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-
The company says the new headquarters – which is home
to approximately 650 employees – requires construction,
renovation and expansion work, all of which started in
spring 2008.
Delta Dental President and CEO Dr. Thomas J. Fleszar
says the project will add more than 150 jobs to the Michigan
economy in the next 10 years. “We started here in Michigan
50 years ago, and we are keeping our corpo-
Walbridge –
Delta Dental project rate headquarters here,” he said in a
Cost: $90 million statement.
Site: Okemos, Mich. “Michigan is a great place for our
Scope: Construction, renovation
and expansion employees to live and work, and we are
Walbridge: “The inviting architec- proud to be part of its future.”
tural character of the new con- Walbridge is adding a 21,000-square-
struction will draw visitors and
staff into a new entrance drive on foot façade, which will house a two-story,
the north side of the campus.” glass-encased lobby, on the Delta Dental
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 is constructing a three-story, 82,000-
square-foot building adjacent to a pond. Building 2 will
have a secondary lobby area, office space on the first and
second floors, and the executive offices on the third floor.
A cafetorium – a combination cafeteria and auditorium –
including a dining room, kitchen and serving area, will be
in the lower level, overlooking the pond.
Adjacent to the dining room will be two multipurpose
rooms, which can be used as conference rooms or private
dining rooms.
Located just outside the dining area will be a dining ter-
race and a fishing pier. Buildings 1 and 2 will be connected
with an elevated, glass-encased pedestrian bridge and an
underground tunnel.
Walbridge also constructed a maintenance garage and
building equipment screenwall. The garage has about

234 ■ WWW.CONSTRUCTION-TODAY.COM ■ FEBRUARY 2009