Congratulations to Straub Construction Company, Inc. for their 21st Annual Excellence in Construction National Eagle Award in the category: Historical Restoration $2-10 Million, for the Entertainment Properties Trust project.
Despite several client-initiated changes, Straub completed this $2.5 million design-build historical office restoration within a tight workspace and ahead of its aggressive 11-week time frame, expanding 19,000 square feet to 30,00 square feet of beautiful, renovated office space.
Project Owner: Entertainment Properties Trust
Project Architect: BNIM Architects / Dolphin, Designer
Project Key points:
Design build renovation
Tight time frame - $2.5M work in 11 weeks – combined with countless client changes within a small workspace – biggest challenge 1930 historical office building.
Very demanding client – many changes particularly late in the project Erected steel and placement of concrete for single span bridge on the 3rd floor of building – all materials brought in through office windows. Brought in specialized lifts from across the state to meet space height and weight requirements.
Owner reference letter stated that project was completed in less than 10 weeks.
Description:
In just 11 weeks, the second floor, mezzanine, and third floor levels of historic 909 Walnut were transformed into 30,958 SF of upscale office space.
The overall goal was to keep history intact, yet make it “21st Century” through innovative design, state-of-the-art sound system and acoustics, cascading water feature, dramatic lighting, natural stone, and more.
This project was unique because of the intensely tight schedule, historic features, and client’s high standards.
Challenges: With such a timetable, Knight said Straub Construction had to devote significantly more workers to the job than normal and work closely with architects and other vendors. “We probably had to have double to three times the staff required to get all the planning and logistics dealt with so the schedule would be met,” he said, adding that the crews also had to make the standard upgrades necessary when renovating older structures for modern use.
