C.W. Driver, an AGC of California member, recently completed construction on the 120,000-sq-ft Bloomingdale’s in the Stanford Shopping Center. Located directly off El Camino Real in Palo Alto, California, the new three-story retail space replaces the original Bloomingdale’s store that had opened in 1996. Construction on the $18 million project began on December 2013 and completed on September 2014.

"In previous years, renovations have dominated retail construction with the increased need to reconfigure empty big box stores," said Andy Kirby, director of operations in the C.W. Driver office in San Mateo. "At C.W. Driver, we’re now seeing an influx of ground-up retail construction, like Bloomingdale’s at the Stanford Shopping Center, as the economy recovers and shopping center owners look to make more significant upgrades to outdated spaces."

The scope of C.W. Driver’s work on the project included the installation of 657 tons of structural steel in less than two months. The project consisted of four escalators, a freight and passenger elevator, an extensive design-build exterior that included glazing and an Italian thermocromex stucco system. In addition to the shell and core construction, there was an added 63 individual vendor shops for various high-end retail clients that were constructed inside the store at the same time.

 Additionally, a project goal was to reflect a clean, contemporary design similar to other stores in the center. By utilizing a design-build exterior glazing system with patterned obscure panels, C.W. Driver was able to reflect the overall look of the Stanford Shopping Center.

"The thermocromex application on the exterior really made the store stand-out," said Jim Gentile, superintendent at C.W. Driver. "This gave the store the look of an iconic structure, aligning directly with the overall contemporary feel of the shopping center."

C.W. Driver targeted this project to utilize its latest technology practices. In this effort, the project team was dedicated to reducing paper use and fully utilizing technology to the greatest extent in the field and the office, using products like BlueBeam Revu, iPads, PlanGrid, BIM360 Glue and Box.com. All of these programs and devices allowed the project team to spend more time in the field and reduce confusion between plans. This effort was carried over to the subcontractors as well as consultants, with all submittals transmitted electronically via the firm’s Box.com site and sent to the architect for review the same way. This reduced paperwork and time while promoting increased productivity.

In addition to Kirby and Gentile, the C.W. Driver project team includes David Kerr, senior project manager; Richard Poolis, assistant project manager; Stephen Jasion, assistant project manager; Jason Luong, project engineer; Andrew Wells, project engineer; Tom Zaczyk, senior project planner. The architectural team on this project included Kevin Kennon Architects, Callison Architects, who designed the interiors and Gensler’s San Francisco office, who designed the building shell.

Bloomingdale’s Stanford Shopping Center joins a number of other C.W. Driver retail projects in California for Macy’s, Inc., including the Bloomingdale’s stores at the Glendale Galleria located in Glendale, Santa Monica Place Mall located in Santa Monica and the South Coast Plaza located in Costa Mesa.