From the Ground Up: Springfield-Greene County Botanical Center

Owner/developer: Springfield-Greene County Park Board
General contractor: R.E. Smith Construction Co.
Architect: H Design Group LLC
Engineers: Mettemeyer Engineering LLC civil and structural; Colvin Jones Davis LLC, mechanical, electrical and plumbing
Size: 12,500 square feet
Estimated cost: $4.3 million
Lender: None
Estimated completion date: End of September
Project description: After 57 days of weather delays, an early September completion date for the botanical center is unlikely, said Miles Park, superintendent of general services at the Springfield-Greene County Park Board. Minus the delays, construction is where it needs to be, he added. The center is being built into a hillside at Nathanael Greene/Close Memorial Park, allowing for a 6,000-square-foot rooftop plaza, said Mike Freitas, R.E. Smith Construction’s project manager. The building will have exposed beams, a sloping, standing seam metal roof and planters incorporated into the building’s exterior and rooftop. It is designed to achieve Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design-Silver status. According to the Park Board, about $3 million of the funding comes from a Greene County sales tax approved in 2006.

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