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Roel Construction Company is in the
midst of a two-year project to add a 16-story, 340-room hotel, meeting place, pool, and spa to the existing Agua Caliente Casino in Rancho Mirage, California. Roel also built the 141,000 square-foot casino and 160,000 square foot, four-story parking structure in 2000-2001.
The new hotel features poured in place concrete with an eifs and glass skin—made up of metal studs, foam sheeting and fiberglass. According to Fred Nolta, Roel’s Group Manager, the process is used frequently in Las Vegas and Disneyland construction because it is easier to seam on a structure with many architectural features.
The total project is in excess of 450,000 square feet, with about 29,000 square feet of meeting space, 11,500 square feet of spa building, and the remainder the hotel tower, entrance, retail space, restaurants and swimming pool. |
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Roel Construction got involved with pre-construction with their client, The Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians, in February 2006, with excavation beginning in July 2006. Fred says that Roel expects to complete the project in March 2008.
Roel has about 30 employees on the project, most in a supervisory position. The company isn’t self-performing any of the work on this project, mostly due the fact that the workforce has to commute from the San Diego, Los Angeles and Riverside areas.
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Another challenge for Roel on this project is coordinating work around the existing casino, which is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The hotel is being built in front of the casino and will be tied into the casino. In preparation for the construction, Roel was responsible for constructing a temporary main entrance for the casino and building additional parking lots for the parking areas that are eliminated by the new hotel structure. There will be a new porte cochere once the hotel is completed.
The final challenge is the weather in the Palm Springs area. The city is located in a gap in a mountain area, and is subject to high winds. In fact, the area is home to thousands of windmills used to generate electricity. Fred says that wind has shut down their tower crane on occasion during the project. Also the temperatures can reach up to 115 degrees Fahrenheit in the summer. To counter the heat, the crews will work from 2 a.m. to 10 a.m. in the summer. The added benefit to working that shift is there is less traffic at the casino during that time, as well.
In typical Roel fashion, Fred has been involved with this project since the initial presentation to the client and will see it through to completion. The guaranteed maximum price (GMP) contract includes all phases of the project from budget to design/development and construction. Roel’s project managers are responsible for estimates and schedules, as well as for value and constructability analyses, Fred says.
The project architect is VOA Associates, Inc. Roel Construction does a variety of size of projects, with this one being typical in size. When completing projects in San Diego County, where the company is located, Roel Construction often self-performs the concrete work. An example of this is the twin 22-story Renaissance towers in downtown San Diego. The company also does quite a bit of tenant improvement work. |
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(Above) Concrete work on site.
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(Above) Placing a concrete form. |
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(Above) A CAT 966F wheel loader. |
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(Above) A CAT 623E Scraper. |
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| Recent work for the company includes another design/build casino in Winter Haven, California; the Qualcom campus in San Diego, which includes a theater, tenant improvement and two new buildings, and an upcoming 12-story HUD subsidized housing project for Father Joe, an organization that helps the homeless. The company also builds churches, private schools and golf course clubhouses. |
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Roel has satellite offices in Palm Springs and Las Vegas, where they also build golf course clubhouses, light commercial structures and some gaming outlets, although none of their work is on the Las Vegas strip. They employ 400 people company-wide.
Fred says that Roel has been nominated by sub-contractors in the San Diego area as “general of the year” many times due to the fact that they pay their contractors on time and generally treat them right.
“We pay attention to our clients, too,” Fred explains. “We bring a better quality of personnel and subs to the table.”
Roel was founded in 1917 in North Dakota by grandfather Tom Roel. Tom’s son, Paul, led the business from 1936 to 1987, and now Paul’s son, Stephen acts as the company’s chairman. Wayne Hickey is Roel’s CEO, and Kevin Elliott, great grandson of Tom, is the company’s President/COO.
For more information look online at www.roel.com. or call (619) 297-4156.
(Right) Artist rendering of the completed project. |
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(Above) Future hotel rooms. |
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(Above) The crane on site. |
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(Above) Construction of concrete columns. |
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