Aspire APEX/ASSA | New Construction + Office Conversion

Project Executive: Doug Giffin

Project Manager: Nicolas Romano

Project Sponsor/Operator: 

Aspire Public Schools (TK-12)

Max Enrollment: 1,176 students

Construction Type: Tilt-up concrete and office conversion

Project Delivery Method:  Design Build MEP

Contractor: Ascent Builders

Architect: Studio Bondy Architecture

Structural Engineer: SEI

Size: 79,900 SF 2-story building on 4.3 acres

Status:  Delivered Fall 2023, punch-list in progress

Total Project Cost: $37.6M ($471/SF) – Hard and Soft

Campus managed/is managing all aspects of the project development from ground lease through the current construction.  


Approvals included negotiations and management for a ground lease with the Housing Authority, HUD demolition/disposition and commensurate public benefit, along with City of Stockton AUP, Design Review, CEQA analysis, parking reduction, Director’s Determination, and Minor Amendment to the AUP.  


The project also included a seismic upgrade and renovation of an existing multi-purpose building and a two-phase incubator campus with five portable buildings.  


Approvals for the incubator campus included a Temporary Activity Permit (TAP), TAP Major Amendment, Design Review, and CEQA. Campus LLC prepared the Traffic Management Plan and Good Neighbor Handbook.  


We managed the process to limit project cost escalation from the start of 2021 through contract signing in May of 2022 to $880k or 2.3%.  This was in a year and a half that experienced double digit escalations.  A large part of this came through our negotiated contract reduction of $1.2M with the general contractor and sub-contractors during the 3-4 weeks before the signing of the GMP contract.