WALBRIDGE - DELTA.
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        WALBRIDGE – DELTA DENTAL PROJECT
        Walbridge is completing Delta Dental’s new
        Michigan headquarters, which will seek
        LEED certification upon completion.
        Delta Dental’s New Home
        Walbridge was tasked with headquarters construction, renovation and expansion for Michigan-based Delta
        Dental, which is America’s largest dental benefits carrier, providing care for more than 50 million individuals.
                  D    tion manager.
                                    elta Dental’s new $90 million headquarters in
                                    Okemos, Mich., consists of 296,000 square feet on
                                    57 acres. The project was designed by Albert Kahn
                       Associates Inc., and Detroit-based Walbridge is the construc-
                                                                                            site’s Building 1. The west wing also will include office
                                                                                            space and conference rooms. The north wing is receiving a
                                                                                            three-level expansion that will be used as office space.
                                                                                            The building’s mechanical, electrical, plumbing and telecom-
                                                                                            munications systems will be revamped.
                          The company says the new headquarters – which is home                The company is constructing a three-story, 82,000-
                       to approximately 650 employees – requires construction,              square-foot building adjacent to a pond. Building 2 will
                       renovation and expansion work, all of which started in               have a secondary lobby area, office space on the first and
                       spring 2008.                                                         second floors, and the executive offices on the third floor.
                          Delta Dental President and CEO Dr. Thomas J. Fleszar              A cafetorium – a combination cafeteria and auditorium –
                       says the project will add more than 150 jobs to the Michigan         including a dining room, kitchen and serving area, will be
                       economy in the next 10 years. “We started here in Michigan           in the lower level, overlooking the pond.
                                              50 years ago, and we are keeping our corpo-      Adjacent to the dining room will be two multipurpose
        Walbridge –
        Delta Dental project                  rate headquarters here,” he said in a         rooms, which can be used as conference rooms or private
        Cost: $90 million                     statement.                                    dining rooms.
        Site: Okemos, Mich.                      “Michigan is a great place for our            Located just outside the dining area will be a dining ter-
        Scope: Construction, renovation
        and expansion                         employees  to live and work, and we are       race and a fishing pier. Buildings 1 and 2 will be connected
        Walbridge: “The inviting architec-    proud to be part of its future.”              with an elevated, glass-encased pedestrian bridge and an
        tural character of the new con-          Walbridge is adding a 21,000-square-       underground tunnel.
        struction will draw visitors and
        staff into a new entrance drive on    foot façade, which will house a two-story,       Walbridge also constructed a maintenance garage and
        the north side of the campus.”        glass-encased lobby, on the Delta Dental      building equipment screenwall. The garage has about
        234 ■ WWW.CONSTRUCTION-TODAY.COM    ■   FEBRUARY 2009