples of the teams’ experience working together were a consideration as well. The selection committee ranked the competing teams and determined the best value design-build team.
Having recently completed a similar project, the renovation of the Disch-Falk Field baseball stadium at the University of Texas Austin, the winning team, led by Flintco Inc., had a very real advantage. That project had been called “college baseball’s finest stadium” and won Texas Construction Magazine’s Best of 2007 Award for Construction Excellence and the Associated Builders and Contractors Central Texas Chapter’s Excellence in Construction Award. In addition, the team had past experience in athletic facilities for higher education nationwide.
The contract
The contract was a GMP with fixed fee and general conditions. Savings reverted to the owner. As is standard for a Texas State University System design-build contract, it covered preconstruction and construction phase services, all design services, materials, equipment, tools and labor. Flintco served as the single point of responsibility to the owner and assumed responsibility for the risks. The owner did not provide any specific incentives, other than the prestige of the project.
Challenges and innovation
The site presented a number of challenges, which gave the design-build team opportunities for innovative solutions.
For one, the existing soil on the site had an extremely high plasticity index; to counter this, the company excavated eight feet below grade and backfilled to create a solid base for the buildings. Excavation uncovered a number of existing utilities, some of which were not shown on the plans. The owner had to be notified of all utilities and drain lines, as site drainage had to be added to maintain the existing drainage plan. Drilling the piers supporting the buildings in the complex proved more problematic than usual. The project required 114 piers set from 35 to 40 feet deep. However, the water table was 12 feet deep, which meant that every pier had to be cased to eliminate water infiltration. Flintco dealt with this by having the concrete subcontractor keep four or five drilling rigs on site during the pier drilling operation.
As might be expected with a renovation project, there were challenges in upgrading the electrical systems as well. During the construction process, TSU elected to upgrade the lighting systems on both fields. Although the plans originally called for reusing the existing lighting poles, those poles did not meet NCAA standards for hosting regional games. Larger light poles at the baseball field and completely new light poles at the softball field were necessary.
Thirty-four days prior to the project completion date, the owner requested the addition of a fire alarm system. In response, Flintco solicited bids from several subcontractors and submitted the responses to the owner, who selected the best value system. Once this was done, Flintco installed over 1,000 feet of buried conduit to reach each of the alarm installation systems.
Coordination was required on the plumbing of the amenities building and bathroom facilities. Constructed of concrete masonry units (CMU) block, the buildings could not be altered once the rough was installed. The plumbing installer pre-fabricated the plumbing lines to ensure the proper heights and spaces. This saved time and money. The mason laid the CMU to the required height, then the plumber installed the pre-fabricated piping. Usually, the mason could continue laying the block the same day.
Perhaps the biggest challenge was the timetable — the new complex had to be ready for the first scheduled home games. Not only was the completion date fixed, but the fields and batting cages had to be available through the end of fall practice in late November and beginning at the start of spring practice in January. Flintco made sure that the teams had access to their playing fields for practice and built temporary batting cages, since the schedule did not permit demolishing and rebuilding the existing ones.
To maintain the tight schedule and insure quality, work went on seven days a week. The project team met daily to review all aspects of the project’s progress and plan the next day’s work. University officials, representing the owner, were actively involved in all decisions and a representative was on-site throughout to resolve any issues that came up.
Home plate
The project was completed on time and on budget. The owner, Texas State University — San Marcos, was pleased. The ornamental masonry and fences around the complex made such a positive impact that the university is considering making them the standard for future facilities on the campus. Even the students were impressed by the new complex — in a blog post by Lisa Carter, the sports editor for the University Star titled “Five Reasons to Attend Texas State Baseball Games,” number three is “The new Bobcat Baseball Complex.” And number 4 is, “It’s the best atmosphere in which to spend aftenoons/evenings,” with the complex itself credited for making the experience pleasant.
Approval of the project was endorsed by the judges of the 2009 National Design-Build Awards Competition — it won a Design-Build Excellence Award in the Rehabilitation/Renovation/Restoration category.
Todd Rich is DBIA’s manager of web and graphic systems.