ALISO VIEJO, CA-McCarthy Building Cos. Inc. has completed a new, $11.5-million design-building parking structure at Soka University here. Built on an existing parking lot between the main entrance and the university's tennis courts, the 214,983-square-foot project features 677 parking spaces and was completed two weeks ahead of schedule.

McCarthy partnered with Choate Parking Consultants of Irvine on the design and construction of the post-tensioned, cast-in-place concrete structure. Designed in harmony with the existing campus, the façade features painted plaster, architectural shapes along three sides and Italian travertine stone bands around the elevator tower and windows. The entrance to the elevators is further complemented by natural stone tiles in the elevator lobbies at each level.

The four-level structure has been lowered into the slope of the hillside along Wood Canyon Dr. to minimize its height so that it does not rise higher than the adjacent street. McCarthy achieved this by creating a 700-foot-long, 30-foot-tall sculpted architectural-finished retaining wall with structural shotcrete and soil nail along three sides of the project site.

According to Jeff Craven, project manager for McCarthy, sequencing the excavation of the wall required careful monitoring. “Working with the earthwork and shotcrete crews to get the wall cut, remove the dirt and then erect the wall in a seamless and fluid fashion while maintaining the project schedule required extensive coordination.”

Additional construction details included site improvements and connections to the campus utility systems and the addition of a traffic signal at the campus entrance. A storm-water filtration and detention system was installed, and the existing soccer field was leveled and widened to better meet the needs of the university's athletic program.

The structure is the second facility McCarthy was hired to build at the campus. The first, which opened in September 2011, was the $73-million Soka Performing Arts Center –which is US Green Building Council LEED-Gold certified—and adjacent academic building that serve as a venue in South Orange county for concerts, theater productions, lectures, assemblies, classroom and office uses.

As GlobeSt.com reported last month, McCarthy Building Cos. Inc. has hired Robert Elliott as project director for commercial projects in the company's Houston office.