Rio Grande Campus construction update: March 2021

Rio Grande Campus Renovations
By Paul Mason, Rio Grande Renovations Project Manager

Austin Community College District's (ACC) Rio Grande Campus received a temporary certificate of occupancy for the building on February 11. We moved furniture and equipment into Army Future Command's (AFC) Phase I space over the last couple of weeks. On March 8, AFC started their occupancy of the Phase I space. There are still minor architectural punch items that need to be addressed within their space. Our contractor's team is coordinating schedules for access with AFC leadership to complete the work.

The rest of the building remains unoccupied. Bartlett Cocke General Contractors continues to address architectural punch items. The testing and balancing of mechanical, electrical, and plumbing systems continues for the next two to three months. The ACC network is up and running in the building. ACC Security is starting the programming and deployment of new Genetec control systems for surveillance cameras, door access control, intrusion detection, and emergency police dispatch call stations. This effort is expected to take five to six weeks.

All the exterior landscaping was severely damaged by the winter storm. Many of the plantings will have to be replaced. We are looking to schedule inspections for the exterior façade, roof, and landscape to generate new punch lists for those areas in the back half of March.

There will be a lull in construction once the punch list work is completed. The month of April will be quieter. We are currently trying to get three interior renovation plan sets to the city for permit review.