Sep 7 2007
California's largest mass excavator, Sukut Construction, begins work on the Inland Empire's prominent New Model Colony. The project will encompass 13 square miles within the city of Ontario. New Model Colony is one of today's most significant and largest projects in development in Southern California.
Sukut competed with 17 companies for the job, of which only five were deemed qualified to manage such a massive project. Sukut, which is based in Santa Ana, was awarded the $96 million contract to build the roads and underground infrastructure on the 4,000-acre first phase of New Model Colony.
The project is rising from the largest remaining, centrally located and undeveloped area in Southern California, and as such is expected to become an important employment, cultural and entertainment center for the Inland Empire and east Los Angeles County.
"New Model Colony is one of Southern California's most major developments on the boards today," Sukut CEO, Michael Crawford said. "With Sukut having spent much of its 40 years in business working on jobs of these dimensions and complexity, New Model Colony is a good fit. We're proud to be part of such an enormous high-profile development."
Consider the numbers. Sukut will be building six arterial roads totaling 13 miles. This equates to 4.8 million square feet of pavement, or 200,000 tons of asphalt, enough to pave one lane from Los Angeles to Las Vegas.
Sukut will excavate 900,000 cubic yards of dirt. In football terms, that's enough dirt to bury the field under a 385-foot mountain -- the height of a 32-story building. Sukut also will lay 240,000 lineal feet of water, sewer and storm pipe; install 532 street lights and 23 traffic signals.
Sukut expects to complete the job in 16 months, mobilizing approximately 150 employees and 12 large excavating machines.
The land on from which New Model Colony will rise is primarily dairy farms and pasture. Sukut will build the arterial highways on existing roads: Archibald, Hamner and Mill Creek which run north and south, and Riverside, Merrill and Belgrave which run east and west.
The job involves clearing the path of the arterials; installing sewer, water, reclaimed water and storm water pipelines; adding conduits for gas, electric, fiber optic and cable utilities; and finishing with curbs, gutters, asphalt, street lights and traffic signals.
A consortium of 26 prestigious developers including Lewis Properties, Brookfield Homes, Stratham Communities, Richland Communities and Meritage Homes will then move in to build on the property.
The entire project is expected to take 20 years to complete and increase the population of Ontario by 120,000 people. New Model Colony will include 30,000 homes, plus commercial centers, schools and parks. New Model Colony will be developed in three phases, and Sukut intends to bid on all three.