Washington State’s Thriving Construction Market

The Conco Companies provide concrete services for the flourishing Seattle and Bellevue construction markets.  Some of these projects have included “green” sustainable features, mixed-used residential/retail construction, and unique architectural features.    

We have worked on several projects in the fast-growing Denny Triangle and South Lake Union areas in Seattle, WA.  If you are unfamiliar with the Denny Triangle area, it is the site of Amazon’s headquarters and where two new Amazon office towers were recently finished with another scheduled for completion by the end of the decade.  The company is also constructing three intersecting biospheres at the site that will offer 65,000 square feet of green space for employees to work and socialize in a natural park-like setting.  The largest of the spheres is 95-feet tall, which is about the height of an eight-story building and 130 feet in diameter.

One of the Denny Triangle projects we are involved with is the Kinects Tower.  It included constructing four levels of below grade and five levels of above grade parking for a total of 316 parking stalls.  We also did a 6,000 cubic yard concrete pour for the 145’x120’x9′ and just over 500,000 sq. ft. size PT slab that was reinforced with 850,000 lbs. of rebar. The 41-story tower is a unique, wedge-shaped building that gets progressively larger on each floor with an enclosed, four-season pool on the roof.  Due to the sustainable features of the apartment building, it has already been awarded LEED Silver Certification.  Units will be ready for residents in July 2017.

Another project we recently finished in Bellevue, WA was the Main Street Gateway complex.  Awarded the turn-key structural concrete package, we provided all of the pumping, place and finish, shotcrete, and formwork for the mixed-use project.  We also supplied the reinforcement that was installed by RPM.   The project includes an underground parking lot for about 600 vehicles and also several electric vehicle charging stalls.

Conco is one of the leading suppliers of concrete services for the Western U.S. We got our start in 1959 in the Bay Area by offering clients the best value on a broad range of concrete services and products.  Since that time, we have taken a leading role as top concrete contractors in the region. We have four regional offices serving California, Oregon, Nevada, Colorado and Washington.

Watch Our Crews in Action on a 4,620 Cubic Yard Mat Pour

   

 

If you want an opportunity to see our highly-efficient Conco crews at their best, take a look at our time-lapse video of the 4,620 cubic yard mat pour for the 970 Denny Way project.  The mixed-use redevelopment project in Seattle, Washington is being developed by the Holland Partner Group, with Holland Construction acting as the general contractor.      

The 970 Denny Way mat pour took place on July 23^rd and was done over approximately 15 hours.  Our crew started at 2:00 am and finished around 5:00 pm.  The job took 4,620 cubic yards of concrete to form the 15,300 square foot mat foundation for the new 40-story apartment/retail building. In addition to the concrete, the foundation also used 1.3 million pounds of rebar.  All of the ready mixed concrete was supplied by CalPortland.  Our video adeptly illustrates the kind of teamwork required to get such a large job done in a relatively short amount of time.  

Now that the mat pour is complete, construction on the South Lake Union neighborhood building has begun in earnest.  Once it is finished, the building will feature 468 apartment units in various configurations, 15,580 square feet of retail space, and four levels of sub-grade parking.  The core of the building will be constructed using 386 steel fiber-reinforced concrete coupling beams. 

Our website and YouTube also have a selection of other mat pours that we have completed over the last several years.  One of our time-lapse videos is for an impressive 12,000 cubic yard mat pour for a new skyscraper under construction in the heart of the financial district of San Francisco. This massive pour was completed over the course of 16 hours.  Along with the help of 7 concrete boom pumps, the project went off without an accident or any problems despite the challenging logistics and setting.

At The Conco Companies, we are one of the leading concrete contractors in the Western U.S. and offer a wide range of quality services and products.  Our experience includes providing services for commercial, educational, parking and other construction development as well as public works projects.  We serve California, Washington State, Oregon, Colorado and Nevada.

“Green Concrete”

The Conco Companies recently completed the massive, continuous mat pour for the Salesforce Tower that is currently under construction in downtown San Francisco.  The job required approximately 12,000 cubic yards of concrete, and was enough concrete to fill almost four Olympic size swimming pools.  We are pleased to report that the foundation was poured using “green concrete”, which is concrete produced from recycled materials and generates lower CO2 emissions as compared to conventional concrete. 

While concrete is recognized as an excellent creative and effective sustainable building material, a conventional cubic yard of concrete contains by weight approximately 10 percent of cement.  CO2 emissions occur during the production of the cement, and for each ton of cement produced; it creates about 0.9 tons of CO2 emissions. 

To produce the cement used in concrete, it requires heating pulverized limestone, clay, and sand to 1,450 °C with coal or natural gas.  As a result in 2009, it was reported that five percent of all carbon dioxide emissions throughout the world were a result of producing 2.8 billion metric tons of cement.

“Green concrete” is defined as concrete that uses other material as a partial or complete replacement for cement or fine or coarse aggregates, and the substituted material can be waste or residual products obtained from manufacturing industries.  The goal of creating a greener concrete is to help reduce greenhouse gas emission, to reduce the use of natural resources such as limestone, shale, clay, natural river sand, natural rocks, and to recycle waste materials that would otherwise end up in landfills.  Today there are many people researching a variety of methods in order to create cements that do not produce as high of an amount of CO2 emissions. 

The Conco Companies are the foremost supplier of concrete services for the Western U.S. We have built a reputation on superior concrete formwork, reinforcing, place and finish, shotcrete and other ancillary services that benefit from our vast experience.  Our four regional offices serve California, Colorado, Oregon, Washington, and Nevada. 

Source:2.technologyreview.com/article/418542/tr10-green-concrete/

Levi’s Stadium - Ready for the Big Game!

While Super Bowl 50 will be held at the Levi’s Stadium on February 7th, it seems like just yesterday that The Conco Companies’ crews were working hard to help construct the new home for the San Francisco 49ers.  In order to be eligible to host the 2016 Super Bowl, the stadium had to be completed and operational for at least two seasons before the big game.  That meant that Conco, along with the rest of Levi’s construction team were on an accelerated schedule to complete the project in time for the start of the 49ers 2014 season. 

Even though the 1.2 billion facility is one of the most technologically advanced stadiums every built, gearing up to host Super Bowl 50 is not easy task.  According to CBS’s CNET, the stadium has, “400 miles of fiber and copper cable and 1,200 Wi-Fi access points capable of handling a torrent of data, all so fans at the game can use the Super Bowl app to seamlessly order food by phone.” 

This means spectators should have plenty of bandwidth to post photos or to comment on the action through their favorite social media sites.  While other Super Bowl games in the past have experienced power outages, (think back three years ago to New Orleans) Levi's Stadium has 10 times the bandwidth mandated by the NFL at other stadiums including that of the AT & T Stadium near Dallas. 

One misstep thus far, which of course was recorded on social media, was when the grounds crew was preparing the field and ended up painting the Denver Bronco’s logo and team colors on the wrong end zone.  While the mistake was quickly fixed, it probably is a good thing that the Panther’s team colors are blue and black as to help hide any remnants of the Bronco’s colors.

The Conco Companies are one of the leading concrete contractors in the Western U.S. and offer a wide range of quality services and products.  Our experience includes providing services for commercial, educational, parking and other construction development as well as public works projects.  Currently we serve California, Washington State, Oregon, Colorado and Nevada.

Source: people.com/article/super-bowl-stadium-end-zones-painted-incorrectly

cnet.com/news/levis-stadium-tech-tour/  

New Video on the Historic Salesforce Mat Pour

https://vimeo.com/82790616

One of our larger projects that The Conco Companies have been involved with is a new skyscraper in downtown San Francisco.  The Salesforce Tower will become the second tallest building in the U.S. west of the Mississippi once it is complete.  Another current Conco project, the Wilshire Grand Center in Los Angeles will be the tallest by just a few extra feet. 

For all of you following the progress of the Salesforce Tower, Boston Proprieties has released another video on the historic, continuous mat pour that was done on Nov 7-8, 2015.  In this particular video, Conco’s CEO, Steve Gonsalves makes an appearance as he describes the scope of the pour, stating how rare of a project this is, and while not something that we do every day, “We love it!” 

Another interesting part of the video shows the hefty size of the rebar that was used for the foundation.  Even though #4 rebar is most commonly used as reinforcement, this project required the largest size rebar manufactured.  The heavy #18 rebar measures 2 1/4 inches in diameter and in readiness for the mat pour, 500 million pounds were laid down.     

The project was started two years ago and the continuous 18-hour mat pour was almost a year in planning.  With the completion of the foundation, the skyscraper is finally ready to go vertical.  Michael Tymoff, Boston Proprieties’ Senior Project Manager, states how the new tower is going to redefine the city’s skyline and will become an icon for San Francisco.  

The Salesforce Tower is expected to be completed in 2017.  We encourage you to take a look at all of Conco’s projects featured on our website or contact us to see how our quality services can assist your next project.  

The Conco Companies mission is to be the best supplier of concrete services in the Western U.S. and to bring experience, expertise and quality to each project. We continue to upgrade and expand facilities to better serve the growing market for a wide range of construction development. We have four regional offices serving California, Oregon, Nevada, Colorado and Washington.