In 2009, Dr. Keith Argenbright approached TownSite Company to identify and entitle property within the Near Southside District for the new location of the Moncrief Cancer Institute. After considering five separate sites, the team identified the Knight Waste Management site as the best suited to accommodate the new use. Townsite bid and engaged environmental consultants for the Phase 1 and Phase 2 assessments, as well as contractors to finalize the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality Voluntary Cleanup Program. Additionally, Darin engaged licensed asbestos assessment consultants for survey and air-monitoring, and removal contractors for dry and wet removal.
TownSite bid and hired local Civil Engineers, Dunaway Associates for platting, public and franchise improvement, and site design and documentation. Working closely with these consultants, Darin oversaw the submittal, review and approval process through the City's Infrastructure Plan Review Center and finalized the Community Facilities Agreement. He solicited bids, hired, and managed Conatser Construction, Inc for the construction of the work that was approved in the CFA. This project involved the rerouting and abandonment of utilities within May Street to facilitate the consolidation of the two-block site into a single lot. Upon completion of the work, the Plan Commission approved the vacation of that portion of ROW.
Darin also hired and managed Conatser for the construction of all of the site utility work. The project required major rerouting of primary overhead electrical lines and district fiber-optic overheads prior to vacating May St. The rerouting also anticipated the future service needs of the proposed buildings. This effort required coordination with rated pullbox locations and site and landscape design very early in the design process.
Darin worked closely with Near Southside, Inc. staff and boards to win support of the proposed site design and building location. As the building placement deviates from the NS Standards and Guidelines, Townsite was instrumental in employing an open plaza along Magnolia Street to assist in the building program while remaining sensitive to the developer's obligation to the public realm.
TownSite was instrumental in guaranteeing the financial feasibility of the project by securing reimbursement obligations from the Tax Increment Finance District for all environmental and public work associated with the project. Townsite produced and presented the design cost estimate, and won approval from the Board members. Darin tracked, documented, submitted all qualifying expenditures, and finalized reimbursement to the Moncrief Cancer Institute for $1.9 million.