Author: Largo Concrete

Waldorf Astoria – Pouring Concrete on one the Busiest Intersections in the Country

Located on the Southwest corner of Wilshire Blvd. and Santa Monica Blvd. in Beverly Hills, the Waldorf Astoria is being built on one of the busiest intersections in the country. The new development features 314 parking stalls across 2-levels of below grade parking, with convention space, retail and dining on the lower levels of the 12-story tower. When complete, 42 of the total 170 new rooms will be considered suites and a pool, spa and lounge offer panoramic views from the roof deck.

Due to its proximity to the prestigious Beverly Hilton, limited area on-site as well as the city’s stringent policies, our team took special steps and procedures regarding traffic for staging and concrete pumping purposes. We sand blasted, redesigned the lanes and set up extensive K-Rail along Santa Monica Blvd. This street is also known as Highway 2 which poses another challenge regarding overhead crane limitations. Fortunately, the City of Beverly Hills considers this small part of Highway 2 “Santa Monica Blvd.” as it passes through the city making the use of a tower crane possible along this stretch of property.

The mat foundation was completed in two pours: the first pour below the tower for the 8’ and 5’ thick areas of foundation totaled 7,120CY, and the second pour for the balance of the foundation at 3’ thick was another 4,800CY. A helix ramp connects the parking to street level and the typical elevated deck square footage in the tower is 14,366sf. Largo is working closely with general contractor Matt Construction, architects Gensler and structural engineer Nabih Youssef Assoc. to have concrete complete by March of 2016.

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Chumash Casino Hotel & Casino Expansion and Design-Build Parking Structure

Largo Concrete started work on a 12 story hotel tower, 3 story casino expansion and 7-level parking structure at the Chumash Casino in Santa Ynez, CA. The new tower and casino total 354,663gsf and will add 217 rooms, 45,000sf of gaming floor, a food court and rooftop pool deck. This is the second hotel tower Largo has worked on for the Indian Gaming Community in the past 2 years having completed the hotel expansion at Harrah’s Rincon in Valley Center in 2013.

The parking structure addition is contracted under a Structural Design-Build project delivery format where Largo selected Culp & Tanner as the engineer. Once tied in to the existing structure an additional 480-stalls will be available to valet and self-parking users. Working closely with general contractor Tutor Perini Building Corp. and architect Delawie, Largo anticipates topping out the tower on 08/14/2015 and the parking structure on 09/01/2015 with the entire project scheduled to be complete in late 2016.

One of the major challenges was relocating 900CY of dirt over a creek to another location onsite, a feat that would have taken a 110 Ton Crane 9-days to complete. In order to enhance the schedule we rented an Acrow HS-20, 72,000lbs capacity, modular bridge and ran front-end-loaders across it to move the same amount of dirt in a single day!

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Chris Forster Receives the Sam Hobbs Award from the American Concrete Institute

As a testament to his 30 years of work in the concrete construction industry, and his contributions to the standards for concrete construction, the American Concrete Institute recently recognized Largo’s new Operations Manager, Chris Forster, with the Sam Hobbs Award.  The award was established in 1973, with the purpose of honoring Sam Hobbs, the founder of the ACI chapter system and significant contributor to the concrete industry. The award is made annually, if in the judgment of the Awards Committee there is a qualified recipient.

The purpose of the award is to recognize individual service to both the Southern California chapter of the ACI and the concrete industry overall.  Chris has been an active member of the ACI for 29 years, and his involvement has included positions on the ACI Activities Committee, Construction Liaison Committee and Committee 303-Architectural Cast-in-Place, along with serving as a past President of the Southern California chapter.

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Westfield Design-Build Parking Structure Wins ENR Top Projects Award of Merit!

Largo Concrete was recently awarded the ENR Top Projects “Award of Merit” for Specialty Contacting for the Westfield Century City Design-Build Parking Structure project. The structure will provide the retail facility an additional 561-stalls across five-levels of above grade and one-and-a-half levels of below grade parking. This two-bay wide, long-span parking structure utilizes a shear wall structural system and is designed with jump-ramps at the top and bottom to improve circulation. The cast-in-place spandrels on either side of the elevator core were poured with form-liners to create custom reveals in the façade.

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Largo Welcomes Chris Forster!

Please join us in welcoming Chris Forster, concrete veteran and management professional to the Largo Team as Operations Manager. With over 30-years of experience, Chris started as a field engineer after graduating with a bachelor’s degree in construction management from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo and while working, completed a master’s in business management from UCLA.

After spending time in the field running work in the capacity of project manager and superintendent, Chris came in to the office to lead the estimating department and establish a new regional office as a Vice President for another high profile concrete and general contractor. As Largo continues to grow, Chris will work with all aspects of the business to secure new work, generate a quality product safely and develop relationships at all levels.

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Largo Concrete Turns 25!

This year, Largo Concrete, Inc. celebrates its 25th anniversary as a company! From humble beginnings in Northern California to becoming one of the largest structural concrete contractors in the nation, Largo’s success is based on three basic principles: Quality workmanship, safe operations and conducting its business with integrity.

Founded in Campbell, California in 1989 by post-tensioning pioneer Hal Long and Senior Vice President Mark Carnathan, “Largo” is simply the Spanish translation of Hal’s family name. From its creation, Largo’s focus has always been elevated structural concrete structures, and Largo is currently ranked 6th nationally in ENR’s list of concrete specialty contractors, with over $211 million in revenue in 2013. Landmark projects such as the SFO long term parking structure, The Ritz Carlton at Half Moon Bay and Centennial Square at SFSU all contributed to the initial growth of the company.

In 1998, Largo opened its Southern California office and has since relocated its corporate headquarters to the Southern California office in Tustin under the supervision of current President, Ken Long. Largo’s expansion into the Southern California market came initially through large hospitality projects near Disneyland and parking podiums throughout Southern California. More recently, Largo completed such noteworthy projects as the architecturally stunning Segerstrom Concert Hall, the Skyline Towers and the massive Genesis solar power plant. The Northern California office continues to grow and has recently completed such projects as the Stanford University Bio-E/Chem-E building, the Verdant Apartments podium and the Santa Clara Valley Medical Center.

Over the past five years, Largo has expanded its operations to include offices in San Diego, California, Las Vegas, Nevada and Austin, Texas. Recently completed projects in these markets include the 22 story Harrah’s Rincon Hotel Tower expansion, the Shops at Summerlin Parking Structures and the Block 51, IBC Bank Tower. Largo has also expanded its services to include full-scope, design-build parking structures and such projects include the recently completed Westfield Century City parking structure and the Sony Studios parking structure and expansion in Culver City on which Largo is currently working.

As Largo looks forward to the next 25 years, it wishes to thank all of its employees, clients, partners, subcontractors and suppliers for all that they have contributed to making Largo’s first quarter century in business so successful. With over 850 employees committed to Largo’s success, Largo is confident that the quality work, safe operations and client satisfaction that led to its past success will allow it to have future success for many years to come. Largo thanks all of you for your continued support and looks forward to many more exciting years working with you in the future!

Recent Projects
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Project History
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Main Street Cupertino Parking Structure

Largo Concrete is currently working on the parking structure at the Main Street development in Cupertino. The long-span parking structure has a total of 8-levels, 2.5 of which are below grade, 1,414-stalls across 450,000gsf. The building utilizes a Shear Wall structural system designed by architects Kenneth Rodrigues Partners and International Parking Design with structural engineer Hohbach-Lewin. Largo is working closely with designers and the general contractor Southbay Construction to have concrete poured out by January 2015.

About Main Street

The Sand Hill Property Company is developing 17-acre site previously owned by Hewlett Packard located at the intersection of Stevens Creek Blvd. and Tantau Avenue for an estimated $330 million. When complete it Main Street will feature 130,000sf of retail, 260,000sf of commercial office space, 120 rental unit and a 180-roon hotel.

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Construction Starts at The Current Residential High-Rise Tower in Long Beach

Largo Concrete began work at The Current residential high-rise tower in Long Beach, California this week. The concrete frame building features 18 total levels, 12 residential, 1 retail and commercial ground floor and 4 parking levels, two of which are below grade, an amenities roof deck with pool and helipad above. The 194’ tall, 415,000gsf project sits on a 43,700sf site located on the northwest corner of Ocean Blvd. and Lime St. features 223 residential units, 22,608sf of commercial space and 328 parking stalls.

Largo is working with General Contractor Driver Urban, BAR Architects in conjunction with Rockefeller Partners Architects and Structural Engineer Nabih Youssef & Associates to have concrete poured out by August 28, 2015. One of the major challenges of this project will be the coordination with the exterior façade contractors all vying for crane time in order to meet the schedule. Mounting the pre-cast concrete, aluminum and glass architectural panels to the exterior of the building requires an extraordinary amount of embed coordination and accuracy. This is the first development of its kind in over a decade in Long Beach with a scheduled completion in summer of 2016.

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Sunset La Cienega Hotel & Residential High-Rise Towers in West Hollywood, California

The East and Middle Parcels of the Sunset La Cienega Development is now under construction at the southern corners of the Sunset and La Cienega intersection in Los Angeles. The development boast two 10-story hotel towers to the East of La Cienega and two 8-story residential towers to the west. The East Parcel is 235,000gsf with 296 rooms and the Middle Parcel is 292,240gsf with 190 total units, with both parcels featuring retail and restaurant space on the ground floor and below-grade parking.

Largo will pour over 60,000CY of concrete between both parcels which includes specialty architectural concrete and board form finishes. Each parcel requires two tower cranes, which are under Largo’s contract, along with reinforcing steel and masonry. The logistically challenging site is located on a steep incline at the foot of the Hollywood Hills surrounded by high-end residential to the south and the ever-busy Sunset Blvd. to the north. The CIM Group purchased the property in 2011 and Largo Concrete is working with General Contractor Suffolk Construction, Architect/Engineer Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP to be poured out in September 2015. Largo is also participating in the creation of a Level of Design (LOD) 300 Building Information Model, with weekly coordination meetings including all trades, to turn over to the client when construction is complete in Late 2016.

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Cast-in-Place, Slab on Metal Deck and 84′ Tall Tilt-Up Concrete at the Great Wolf Hotel and Waterpark

Largo Concrete recently began work on the 12-acre, outdoor themed, Great Wolf Hotel and Waterpark on Harbor Boulevard south of Disneyland. The 603-suite hotel is located at the back of the development behind the 3-acre indoor and outdoor waterpark, 30,000sf conference area and 18,000sf of retail and dining. Designed by architect Ware Malcomb and structural engineer Englekirk, highlights of the waterpark include the Howlin’ Tornado which drops riders 6-stories through a funnel and the Wolf Tail slide which takes riders in a 360 degree loop. The waterpark has designated zones for guests of different ages along with other child friendly entertainment such as miniature golf and bowling, an arcade, a resort-wide treasure hunt and story time each night in the lobby.

From a constructability perspective, perhaps the most unique feature on the project are the 84’ Tall Tilt-Up Concrete Panels at the waterpark. Panels of this height rank in the Top 10 tallest nationally according to the Tilt-up Concrete Association, and are believed to be the tallest free standing panels ever placed. Largo is scheduled to start erecting these panels this October. In addition to the waterpark, Largo is also constructing a 9-story cast in place hotel and a 3-story structural steel building with metal decks. Concrete-wise, there is a little of everything on this project.

During the lengthy pre-construction process Largo finalized design with all disciplines utilizing Building Information Modeling (BIM). This powerful software is vital to the success of such a complex project as it provides the platform for the enhanced coordination, and collaboration, of all trades from schematic design through closeout. The General Contractor, Turner Construction Co., is working all areas of the development to meet the scheduled opening in the Spring of 2016. Largo Concrete estimates completion of our scope in March of 2015.

California Residents Please Help Conserve Water
Visit http://ca.gov/drought/ for more information.

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