Photo: Jose Aleman, CME Field Technician, pauses for this shot at the Living Spaces construction site.
Raba Kistner/Austin is working on one of the biggest stores in the Austin area these days. Ground was broken in July, 2017 on a $40 million Living Spaces store in Pflugerville. Raba Kistner/Austin initially provided geotechnical engineering services and is now providing construction materials testing for this 650,000 square foot distribution warehouse and retail furniture store, with expected completion in May 2018.
James Dedrick, PE (photo above) is Project Manager for Construction Materials Testing.
“It’s been fascinating to watch the everyday progress on this massive structure because it’s located near my home,” said Dedrick. “Now Living Spaces is not only a part of my job, it is part of my local community.”
The Pflugerville City Council approved the deal that brought the furniture company to the city in September 2016. The agreement marks the city’s largest economic deal in 2016 and likely in the past several years. The multi-year contract has been a big effort for the Austin office.
“It has been an ‘all hands on deck’ work project from our techs in the field, to dispatch, administrative reports, lab analysis, and Geotech and CoMet engineering,” said Senior Vice President Gabriel Ornelas, Jr., PE, PMP. “We have assured that the large amount of concrete and asphalt were completed accurately and on time for this important project.”
The building is expected to be at least twice the size of the IKEA store in Round Rock, officials have said. The new center is expected to provide about 100 full-time jobs.
For Field Technician Jose Aleman, it was the first big job he worked on from the start to the finish. “All the contractors worked together in synchronization to stay on budget and on schedule. The results are in the impressive transformation from flat land to finished building.”
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