The Salvation Army has announced that it will reportedly make the largest single investment by a social service organization in Chicago history with the unveiling of the $160 million Ray and Joan Kroc Corps Community Center, a facility to be constructed on the city’s Far South Side on 119th Street in the West Pullman neighborhood.

Star architect Helmut Jahn, principal of Chicago-based Murphy/Jahn, is the designer, and Chicago-based W.E. O’Neil is the contractor.

“It will redefine people’s notions of what a community center can be,” says Lt. Col. David Grindle, Chicago Metropolitan Divisional Commander. “The array of sports, educational, arts and supportive programs has never been offered under one roof.”

The 220,000-sq-ft Kroc Center will be a ministry, community and social service facility in one of Chicago’s most underserved areas, a community center of unprecedented scope and size. It will provide thousands of people of all ages with new opportunities.

Grindle announced that the Chicago Metropolitan Division was approved for $109.8 million to be used toward building and endowing the facility by The Salvation Army’s Central Territorial Headquarters for the 11 Midwest states in Des Plaines. The funds are a portion of the gift Joan Kroc left to The Salvation Army to be used for the specific purpose of building and endowing Kroc Centers.

The Salvation Army must raise another $50 million over the next three years to complete the building and establish an endowment large enough to guarantee accessibility to the Kroc Center for every child and adult. It will provide operational stability, funding for programming, program scholarships and materials, such as sports equipment and musical instruments.

Facilities include those for recreation, family life and education the Kroc Center’s Academy of the Arts. The Chicago Kroc Center is expected to attract new business, create hundreds of jobs, increase economic stability and lower crime rates.

Murphy/Jahn’s concept calls for a transparent structure to be built largely of glass walls that will offer views during the daytime and at night. It will be an environmentally-friendly green building with energy efficient heating and cooling systems, topped by a green roof with solar collectors and skylights.

A 200-ft-tall beacon will sit at the corner of the site which, when lit, will be visible throughout the surrounding community. It will serve as a visible reminder of the Salvation Army’s mission to serve as a “beacon of hope.”

This project began with the vision of the late Joan Kroc. Upon her death in 2003, she passed on to The Salvation Army the largest gift ever made to a private charity, designated to help establish facilities in underserved communities where children and adults could be engaged in a wide range of programs and gain access to important services.

With suburban Chicago serving as the headquarters for McDonald’s, the company founded by her husband Ray Kroc, Joan Kroc felt an affinity for this city and its people. Before her passing, she was personally involved in the early planning of this center.

Two Major Apartments Break Ground in Chicago

Construction has begun on two apartment towers 37 stories and 41 stories and a 1-acre park in the K Station residential development in Chicago’s Fulton River District.

Located at North Clinton and West Kinzie, the towers are the third and fourth buildings being developed within the $750 million, 2,400-unit K Station. The first was Left Bank at K Station, and the second was 353 N. Des Plaines St.

The two buildings have green elements, which are increasingly popular with the upscale rental market. Designs incorporate green roofs with native landscaping, efficient building operating systems, recycled materials and energy efficient building materials.

555 W. Kinzie will offer 174 studio, 174 one-bedroom, 74 two-bedroom and 13 three-bedroom residences, with an average of 10 units per floor. 365 N. Jefferson will offer 160 studio, 211 one-bedroom, 42 two-bedroom and nine three-bedroom residences, with a typical 13 units per floor.

In both towers Fifield has designed penthouse residences after success with larger units at Left Bank. The base of the towers will include a 700-car public parking garage and 15,000 sq ft of retail.

Construction has also started on the 1-acre The Park at K Station across Jefferson Street from the two towers. This public space will include an amphitheater with a sail pavilion for live performances, walking paths, a family play area, dog-friendly area and seating areas. It is slated for completion in spring 2008.

AGC: Nonresidential Building Up for Eight Straight Quarters

Nonresidential construction provided a real treat to the economy in the third quarter.

Investment in private, nonresidential structures jumped 12 percent in the third quarter, the eighth straight quarter this investment category has outpaced gross domestic product growth, according to Ken Simonson, chief economist for the Alexandria, Va.-based Associated General Contractors of America.

“You have to go back to the mid-1950s to find another period when private nonresidential construction was so persistently robust,” he added.

The Census Bureau’s construction spending report was even sweeter. Private and public nonresidential construction climbed 1.8 percent for the month of September and 17 percent over the past 12 months. That was enough to overcome the 1.4 percent fall in residential spending for the month and nearly offset the 16 percent residential drop from 12 months ago.

Indeed, all 16 Census categories were up for the month, and all but religious structures were higher on both a September-over-September and a year-to-date basis.

“Over the next several months, I expect investment to slow in income-producing properties such as office, hotel and retail structures,” Simonson said. “But accelerating investment in energy and power projects, plus continued strength in hospital and educational construction, should keep the nonresidential totals up.

Higher costs are a concern. Diesel prices, which affect contractors thorough use of off-road equipment, construction trucks and fuel surcharges on delivery of materials, are 25 percent higher than a year ago and seem poised to rise further. Other materials, especially imports, are likely to accelerate as well.

Addition Planned for St. Louis Retirement Facility

A $14.7 addition was announced for The Willows at Brooking Park, an independent retirement community at Highway 141 and Conway Road in Chesterfield, Mo.

The project, called Centerstage at the Willows, includes an additional 44 apartments on three levels with a subsurface garage. New amenities include a 130-seat theatre and community space, art gallery, creative arts studio and sculpture garden.

Port Washington Passes Safety Mile Post

We Energies’ Port Washington Generating Station recently surpassed two million work-hours without a lost-time injury, announced the contractor, Wisconsin Power Constructors LLC, a subsidiary of Boise-based Washington Group International. Since 2003, WPC has overseen all aspects of the two-phased Port Washington construction project, which transitions the plant from coal-electric generation to a gas-fired combined cycle power plant. Phase one, generating 545 MW, was placed in operation in August 2005. Phase two, also 545 MW, will be completed in May 2008.