United Construction Company, based in Reno, was Northern Nevada’s top design-build contractor for 2000, according to the Design Build Institute of America. In addition, UCC was ranked second in Nevada and 68th in the nation in the Design Build Association’s 2000 Top 150 listing. The state’s 10th largest construction company, UCC has more than 23 years’ experience as a design-build, design-assist contractor.
Anthony Taormina, founder and chief executive officer, has expanded the firm from its origins in industrial construction to office, retail, hospitality and medical facility construction. Its experience ranges from schools and daycare facilities to insurance company headquarters and federal office complexes. In the commercial and industrial construction arena, UCC has designed and built new business parks, campus offices, manufacturing plants and distribution facilities. UCC was the first major Northern Nevada contractor to create a tenant improvement division, now a popular construction method. Projects have included everything from simple remodels to more sophisticated and complex tenant improvements. In retail construction, UCC has completed diverse projects ranging from regional malls to strip shopping centers, big box retail to themed stores, while overseeing all aspects of the project from space design, to customer ingress and egress, to finding the right site and coordinating the permits.
Among the firm’s current projects are Magnolia Village in Reno, the Donald W. Reynolds Non-Profit Center in Incline Village and Southern Wine and Spirits’ new Nevada headquarters in Las Vegas. Magnolia Village, located on the southeast corner of McCarran Boulevard and Lakeside Drive, is one of northern Nevada’s most high-profile office projects. UCC is overseeing the 75,000-square-foot, boutique-style office complex for its client, The RPL Group. Magnolia Village consists of three commercial-use structures, including a 53,250-square-foot, three-story office building with underground parking, a 9,000-square-foot retail center and a 2,800-square-foot restaurant. The project is scheduled for completion this month.
UCC is also well underway on the Donald W. Reynolds Non-Profit Center, located at 941 Incline Way in Incline Village. In addition to serving as a full-time office for 20 non-profit groups in the Lake Tahoe area, the center will serve as the headquarters of The Parasol Foundation, an umbrella organization for the 100-plus non-profit organizations in Incline Village, Crystal Bay and surrounding northern Nevada communities. The 32,000-square-foot center includes a central sky-lit stairway serving the public offices. Other features include exterior windows along the building’s perimeter offering the occupants a wealth of natural light and a view of the Sierra Nevada mountains. The scheduled completion date of the Reynolds Center is June 2002.
The new Nevada headquarters for Southern Wine and Spirits, located just beyond the Las Vegas Strip, is a UCC project consisting of 322,000 square feet of temperature controlled distribution and warehouse space, in addition to 55,000 square feet of upscale executive offices. The project features a trellised patio and garden reminiscent of a Napa Valley vineyard.
Design-build is expected to become the predominate mode of commercial building by 2005, according to Craig A. Willcut, president and chief operating officer of United Construction Company. His firm has completed more than 23 million square feet of design and construction statewide. “A successful project for United Construction is achieved when the owner, design and construction team come together at a project’s inception and focus on providing a cost effective and responsive solution that carries throughout the project,” said Willcut. “Our team of experts seamlessly move the project from its inception to completion. We like to think of it as ‘where ideas get built.’”
