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of retail storefronts, an iconic promenade between Rollins Road and the Millbrae BART Station entrance, and extensive public open spaces, pedestrian and bike paths and a dog park complete the development.


Pushing the Envelope on Innovation


Te project has several unique and


innovative features that contributed to cost and schedule efficiencies as well as to overall worker safety. Chief among them: selection of a proprietary light gauge steel framing system, Prescient, which allowed the affordable and market-rate housing and hotel struc- tures to be prefabricated in a controlled setting off-site and then shipped to the jobsite for quick installation. Te affordable unit residential


building also is reportedly the first project in the world to use Prescient’s proprietary six-inch internally braced frame system. Tis system received approval from the International Code Council (ICC) during the course of the design, moving it from the R&D phase into applied use.


Rendering of the Gateway at Millbrae Station development from above. Additionally, the project incorpo-


rates a fully automated City Lift parking garage system, the largest deployment of this advanced parking technology in California to date. Offering a unique space-saving design and cutting-edge technology befitting its location next to the high-tech hub of Silicon Valley, the system will accommodate driverless transfers of over 230 cars from an elevator into stacked parking stalls, reminiscent of the movie franchise “Fast and Furious: Tokyo Drift.”


Solutions-Oriented Team Gateway at Millbrae Station


officially broke ground in December of 2019. From the early design devel- opment and entitlement stages and continuing throughout construction, Blach/Cahill has demonstrated strong problem-solving capabilities and an eye for innovation. Tey worked with the client, Republic Urban Properties, and the architectural and engineering team to mitigate various challenges by employing new and innovative approaches. Among the early challenges that


the team encountered were existing poor soil conditions, a high-water table, building height restrictions due to proximity to the airport and limited fire access due to the extremely tight site—all of which led to the search for a noncombustible building solution. Te team pioneered the use of the pre-designed, pre-engineered light gauge metal framing system manufac- tured by Prescient in what was a first application of this scale in California. Blach Vice President James


Woodbury, also the Project Executive on the project, pointed out that the prefabricated system offers numerous cost and schedule benefits. “Te Prescient platform ultimately allowed us to prefabricate about 80


Construction “topped out” this summer on the residential housing and hotel components of Gateway at Millbrae Station.


8 November/December 2021 California Constructor


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