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Dan Lagiovane,
Media Relations Manager |
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For Immediate Release June 11, 2004 Carnegie
Museum of Natural History names Pittsburgh … Carnegie Museum of Natural History has selected Jendoco Construction Corporation of Pittsburgh as Construction Manager for its Dinosaurs in Their World expansion project. The selection came at a recent meeting of Carnegie Museum of Natural History's Executive Committee. "I am very pleased to announce the selection of Jendoco Construction Corporation," said Bill DeWalt, then-Director, Carnegie Museum of Natural History. "Their selection is another positive step forward and continues the great momentum this project has. We are also pleased that a local company of the quality of Jendoco will be involved because of the positive economic benefits it will have for the region." As Construction Manager Jendoco will be responsible for developing a building trades potential subcontractors list, preparing bid packages and soliciting bids for the project work. Once construction begins, they will provide on-site staff to monitor the project and ensure completion both on a timely and cost effective basis. The naming of Jendoco as Construction Manager is the second major announcement of the year for the Dinosaurs in Their World project. In February, E. Verner Johnson and Associates of Boston and the Pittsburgh office of Burt Hill Kosar Rittelmann Associates were selected as the project's architects. "Everyone at Jendoco Construction is excited to be involved with this wonderful exhibit and to be working with such a prestigious organization as the Carnegie," said John W. Zang III, Vice President and Project Manager for the expansion project. Dinosaurs in Their World is an expansion and renovation project that creates additional space for state-of-the-art exhibitions. The museum plans to use its world-class dinosaur collection to create dynamic new exhibitions, which, for the first time, will integrate dinosaurs into the environments of their respective time periods. Carnegie Museum of Natural History's Dinosaur Hall currently features 15 dinosaur skeletons in a space originally built for one. Several of these dinosaurs are among the world's most famous and most complete specimens-among them, Diplodocus carnegii, or "Dippy," named after Andrew Carnegie, and Tyrannosaurus rex, or "T. rex," which was the first of its species ever found. The expanded dinosaur exhibition, which will occupy nearly three times the space as the current Dinosaur Hall, will depict dinosaurs in reconstructions of their environments. The expansion will include the creation of a dramatic atrium, which will become the central focus of Carnegie Museum of Natural History and reinforce its basic themes. Dinosaurs currently on display in Dinosaur Hall will be remounted in scientifically accurate, active poses. A number of previously never-before-exhibited specimens will also be added to the hall. The museum is engaged in a major fund raising campaign for the Dinosaurs in Their World project. It received a $15 million allocation from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and has also received large gifts from Eden Hall Foundation and the Heinz Endowments. "There continues to be tremendous enthusiasm and support for the project in the foundation community as well as among the general public," DeWalt said. "Many people recognize the economic benefits that Dinosaurs in Their World will have as the region's first day tourist attraction." Since 1957, the Jendoco team has built, renovated, and restored hundreds of buildings in Pittsburgh and western Pennsylvania. Their experience is widely varied, including the construction of office buildings, hospitals, laboratories, retail, and commercial facilities; as well as water containment, research, industrial and warehousing, and educational facilities. In addition, their renovation/restoration experience has been just as varied, including the renovation and/or restoration of such historic structures as the Beth Shalom Congregation, the Rodef Shalom Temple, Calvary Episcopal Church and the Pittsburgh Center for the Arts; and the transformation of existing structures for new uses, such as the John Heinz Pittsburgh Regional History Center for the Historical Society of Western Pennsylvania. # # #
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