Prosser Career Academy Renovations

The PBC Board has approved a Partial Undertaking from the Board of Education for the Charles A. Prosser Career Academy Renovation Project.

The work at Prosser Career Academy includes a newly renovated CTE (Career & Technical Education) wing to support Chicago Builds, a two-year training program in the building trades for 11th and 12th grade students who are interested in pursuing a career in the building trades after high school graduation. Prosser’s CTE wing currently houses programs such as auto mechanics, culinary arts, graphic arts, HVAC, carpentry and a machine shop. This wing’s renovations will include water filtration repairs, interior finish updates, and IT, fire protection, and mechanical systems upgrades. The roof and building envelope will be repaired as needed. Programming improvements are anticipated to include a culinary arts lab, a low voltage/solar lab, digital media labs, a fabrication lab, and a computer classroom with offices and conference room.

The project is also proposed to include site improvements such as parking lot upgrades, landscaping and ADA accessibility improvements.

The CTE programs at Prosser will be modernized to align with the Chicago Federation of Labor and industry training partners. Labor partners will provide technical assistance to students and teachers to ensure programs align with industry standards and stay current to industry trends. Prosser students will have access to opportunities in pre-apprenticeship programs and unique paid internships with industry partners in chosen career paths. Students will also have the opportunity to earn dual credits through the City College of Chicago partnership. More than 90 percent of Prosser students in 2018 graduated with at least one early college and career credential.

“This is a huge investment into the future careers of the hundreds of students who attend Prosser Academy. We are proud to help students launch into careers that will make a difference in building a stronger future both for our graduates and employers across Chicago.”

– Alderman Gilbert Villegas, 36th Ward

This is the PBC’s second project at Prosser Career Academy; the first was a science lab renovation in 1993.


Follow this project on Twitter @PBCChi #ProsserReno

View the construction contract details for this project here.

Skinner West Elementary School Annex

The PBC managed the construction of a new, 36,000-square-foot annex to relieve overcrowding at Mark T. Skinner West Elementary School. This four-story annex is home to 22 classrooms, including an art room, a computer room, and a science lab, as well as a multipurpose room that can accommodate up to 120 students for lunch.

“Skinner students are working hard to live up to their promise and potential, and this new annex will help ensure they are earning the first-rate education they deserve. Expectations are high for Chicago students, and they deserve the space and facilities they need to succeed.”

– Mayor Rahm Emanuel

The PBC’s scope of work also included landscaping, parking lot upgrades and renovations to the existing building.

The PBC opened the original Skinner West facility in 2009. View more information about that project here.


Follow this project on Twitter @PBCChi #SkinnerWest

View the construction contract details for this project here.

Daley College Manufacturing Technology & Engineering Center

The Chicago Building Congress has recognized Daley College MTEC with a 2019 Merit Award.

“Daley College is on the forefront of job training in manufacturing technology and engineering, and students will flock to the southwest side to pursue career training at MTEC. The future is now shining even brighter for the students entering City Colleges of Chicago, who can be proud of the education they earn and confident that they are learning the skills they need to get good jobs in growing fields.”

– 18th Ward Alderman Derrick Curtis

The state-of-the-art Manufacturing Technology & Engineering Center (MTEC) at Richard J. Daley College prepares students for the more than 20,000 anticipated jobs coming to the region in the engineering and advanced manufacturing fields during the next decade.

The 52,000-square-foot building spans the main thoroughfare of 76th Street, linking to the legacy college facility via a pedestrian bridge. Inside, high-bay space and five engineering and manufacturing labs provide students with the requisite training for highly-specialized, technology-oriented careers. The building’s bold interior finishes and yellow exterior accents echo the brightly-colored machinery in the high bay. The seamless fluidity of the building’s form was inspired by the constant, linear flow of the manufacturing process. Expansive views of the high-bay training area from the main lobby and 76th Street draw attention to the center’s high-tech manufacturing equipment, which served as an inspiration for the building’s palette. The facility’s industrial aesthetic is further expressed through the use of metal panels, glass and steel, as well as the “Caution Yellow” on the underside of the pedestrian bridge. Inside the bridge, circulation space intentionally collides with seating areas, platforms, and alcoves, encouraging students to congregate and participate in incidental learning outside of class.

“Daley College’s MTEC will help ensure that people from across Chicago’s communities are ready to compete for and land increasingly skilled positions in these lucrative fields and help us create a more inclusive Chicago economy.”

– City Colleges of Chicago Chancellor Juan Salgado

In addition to Daley College’s traditional slate of programs—Welding, CNC Machining, Quality Assurance and Factory Automation—the MTEC enables Daley to launch pathways to careers in Mechatronics, Sheet Metal Fabrication, Operations Management and Industrial Maintenance. The engineering and advanced manufacturing programs offered at Daley College are stackable, providing students with the opportunity to begin a career or transfer into a bachelor’s degree program. Transfer partners include Southern Illinois University and the Illinois Institute of Technology. The new center has increased Daley College’s manufacturing space by 150%, enabling City Colleges of Chicago to serve 1,000 manufacturing students per year—a 5-fold increase in CCC manufacturing enrollment.


Follow this project on Twitter @PBCChi #DaleyMTEC

View this project’s contract details here.

South Loop Elementary School

South Loop Elementary School’s new building is a 120,000-square-foot, four-story facility with 32 classrooms–including computer labs, science labs, and art and music rooms– as well as a kitchen and lunchroom, gymnasium with stage, student services center, multipurpose room, and a rooftop play area. The site is also home to a ground-level playlot and a parking lot made with a permeable stormwater detention system.

“The new South Loop Elementary School is a sound investment in current and future students, and in our growing community. Our students are achieving record academic gains and I look forward to seeing this growth continue in the new building.”

– 3rd Ward Alderman Pat Dowell

The new building will accommodate Grades 4-8, and the existing facility (1212 South Plymouth Court) will accommodate Grades K-3. Between both buildings, South Loop Elementary School now has the capacity to serve approximately 1770 students.


Follow this project on Twitter @PBCChi #SouthLoop

View the construction contract details for this project here.

Harrison Park Facility Rehabilitation

Located in the Pilsen community, Harrison Park covers 18 acres and features a fieldhouse with a gymnastics center, indoor swimming pool, gymnasium, and meeting rooms. Outside, the park offers tennis courts, basketball courts, baseball fields, a playground and an artificial turf field.

The modernist natatorium was constructed in the 1960s. In 1993, the current fieldhouse was built.

PBC’s work at Harrison Park includes the replacement of three roofs: the arched roof over the natatorium, as well as the pitched and flat roofs over the locker room and fieldhouse. Interior renovations include gym floor repairs and ADA upgrades to the bathrooms and locker rooms.


This project is part of Chicago Park District’s “Save Chicago’s Treasures” initiative. View other Group B projects here.

Follow this project on Twitter @PBCChi #ParksCIP

View the prequalification details for this project here.
View the construction contract details for this project here.

Brooks College Prep Athletic Amenities

The PBC Board has approved a Partial Undertaking from the Board of Education for upgrades to the athletic amenities at Gwendolyn Brooks College Preparatory Academy.

The project is anticipated to include improvements to the athletic fields surrounding the school: the turf football/soccer field, track and field event area, and baseball/softball fields.

Gwendolyn Brooks College Preparatory Academy is a selective enrollment high school located in the historic Pullman district of Roseland. The school is named after Gwendolyn Brooks, a native Chicagoan and the first African American poet to win the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry.

This is the PBC’s second project at Brooks College Prep; in 2011 the PBC managed the construction of the school’s two additions.


Follow this project on Twitter @PBCChi #BrooksAthletics

View the construction contract details for this project here.

Read Dunning Salt Storage Structure

This project includes the development of a new salt dome storage structure and associated site work at an existing salt storage site. Now an efficiently-assembled, cost-effective dome protects the road salt and sand needed for Chicago’s northwest side.


View other City of Chicago projects here.

MWRD 2018 Energy Efficiency Program

The Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago’s Energy Efficiency Program is designed to identify and install energy conservation measures in MWRD buildings to reduce energy consumption and operating/maintenance costs.

The work may include upgraded HVAC controls, custom insulation of steam pipe fittings, and the conversion of obsolete light fixtures to the latest LED lamp technology at various MWRD facilities.


Follow this project on Twitter @PBCChi #PBCMWRD

Rickover High School Education Program

The PBC Board has approved a Partial Undertaking from the Board of Education for the Rickover High School Education Program.

The project is anticipated to include renovations to Admiral Hyman G. Rickover Naval Academy’s new facility in support of its education program.

Exterior work is intended to include targeted roof repairs and restoration of the building envelope as well as select window and A/C replacement. MEP and fire alarm systems will be upgraded and energy-efficient lighting installed. Interior improvements are proposed in the gymnasium, locker rooms, science lab, art room, and theatre, as well as ADA upgrades throughout the building. Site improvements will include parking lot repairs, ADA accessibility upgrades and building signage installation.


Follow this project on Twitter @PBCChi #RickoverHSReno

View the construction contract details for this project here.

Englewood STEM High School

This new high school will feature modern, multipurpose educational spaces for diverse learning, music, art, health, dance, and more. Its campus will include fields for baseball, softball, football and track, as well as tennis and basketball courts.

The building will also house a self-contained school-based health center designed to support both the students and the community-at-large. The health center will provide access to comprehensive primary care and behavioral health services to residents of Englewood and surrounding neighborhoods. In September 2016, a school-based health center was opened at Steinmetz High School, and provides access health services to residents of the Belmont-Cragin, Dunning and Montclare communities as well as Steinmetz High School students.

“The parents of Englewood deserve to send their children to a high-quality school, and this facility will provide just that. I look forward as our community not only helps to build this modern facility, but to then watch our Englewood students grow in a top-notch learning facility that helps them to achieve their dreams.”

– 6th Ward Alderman Roderick Sawyer

The new high school will not only build on the surging academic progress in the area’s elementary schools but also provide post-secondary opportunities by offering early college programs at Kennedy-King College so that students can earn college credits and access vocational programs, including a construction program with carpentry and welding instruction, free of charge while in high school.

UJAMAA Power II Joint Venture is developing the new Englewood STEM High School. As Englewood continues its resurgence, this $85 million facility will attract area students by building on the surging academic progress in the area’s elementary schools. The school will open in the fall of 2019.


Follow this project on Twitter @PBCChi #EnglewoodSTEM

View this project’s contract details here.

This project was initially referred to as South Side High School.