After 11 months of construction, the City of Surprise awarded The Weitz Company a Conditional Certificate of Occupancy for the first Independent Living building at Sun Health’s Colonnade on August 24. The building includes 36 new independent living units, as well as a new promenade, spine road, and site enhancements to the main roads, entryway and pedestrian walkways. The grand opening is scheduled for September 24.

Two months prior to the completion of the first building, which was delivered in a typical Design-Bid-Build method, Sun Health selected Weitz to move forward with the next phase of the project in a more collaborative Design-Build manner.

The Orcutt-Winslow Partnership (OWP), also working on another successful project with Sun Health and Weitz, was selected as the architect for the upcoming phase. OWP is an approved self-certifying firm with the City of Surprise and this advantage will be leveraged on the coming phase. Modeled after the City of Phoenix’ self-certification program, the typical City review period for building permits will be cut from twelve weeks to four. It will be the first self-certified building in the City.

Located near the intersection of Grand Avenue and Reems Road, the second building is an exact replica of the original project, but with a few modifications. Weitz hosted a meeting with Colonnade Sales, Marketing, Operations and Maintenance staff to evaluate the building layout and efficiencies. Lessons learned during construction allowed redesign of the plumbing routing near fire assemblies, revised layout of single bedroom units for a more constructible space, as well as a rearranged lobby for a more symmetrical, pleasing appeal. Weitz used modeling to simplify structural elements of the building for a more economical design as well.

The balance of the design team remains the same from Building 4 including HilgartWilson, PK Associates, NP Engineering, NP Electrical, Thoma-Holec Design, and Greey Pickett.

The next building on the Colonnade campus is expected to break ground near the end of September 2013 and open its doors in August 2014.