Rio Grande Campus construction update: April 2021

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

The original project is now substantially complete as of March 1, 2021. We have performed several architectural interior and exterior punch list inspections to assess the quality of construction and make comments regarding cosmetic fixes that still need to be addressed. Bartlett Cocke (BCGC) is working with all the subcontractors to address these punch lists and will continue to do so for the next few weeks. ACC personnel will re-walk the building when BCGC deems the corrective work to be completed so we can close out the punch lists and sign off with our approval.

We currently have a temporary certificate of occupancy from the City of Austin to occupy the building. Army Futures Command (AFC) moved into phase 1 of its space in mid-March. The Software Factory at ACC is the first soldier-led software factory for the Army. The vision is to develop a pathway to two- and four-year degrees and connect soldiers and students with industry partners. Read more here.

We still await a final Certificate of Occupancy from the city. This is pending a final fire inspection that will be called when the fire smoke protection systems in the two atriums are tested and certified by the city fire marshal.

We are now in a soft holding pattern. We have a large permit update for substantial interior renovations and tenant improvement work in shell spaces on levels 0 and 1 as well as on level 2 for AFC, in review at the city.

Once granted, we can issue a notice to proceed for construction to BCGC, and then we can commence with the construction work, which is expected to take approximately seven months to complete.

ACC hosted Austin American-Statesman reporter Michael Barnes on a tour of the space for an upcoming feature. See photos from the tour in the slideshow.