Dive Brief:
- McCarthy Building Cos. has invested in its own workforce development with a 12-acre campus in Arizona dedicated to training employees in leadership and technical skills, the contractor announced on Aug. 12.
- The McCarthy Anchor Campus, located in Tempe, will offer professional development, technical training and collaboration opportunities to the firm’s 8,000 craft and salaried employees across the U.S. McCarthy purchased the former hotel and convention site in January and recently broke ground on its renovation.
- The effort will build on its workforce development initiatives both nationally and within Arizona, according to the firm. In Chandler, the company has previously established its Innovation and Craft Workforce Center, which caters to craft professionals aiming to receive hands-on training.
Dive Insight:
The groundbreaking represents the first phase of the contractor’s plan to redevelop the campus, R.J. Morris, the company’s senior vice president of the Anchor Campus, said in an email to Construction Dive. The plan for the 171,030-square-foot campus will take approximately 16 months to complete, Morris said.
The complex will contain 13 total buildings on the site, per Morris, which includes the main structure that contains the lobby, restaurant, meeting spaces and one block of rooms. Alongside that are 11 hotel room structures and a conference center.
Currently, the project team is working on guest rooms and minor demolition.
“Since acquiring the facility in January, the design-build team has been actively assessing the campus while working through design, collaborating on key decisions for the future facility, and working through permitting,” Morris said.
In addition, the Tempe training complex will include flexible classrooms, breakout spaces, wellness amenities and adaptable outdoor spaces, according to the announcement. McCarthy tapped hospitality management firm Pyramid Global Hospitality to operate the facility.
Tempe was a “natural fit” for the firm’s training ambitions due to the area’s accessibility and McCarthy’s history in the region, Morris said.
“The McCarthy Anchor Campus builds on our existing learning and development programs by creating new opportunities for employees across the country to come together to learn, collaborate and develop new skills in one dedicated space,” Morris said.
McCarthy’s efforts to grow the campus arrive amid a groundswell of support for workforce trade initiatives. On June 8, Meta announced the launch of the America’s Workforce Academy, a $115 million training initiative geared toward skilled-trades training and employment opportunities on data center jobs. It followed that up last week with an announcement that it was partnering with the North America’s Building Trades Unions to develop apprenticeship programs in the space.
Separately, Google announced its own, $50 million initiative that would support labor unions and training centers to improve education and outreach.
