In 2018, the PGA of America announced its plan to move from its long-time Florida headquarters to the Dallas suburb of Frisco. From the start, this landmark project had many eyes watching its development, and it has been an extremely popular project.
Our team built the PGA headquarters, a 106,622-square-foot, $33.5 million building that opened in August. We’ve done multiple high-profile projects for Fortune 500 companies, but there is something special about building the PGA of America’s headquarters.
AP worked as the project contractor in partnership with Cushman & Wakefield, which served as the construction manager. Design firm Page was the architect.
PGA’s mission is to get people involved in golf, and they’ve put down community roots to make that happen. The leaders want to teach the lessons learned from golf and develop a lifetime love for the sport. This state-of-the-art headquarters exemplifies those goals in every design aspect.
The building serves as the focal point of the bigger development with three floors of office space, a top-floor conference room and an outdoor terrace lounge space overlooking the driving range and golf course. The ground floor serves staff, PGA members and guests with a video studio and education center. The lobby design highlights a wood wall sculpted to mimic the contours of a golf course and includes terrazzo flooring and an open social stair with side seating areas.
The building interior features coaching and training areas, golf simulators, hitting bays and chipping and bunker practice areas. There’s also space for club maintenance and an adjustment center. It really is a first-class facility.
The building’s design maximizes golf-course views with the exterior incorporating beautiful native Texan Lueders limestone cut in large sections of four-foot stones and placed with deep horizontal joints. This contrasts with the double-height glazed curtain wall systems marked with vertical fins.
There are lots of bends and turns with architecturally exposed structural steel wrapping around the building. The use of unusual roof elements, architectural welding, stones, plaster, metal panels and a tremendous amount of glass enhances this high-tech, out-of-the-ordinary facility.
Getting from the start to finish was no easy feat. The construction process from planning to delivery landed in a few sand traps along the way as the preconstruction and planning processes for PGA’s new home began in early 2020, just before everything went virtual because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Like the rest of the business world, we had to adjust from the way we were accustomed to operating. The entire preconstruction process transferred from in-person to Teams and Zoom meetings. We learned the protocol of looking over drawings and plans on camera.
Doing everything electronically created different communication processes, but we learned together and despite these new challenges, the design, management and cost assessment planning went smoothly. Thankfully, construction started before the supply chain industry’s downward spiral, so we didn’t experience the struggle of escalating prices and materials shortages that drove up construction expenses as the pandemic lingered.
One of the biggest project challenges we encountered resulted from the February 2021 snowstorm. Not a phrase anyone typically associates with Texas construction projects, yet, the DFW Metroplex shut down for almost two weeks. During that time, our leadership team discussed how we would thaw out – literally – and prepare for our crew’s worksite return. Safety was our top priority.
Portions of the building are below grade, which the adverse conditions impacted greatly. Fortunately, at that point, we were about 70 to 80% complete with the structural steel erection. A lot of planning was done to determine how best to clear the entries and work decks without wasting three or four days simply managing snow.
Despite delays due to the historic winter storm, document changes and add-ons, we contractually met our deadlines to deliver the project on time and within budget. AP was managing and staying under targeted expenses, and when changes did occur, we were fortunate Page’s design provided options for exchanging materials. Each of the partners involved from Page to the PGA and Cushman & Wakefield were aligned to reach the mutual goal. The team displayed flexibility and teamwork from start to finish.
The PGA’s leadership has called this project their field of dreams, and we can see that. The PGA is reaching out to the community with big ideas, and this building is just a part of that effort.
We are honored to have built the PGA of America’s new corporate home in Frisco. This building expresses the work and focus of the PGA and its members, and it will serve as the cornerstone for the organization as well as the city of Frisco. We couldn’t be prouder of our work on this project that will enhance the PGA’s goals and benefit the community for many years to come.
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