Before the 3,500-ft-long Sixth Street Viaduct got demolished in February 2016, the city of Los Angeles marked its pending demise with a series of free civic events, including live music and a screening of “Grease.” Later, Angelenos took home 1,300 concrete remnants of it as keepsakes, recalls Mary Nemick, spokeswoman for the Los Angeles Bureau of Engineering. “There was a lot of emotional attachment to that viaduct,” she says. “We spent a lot of time talking to the public about why we had to [demolish] it.”

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Construction activity remains red-hot in California and Hawaii, with a wide range of public and private projects. Like last year, the top five projects to break ground in the region during 2017 all topped $1 billion.

The annual ranking features the 28 largest projects to get underway in California and Hawaii during the past year. Collectively, these projects add up to more than $18 billion in revenue.

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Every project encounters both expected and unanticipated challenges: holidays, rain days, wind days. When planning the Oceanwide Plaza mixed-use development in Los Angeles, the project team had to consider “Adele days.”

The $1-billion-plus project comprises nearly 1.5 million sq ft of development surrounded by some of downtown L.A’.s busiest streets and sidewalks. Every day, thousands of people stream in and out of the nearby Staples Center and LA Live. Major events choke the streets bordering the 4.6-acre site. During singer-songwriter Adele’s multiday appearance at Staples Center in 2016, crews worked around the crowds while moving the project’s perimeter into the streets. Later that year, L.A. Comic Con attendees swarmed the area in the middle of a mat pour.

Photo courtesy Lendlease

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Due to increasing demand for our products, we have moved to a larger facility in Northern Californa territory. As always, we are here to help provide you with a complete smoke & fire containment solution.

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While San Francisco has its fair share of iconic buildings—Transamerica Pyramid and Triple 5 are synonymous with the city—one high-rise has garnered a rabid and well-deserved cult following. That building is 130 Bush, the super-slender structure in the Financial District.

It’s easy to miss this downtown gem. Blocked from a clear view on Market Street by 1 Bush, a spectacular midcentury behemoth, passersby must veer up the start of Bush Street in order to see and appreciate it in all its trim glory.

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