Mortenson Construction announced it has broken ground on a series of construction and renovation projects that will transform College of Lake County’s Grayslake, Illinois main campus.
Designed to meet the changing needs of its student population, College of Lake County’s multi-year modernization includes reconfiguring and expanding existing buildings, updating aging facilities and upgrading heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning (HVAC) systems.
The first Mortenson project focuses on renovating the main lobby and atrium that connects the two primary classroom buildings, A and B. The contractor also will construct a new cafeteria building addition west of the lobby overlooking Willow Lake. During this project, the existing outdoor courtyard will be covered and combined with a current lecture hall to create a new bookstore and a new student activities office on the ground level. These projects will add roughly 16,650 square feet while renovating another 11,000 square feet.
The next phase, set to begin in late 2015, is the largest and most ambitious project in the master plan. Mortenson will remodel classrooms and install a state-of-the-art HVAC system supported by onsite geothermal wells for the A&B wings. The new system will provide significant energy usage savings since it will replace 22 rooftop cooling and heating units that are 40 years old and extremely energy-inefficient. In addition, Mortenson will modernize IT cabling and update common area finishes. It will add a new sprinkler system as well, upgrading the building from its original fire system which consisted of just strobes and smoke detectors.
Mortenson will build a “one-stop-shop” for student services in the newly renovated space in the B wing, centralizing such student functions as financial aid and registration. This space will feature heating and cooling from the geothermal system and will incorporate LEED principles to achieve greater energy efficiency.
