GRC News Archive
The Press Building
2009-03-02
Mountain Region FAMILY MEDICINE, PC will reposition several offices to the recently acquired historical “Kingsport Press Building” most recently occupied by Quebecor Industries. The Building will be transformed to become a unique downtown center for compassionate and caring healthcare with modern-day medical ancillary support. Mountain Region Family Medicine has benefited from their growth through expansion since 1994 with seven separate offices now serving both East Tennessee and Southwest Virginia, all dedicated to providing the region with unsurpassed excellent medical care. Their need of new facilities is the goal of the group with the expectation of partnering with other physicians in a quest to provide their patients the latest and most up to date environment for medical care.
The project and building location will be named and become known as “The Press Building” with preliminary design nearing completion by CainRashWest, Architects. The building has an overall floor area of more than 200,000 square feet, available on three floors. The building is planned for an immediate occupancy commitment of more than thirty percent of the total area with the remaining area currently either under study or available for forthcoming occupants. Occupancy inquiry and project information is available by contacting Mountain Region’s administrator Mr. John Paul Linke, TCI Group’s Charlie Dotson, Angie Marshall, or the Architect, M. Hiram Rash, AIA at CainRashWest, Architects.
Construction begins on new SHHS football stadium
2010-03-12
By Gary B. Gray
Press Staff Writer
Construction has begun on Science Hill High School’s new $3.7 million football stadium, and the first message to the public is that beginning Wednesday, the Liberty Bell track will be temporarily closed through Labor Day to all users.
In conjunction with stadium construction, the project will include installation of a walking track with a new synthetic surface. In the interim, the city is suggesting people utilize one of the other locations within the city with walking tracks and trails.
“Johnson City has several well-situated walking tracks located at other city facilities, including Indian Trail Middle School, as well as the cinder track around the football practice field located on the Science Hill/Liberty Bell campus,” said Charlie Stahl, assistant city manager. “There are also great walking trails at Winged Deer Park and its lakefront, Civitan Park, and Willow Springs Park.”
Upon completion of the stadium construction project, the track will be re-opened for public use, Stahl said.
Edward O’Hara, co-owner of Albany, N.Y.-based CHA Sports, and the project’s architect, has assured Johnson City commissioners and Board of Education members that the project will be finished by Sept. 1, just two days prior to the Hilltoppers Sept. 3 home opener.
The City Commission unanimously voted last week to award Kingsport’s GoinsRashCain, Inc. a $3.7 million contract, which includes additions $3.6 million base bid in the form of panels to the front of bleachers, vertical guardrail on the home and visitor bleachers and a new black vinyl chain link fence around the existing track.
The bid came in well below the $5 million projected cost. The remainder will be used as contingency, for improvements on the Science Hill campus, such as drainage systems and detention ponds, architect and design fees and for extras at the stadium.
On Monday, GoinsRashCain, the project’s general contractor, is expected to set up shop at the stadium site, said Dave Chupa, Johnson City Schools superintendent of instruction and facilities.
“We’re excited that the stadium work is under way, and workers are out there moving the old stands to where the band seating will go,” Chupa said. “We’re sorry for any inconvenience it (construction) might cause.”
For more information pertaining to any of the tracks and trails in the city parks system, contact the Parks and Recreation Department at 283-5815 or visit the city’s Web site at www.johnsoncitytn.org.
Peak Construction on V.O. Dobbins Reached; Most Work Winding Down
2010-03-13
By Douglass Alumni Association
Renovations to the V.O. Dobbins Complex have reached their peak.
It's all downhill now, moving fast towards a July 1st completion.
"The non-profit tower now has its carpet laid in all the offices," says architect Dineen West, who shared update information with the Douglass Website recently. "The punch list has been completed, any additions or deletions have been made, and finishing touches are in place with the little modifications that will make the tower tenant-ready soon."
"Each floor has a break room, and each office also has a break room that tenants will share. Those are kitchen-type areas with cabinets, drawers, spaces for microwaves and other electric appliances."
"All the wiring is in, phone lines are mostly in place, water is running, lights are on, and the basic construction is over," she says. "Everything has been checked, and will stand some re-checking over the next couple of months."
Will there be early occupancy for the tower BEFORE the July 1st completion date? Perhaps in April or May?
"Right now, we don't know if the fire marshall will allow us to occupy a portion of the building without having the rest of the work done," says Mrs. West. "No decision has been made yet if that will be possible while workers are still hammering."
One thing's for certain. The tower that will house the Greater Kingsport United Way, Mountain States Speech and Hearing, the American Legion, Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure and other non-profit Kingsport agencies is a "towering" presence in the Riverview community, standing in the location where, just over a year ago, the old Douglass School auditorium stood.
Elsewhere, the wood floor is being installed on the floor of the new gymnasium.
"The new Douglass School colors of blue and gold really stand out in that gym," Mrs. West says. "The off-white color really makes the blue and gold prominent in the room..you can't help but notice it. What will really set that room off, is when we get the gym bleachers in, with the reminder of the school that called the building home for years. The bleachers will alternate blue and gold, and they will really add a splash of color to the room."
The new gym floor being laid down is a maple color, and it will have blue lines painted for the basketball boundaries. "That will really tie in with the overall theme of the room," Mrs. West says.
One other noticeable item in the new gym, is the signed beam in a prominent corner of the building. Many Douglass alumni and Riverview residents signed their names into history during the weeks the beam was available for signing, in the hallway of the old Douglass School. The beam can be seen from most parts of the gym, but may require binoculars to read the individual signatures.
"The estimated target for completion of both gyms is the end of March," says Mrs. West, "but it's kind of difficult to pinpoint exactly what the final timeframe will be. "The contractor is also working hard on the renovation of the old gym. It's had the heating, but now it's got air conditioning, something it's never had before. We have 'to do' dates that we go over with the contractor every two weeks, and within that, the sub-contractors their their own 'to do' dates."
The second floor of the old Douglass High School is a busy construction place right now, too. When school was in session, one part of the second floor housed the library.
"The accounting suite for the Upper East Tennessee Human Development Agency and its conferencing suite are in accelerated construction mode," says Mrs. West. "Progress has been thorough, but slowed in that area, because there are still open offices with people there. Other renovation projects on the second floor have been done in phases, while we work around with people in their offices."
And then, what Douglass Alumni, the people of Riverview, South Central Kingsport and the surrounding community consider the "crown jewel" of the entire renovation project.
The Douglass Community Room. We found out, it's a little project area of its own.
"We are shooting for the end of March, the first of April for completion of the Douglass Room," Mrs. West says.
"It's got a unique arch in the ceiling, plus columns that wrap around the existing steel support beams," she says. There will be an accent band that will be darker blue. In that room, we decided to go with the Douglass School colors of darker gold and darker blue, and there will be a darker blue accent band that will go around the perimeter of the room."
"The first of 3 display cases will be black, and the carpet inside is an upbeat navy blue and gold," says Mrs. West. "It's located into the wall of the Douglass Alumni Association office, facing out into the bigger room. When we get all the parts and pieces in for the carpet and the custom trophy cases, it will really set the Douglass Community Room off, really accent it. "The larger of the 3 display cases, is of a display type," she says, "for showing off school and community memorabilia. It's located into the outside wall of the Douglass Community Room, with an entrance to the room on either side of it. The wall it's in, is another of the support walls for the second floor. The other display case is into the wall of the UETHRA check-in office, as you enter the hallway from the gym. These will be heavily-used entrances and hallways because they take people from the guyms and the Louis Street entrance into the building. Two hallways will lead down to the Douglass Room."
On the wall that used to have the Douglass Auditorium on the other side of it, are two entrances to the first floor of the non-profit tower, which is there now. "The doors are there for convenience," says Mrs. West, "so that people won't have to go outside to go from the tower to the gym areas. If the non-profits have a board meeting, banquet or event that requires the room, the doors are there for access. Building maintenance people, janitors and building supervisors can also use those doors to get from one end of the building to the other.
"The one door into the Douglass Room to the Mountain States Speech and Hearing office will be rarely used; it just seemed a shame not to have a door cut through, if the folks in the non-profit tower wanted to go over to the gym or access the courtyard on their lunch hours, or walk around for exercise."
Speaking of the courtyard, "the sidewalks are in now, and you can get a feel for what the area will look like,' says Mrs. West. "You can now get a sense of how the proposed artwork will look, how the landscaping will fit in. There's also parking in front of it, but it's a fairly large area for outdoor events, people eating lunch, or having get-togethers."
The planter is also in, outside the non-profit tower. "Right now, we don't know if a sculpture is going in there, or a flower garden arrangement or both," she says. But the planter is there, and I'm sure the landscaper and the Arts Council are looking at that area closely, to see what fits in best there. It is the main entrance for the non-profit tower, and will see a lot of traffic."
"The well-drilling is almost complete on the Riverview Community Center for the HOPE VI homes," says Mrs. West.
It's located on the other side of the gyms, between the gyms and the football field.
"The geo-thermal wells that will heat and cool the building are so very unique. There will be 25 of those wells, which will comprise the heating and cooling for that building. KHRA (the Kingsport Housing and Redevelopment Authority) applied for a grant for the geo-thermal wells, and they got it. That room and the Douglass Room will be approximately the same size. The time frame has that building finished around September 1st, 2 months behind everything else. Approval came late for that, and we had some catching up to do."
"The only free wall on the entire floor," she says, "is the wall of the Douglass Community Room, towards the back of the room, between the Douglass Alumni office and the catering kitchen. We had discussed with you I believe, making that wall a "Wall of Fame" for the alumni association and the community. Every other wall has either windows, doors, display cases, or something like that."
"There will also still be room for flag football, soccer and other athletics on the old Douglass Ballfield at the end of the day. "As soon as we finish the construction work on the Riverview Community Room," she says, "we will dress that area back up, paint the lines, and prepare it for the athletics it served before. The only thing missing will be baseball, there may not be room enough to hold a good homerun in the ballpark anymore."
One thing not touched on in the interview with Mrs. West, is the new entrance for Headstart and the new office building and classrooms for the UETHRA employees. Columns are in place now at the former Douglass School rear entrance, often a neglected area of the building. It's now a showcase entrance to what used to be the back door. Oddly enough, dozens of Douglass School children used to race out that door to the school playground for lunch and outdoor exercises..now, 44 years after the school closed, little children will once again race through the doors, bound for whatever educational opportunities await them.
"When you get into deadlines, many things can slow down the progress of any project," says Mrs. West. "The weather had been a factor, with all the rains of the fall, and the snows of the winter. July 1st sounds like a long time away, but in the reality of the construction world, it's just around the corner..all of a sudden, it's here. We don't really want to tell people that the building, or parts of it, will open early, and then some little glitch sets the move-in back. The contractors and the individual sub-contractors have been working regular hours, and then weekends and holidays, even working at night, to try and stay ahead."
All told, the renovated V.O. Dobbins Complex, with the Douglass Alumni Office and the Community Room, the center of a showplace for the community, the city of Kingsport, Upper East Tennessee and the rest of the state and region as a whole.
"It's been a long time coming and a longer time in the discussion stage," Mrs. West says, "but I think it's going to be worth it. It will be a building to be proud of."
Site’s really big dig: Construction begins on $2 million addition to Gray Fossil facility
2010-03-25
By Rex Barber
Press Staff Writer
Construction has begun on a new addition to the Gray Fossil Site. Workers with Goins-Rash-Cain Construction Services began digging out the foundation for a new 7,000-square-foot annex adjacent to the Fossil Site Museum about three weeks ago, said Jeanne Zavada, the museum director.
The $1,945,000 annex will add a café and a wet lab inside for children and adults to work. Two outdoor classrooms will provide access to view the “elephant pit” dig site and a weather monitoring station for education about how climate may have affected the Miocene Era animals found at the site.
The annex should be completed by December provided good weather allows for construction to proceed uninterrupted. Money for the project came from federal grant money through the Tennessee Department of Transportation.
The total federal grant money awarded through TDOT for the project was $1,900,387. East Tennessee State University, the museum and site’s governing institution, put up a 20 percent match to the grant dollars totalling $375,096, making the total available funding for the new annex $2,375,483.
Zavada said trained museum staff were watching the annex’s foundation excavation to identify any fossils uncovered during the process. Only a few minor fossils were found, said site paleontologist Steven Wallace.
According to Wallace, the soil beneath the museum building contained little fossilized material, however, workers did remove some dirt that contained the recent red panda skeleton and beaver tooth finds.
“And you run into that any time you do construction and it’s sort of a double-edged sword,” Wallace said. “You’re excited when they find things but you’re also not going to be able to dig them out the way that you would want to.”
Wallace said the museum staff has “breathed a sigh of relief” now that it is known no significant finds are located on the land where the annex will sit.
Wallace and Zavada both said they thought the new annex is needed and will benefit the museum and site by educating more visitors and allowing more people to participate in the ongoing digs. The fact that the museum has active digs going on nearby is extremely rare, Wallace said.
“There is really only one other site like this in the world where you have an active facility either right on top or next to a fossil-bearing site,” Wallace said.
The new annex will add hours to the activities available at the fossil site. “What I’m aiming toward is that you can spend a whole day there,” Zavada said in a previous interview.
For more information on new programs or exhibits at the Gray Fossil Site, visit www.grayfossilmuseum.com or call the museum toll free at (866) 202-6223. The fossil site and museum is located 1.8 miles from Exit 13 off Interstate 26 in Gray and is open seven days a week from 8:30 a.m.-5 p.m.
BAE Systems, Army cut ribbon on new facility
2010-04-27
Kingsport Times-News
By Sharon Hayes
KINGSPORT — BAE Systems and the U.S. Army have partnered to convert an empty warehouse at Holston Army Ammunition Plant into a multi-use facility that’s ultimately saving taxpayers millions of dollars.
Officials from BAE Systems and the Army gathered Monday morning along with U.S. Rep. Phil Roe, R-Tenn., for a ribbon-cutting ceremony to celebrate the opening of the new consolidated Risk Management Facility, which now houses everything from security and safety operations to wellness services at the plant.
“It was a facility that was going to go to waste,” said Jerry Hammonds, plant manager for BAE Systems, the operating contractor at HAAP.
“What we’ve put in now is a facility that’s going to be very beneficial to the Army for 25 to 30 years with very low maintenance costs associated with it,” said Hammonds.
The complex includes a 30,000-square-foot main building that houses a large meeting space, security operations, environmental offices, wellness services and a gym area for exercising.
Another 20,000-square-foot facility is designed for materials handling.
And a 7,000-square-foot building features the plant’s fire station, complete with sleeping quarters and kitchen for fire personnel and emergency medical staff.
The complex sits on 5.5 acres within the 6,000-acre plant.
Hammonds said the project totaled $3.2 million. Of that, BAE Systems contributed more than $800,000, and the Army chipped in $2.4 million, Hammonds said.
He said the Army had planned on building a new fire station at the plant and was expecting to pay about $7.2 million for the construction.
“We said that’s ridiculous, when we’ve got a facility down here that we can convert into a fire station, but also achieve all these other things as well,” Hammonds said.
He said the project saved the Army, and ultimately taxpayers, between $3.5 million and $4 million.
Hammonds said he came up with the idea for the project two years ago while driving back to Kingsport from BAE Systems’ North American headquarters in Rockville, Md.
Hammonds said a commercial tenant had already invested money into the building, but the tenant’s business failed, leaving a vacant warehouse at the plant. Hammonds said it made sense to combine all the security, safety, fire protection and wellness services at the site.
He approached Bob Ragan, onsite commander’s representative for the Army, who liked the idea. Together, the two developed the plan for the complex and approached Army and BAE officials about funding the project.
Funding was secured, and construction began five months ago on the facility.
“It took a lot of contributions from a lot of people,” Hammonds said. “I’m very proud in what BAE Systems and the Army have accomplished.”
Roe told those gathered that he was impressed by what he saw. He said BAE Systems’ wellness program can set an example for the rest of the nation in ways to contain costs and keep employees healthy.
Roe also commended the company on its safety record at the plant, which has produced explosives for the military since World War II.
“I know that safety and training is very important. One of the things you did here, you not only made safety better by getting the asset closer to a potential accident, but you also created a place where you can get wellness and health care, and you can find those emergency services all in a one-stop shop. Very smart thing to do,” Roe said.
“It also sounds like you saved $4 million. That’s innovative thinking,” he said.
Hammonds said 80 to 100 employees will work out of the new complex.
Brick Breaking at The Press Building
2010-06-24
V.O. Dobbins Renovation Project Nearly Complete
2010-06-27
Kingsport Times News
By Matthew Lane
KINGSPORT —A multimillion dollar renovation and expansion project at the V.O. Dobbins Community Center is nearly complete, marking another major milestone in the transformation of the Riverview community.
And with the renovation comes a new name for the facility — the V.O. Dobbins Sr. Complex.
V.O. Dobbins is a city-owned community center located between Louis and Wheatley streets in Riverview. The building served as Kingsport’s “blacks only” school from 1951 to 1966 and was named Douglass High School.
Today, the complex is primarily home to the Upper East Tennessee Human Development Agency — a social service agency that offers programs for lowincome, elderly, homeless and disabled people in the region.
Kingsport began renovating the 46,000-square-foot facility over a year ago, adding 50,000 square feet of new space including another gymnasium and a new 28,000-square-foot, threestory nonprofit wing. Cost of the project — $8.4 million.
Chris McCartt, assistant to the city manager, said the nonprofit wing has been completed, and the remaining renovation work is scheduled to be complete by July 15 — 10 days after the original target date. UETHDA officials have already moved back into the building.
“A couple of change orders have stretched the time out, but the nonprofit wing is done. The rest of the building is not done, but it is on schedule to be completed,” McCartt said. “Te n a n t s are moving in, our staff is moving back in, and the Head Start classes are operational.”
The Times-News recently took a tour of the facility, including the nonprofit wing, the new gym and the original building.
Overall, the interior of the building has received a fresh coat of paint, new drop ceilings, new windows, new carpet and tile, new and renovated showers and bathrooms, a new elevator, and a repaved parking lot with new curbs and gutters. The original school colors of blue and gold are featured throughout the old facility.
Crews plan to refinish the floor of the old gym and have installed new air conditioning and Plexiglas on the side of the seating. A space has been created at the gym for a game room and fitness area, which could include foosball, air hockey and a pool table.
A major addition at the property includes a new 11,000- square-foot gymnasium with a regulation-sized basketball court, which doubles as space for two volleyball courts. Two hundred seats are available, and McCartt said the court could be used for AAU events or both could serve as an emergency shelter. Four party/rental rooms are located between the two gyms.
The Douglass Alumni Association now has a space in the newly renovated building — a meeting room area located between the old building and the nonprofit wing. Three trophy cases have also been built in the complex, where the original trophies of Douglass High School will be relocated.
The complex will also include a police substation, computer lab, a courtyard with new playground equipment, and office space. Work to build a 9,000-square-foot community room — a requirement of the HOPE VI project in the Riverview community — is currently under way and should be complete by August or September, McCartt said. Cost of this phase is $1 million.
Future features of the complex could include a book/DVD vending machine (similar to the Red Box machines), a basketball court near the tennis courts, and public art.
The new nonprofit wing of the complex stands on the site of the old auditorium — a feature that could not be saved or renovated due to asbestos. The Board of Mayor and Aldermen approved contracts with several organizations earlier this month and plans to approve five more next month.
Nonprofit organizations lined up to go into the new wing include the Neighborhood Service Center of UETHDA and Mountain Region Speech and Hearing on the first floor, the United Way on the second floor, and on the third floor ALS, Susan G. Komen, the Palmer Center, Kingsport Tomorrow, the American Legion and Big Brothers/Big Sisters.
The only space not under contract is a small incubator suite on the first floor, McCartt said.
Rent for nonprofits is $5.10 a square foot, which includes custodian services, water, electricity and general maintenance of the facility. Kingsport is not paying for the phone or Internet service of the tenants.