A SAFE BET
MGM Resorts puts its money on the design-build team of Bomel Construction and International Parking Design for lightning-fast delivery of eight-level parking structure with an employee-only express ramp
September 12, 2016––In ice hockey, a breakaway goal is scored after an offensive player has separated himself from the defense with only the goalie between himself and the net. The successful shot is often preceded by fast skating skills, making this high-octane play one of the most exciting in the sport.
Thoroughly understanding the irreplaceable value of speed, the construction management staff at MGM Resorts International has selected a design-build team led by Bomel Construction and International Parking Design to erect a 3,200-stall parking structure adjacent to MGM’s new T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
“Calling it “an extremely aggressive schedule,” Robert Babcock, Bomel’s Las Vegas-based project manager, said the eight-level parking structure will be completed near the end of March.
Don Marks, president of International Parking Design, believes the new parking structure is a landmark project. “It’s one of the most aggressive schedules we’ve seen in terms of production of documents, submission and construction. From the onset, it has been an extremely fast-paced project.”
High-profile neighbors
The project site is surrounded by several landmark hotels and casinos, including New York, New York, Excalibur and MGM Grand, all properties owned by MGM Resorts International. The $375-million T-Mobile Arena, which opened in April and is bidding to host a National Hockey League team as a tenant, will benefit from the additional parking spaces the new structure will produce. MGM and Anschutz Entertainment Group jointly own T-Mobile Arena.
Most general contractors in the West could not complete a project of this magnitude in such a short time frame because they do not posses the same amount of concrete formwork equipment as Bomel Construction. The 46-year-old, family owned company has erected large, multi-level parking structures up and down the Las Vegas Strip, as well as at the city’s McCarran International Airport.
“Normally, we would work on a two-day-deck cycle when overtime was included,” Babcock explained. “But this project is on a three-day deck crew, allowing our two crews to finish in eight months.”
Babcock said jobsite crowding should not be a major issue since the new garage’s expansion joints essentially break it into two side-by-side parking structures.
Dedicated access for employees
A significant challenge for this project was designing a large garage with circulation methods that completely separate employee vehicles from those used by guests and visitors.
“Employee cars will never mix with the public’s cars,” Marks explained. “The employees will have their own dedicated ramp, entrance and exit. The ramp takes them directly to upper levels.”
The unusual requirements added another layer of complexity to the design process. Moreover, explaining to the owner’s construction management team how the stacked-ramp system would function required three-dimensional creativity.
“We built a physical model of the ramping system,” Marks added. “We set it up on a table and ran our fingers up the ramp to show where the vehicles were going, how they would circulate and how we could separate them. After that, we were able to finalize the design.
“Clients often ask us to mix different uses; they want to cordon off areas. But this was a pretty substantial parking field that they wanted dedicated to employees. A lot of times, we don’t see a complete separation.”
The project, which currently is Bomel’s largest in Las Vegas, has passed a number of milestones. Bomel completed the demolition of a surface parking lot and horse stable complex in April. The first two slab-on-grade pours of the parking structure were completed in July. Deck pouring began in August, with eight deck pours scheduled for each level. About 38,000 cubic yards of concrete will be used to complete the entire project.
“We will have two separate crews with three sets of formwork each,” said Babcock, who has been with Bomel for 16 years. “Each set of formwork will pour every three days. We will pour up to three or four times in certain weeks.”
To beat the scorching heat, Babcock said Bomel crews get started around 1 in the morning. “We’re typically done by 6 in the morning,” he added.
Bomel’s construction crews are managed by superintendents Mike Hill, Hollis Emery and Greg Wilson and formwork superintendents Andre Walters and Clint Curtis. The five crafty leaders, who are on the job site every day, when summer temperatures routinely exceeded 105 degrees, have a combined 104 years of experience with Bomel Construction. Moreover, they have a whopping 195 years of overall construction experience when you add Babcock’s 22 years in the business.
Crafty collaboration
Pat Askins, a senior associate with International Parking Design, has been working with Bomel since he joined the architecture firm 12 years ago.
“It’s going great. They have their A team out there,” said Askins, when asked to comment about what it is like to work with Bomel on a super speedy design-build project like the MGM-owned parking structure. “As a design-build team, we work well together to figure out how to provide a quality product for the client, and the guys at Bomel are always on top of that. It’s one of the fastest ones we’ve done together; we had to turn it up a notch.”
Babcock called out ThyssenKrupp, the elevator subcontractor, and G&G Systems, the electrical design-build subcontractor, as going “beyond the call of duty” to keep the project on schedule.
The parking structure’s three entrances and exists will be accessible from Frank Sinatra Drive and two interior service roads. Bomel is installing traffic pay stations and gates for the entrances and exits.
When it is completed, this will be the second parking structure that Bomel has built for MGM Resorts International.
The new fast-track project under construction is a prime example of how Bomel Construction and International Parking Design will successfully combine speed, cost and accessibility to safely complete a complex project on time or ahead of schedule.
Yes, you can bet on it.
About Bomel Construction Co.: Established in 1970, Anaheim Hills, Calif.-based Bomel Construction is widely regarded as the dean of parking structure construction in the West. The family-owned business generated $135 million in total revenue in 2014. Its other current high-profile projects include Del Amo Fashion Center (1,950 stalls), Cal Poly Pomona (1,800) and Plaza San Clemente (1,167), with several additional parking structures set to begin construction this year. Bomel Construction, a design-build concrete contractor, has completed major parking structures for developers and owners of many of the largest shopping malls, casinos, stadiums, high-rise office buildings, colleges and universities throughout the West. Bomel has regional offices in Carlsbad, Calif., and Las Vegas.
For more information, please contact Paul Napolitano at 626-852-9959 or paul@napolitanocommunications.com.
