W.B. Hopke Awarded New Project for Good Shepherd Catholic Church in Alexandria, Virginia

On Sunday, April 23, Good Shepherd Catholic Church located at 8710 Mount Vernon Hwy in Alexandria, VA, celebrated the groundbreaking for their new project that includes a new chapel and other multi-use facilities for the church. The ceremony, attended by the bishop, pastor and members of the parish, begins the expansion project for their growing Catholic parish which now has more than 10,000 parishioners. The church is one of the largest parishes in the Diocese.

The project, which includes a new chapel for weddings, funerals with the ability to offer Eucharistic Adoration and other celebrations such as quinceñeras, will provide seating for 150. The project will also include new meeting spaces to accommodate larger groups. The additional meeting capacity will accommodate several hundred for their active ministries, bible studies and new classrooms for tutoring. The roof of the church will be lowered for energy efficiency, and to allow room for a new bell tower to be prominently displayed.

“We are very proud of this award and excited to start the new project at Good Shepherd Catholic Church,” said Dillon McCoy, lead estimator with W.B. Hopke. “We began the bidding process for the water, storm and a new bioretention area in August 2021. The bid included several rounds of modifications during 2022 and in February of 2023, we received the good news that we had been selected for the project. I think it was our knowledge and previous successes with projects like this that helped us to land this project,” said McCoy.

The wet utilities project, which is set to begin soon, will be overseen by general contractor Forrester Construction. Hopke and Forrester Construction have worked together on numerous projects, including several churches, so this type of project is familiar to both companies.

McCoy said, “For our standards, this is a fairly easy piece of work and did not require major research from an estimating standpoint. The most challenging part of the project will be relocating the existing water line as it is currently positioned directly under the proposed new chapel area. We will move the line and install approximately 250 feet of 6″ DIP water line away from the church where it can be accessed if needed.”

The project, which is to be completed by fall of 2023, also includes the installation of 300 feet of PVC storm drain with fittings and cleanouts located around the west side of the church, 4 manhole structures, and two bioretention areas toward the entrance which requires around 150 feet of 15″ RCP.

Dillon McCoy has been an estimator for Hopke for three years and has won numerous new project awards. Notable projects include Copperhead STACK 05, QTS MAN1 DC3, Eisenhower Townhomes and Alta Crossroads to name a few. “I give credit to Mike Hopke, Matt Hopke and senior estimator Charlie McClellan for training me on the production processes and the estimating software,” said McCoy.

Contact W.B. Hopke about a career in utility installation and site work at 703-971-0404 or info@wbhopke.com.

References
Good Shepherd Catholic Church, https://www.gs-cc.org/building-project/, (accessed May 9, 2023)

The Arlington Catholic Herald, https://www.catholicherald.com/article/local/good-shepherd-church-breaks-ground-on-a-new-chapel-and-meeting-spaces/, (accessed May 9, 2023)

Catholic Diocese of Arlington, https://www.arlingtondiocese.org/press-releases/2023/bishop-burbidge-to-break-ground-for-new-chapel-at-good-shepherd-catholic-church/, (accessed May 9, 2023)