Mickey Leland Federal Building At 1919 Smith St.

[lockmat]

Has anyone posted about this?

Page 2

http://www.gilbaneco.com/uploadedFiles/Home/Gilbane/News_and_Events/Publications/2010/GSA_Brochure.pdf

Quote

The Federal Office Building project will include complete recladding of the exterior skin, a new pedestrian-friendly plaza, as well as new mechanical, electrical and plumbing systems.

[GovernorAggie]

Wow! That looks great! I would think that this is a go, ARRA since stimulus money is behind it.

https://www.fbo.gov/...b=core&_cview=1

It looks like $100-$120 Million worth of work!!

Projected Completion is May 2014.

Edited September 19, 2010 by GovernorAggie

[Subdude]

Huge improvement! That always struck me as a depressing structure. Didn't it start life as Concorde Plaza or something like that?

[ricco67]

Seems to me that some photos need to be taken soon for before and after pics.

Jax?

[lockmat]

Found another image:

http://www.rdlr.com/projects.asp?indid=5&projid=109

[editor]

Sorry I'm super-late with this. RdlR Architects actually posted these images to the HAIF Twitter feed on March 14th, but I didn't follow up on them. Sorry again.

Another reason to follow the HAIF Twitter feed.

[benenglish]

Sorry I'm super-late with this. RdlR Architects actually posted these images...

Thanks for the images.

I worked in the building in the past and I'm about to return there for the next 4-plus years. A couple of thoughts -

The main change depicted is a bump-out of the first floor towards Louisiana. That's been needed for a long, long time. Immediately after the Murrah building in OKC was bombed, all federal buildings above a certain size that didn't already have them got metal detectors. The problem is that there's no room for them on the first floor. They're wedged in there as best they can be, I suppose, but the whole first floor flows horribly.

As an aside, when the guard station went in, they also locked the Smith street doors and put a security fence on the loading dock. Some of us were pretty put off by the changes. It appeared that in an emergency the entire building population would be forced through an ~8-foot wide choke point behind the guard station. Management told us that was silly; in the event of an emergency or drill, the Smith doors and the loading dock fence would open. Sure enough, at the first fire drill, the loading dock stayed closed. (Not a big deal; it wasn't an official fire exit, anyway.) Also, the Smith doors stayed locked. In fact, they locked down even harder; the big, red emergency exit button next to the doors failed to function and the electric locks failed to open. It was a huge traffic jam. Half the building occupants had official directions to evacuate via those doors yet the guards were yelling at the crowd to turn around and go the other way. Complete gridlock. Evacuees were backed up in the stairwells for multiple floors. Eventually, the entire building had to leave via that ~8-foot wide choke point behind the guard station.

I'm willing to bet those problems have never been resolved. Only a really big increase in floor space on the first floor will help and, thankfully, the images show exactly that.

The building has or had other problems, too. Lockmat mentioned recladding. I sure hope that means fixing the propensity of the building to let in rainwater via any wall facing the weather. The place leaked like a sieve when I worked there.

Also, it appears mechanical work is planned. I'll just be happy if they fix the freight elevator. When I was there, the doors on that thing closed if you tried to just block them open for more than about a few seconds. They were very strong; a strong man couldn't hold them back. And once they started moving, it didn't matter if they encountered resistance, if the vertical bars were hit, or if the light sensors were blocked. Those doors were going to close and destroy anything in the way, period. Interestingly, I tried to file a complaint with the city and they refused to take it saying they had no jurisdiction in a federal building. Neither the GSA nor the company managing the building would listen to a complaint because I wasn't an authorized user of the freight elevator. Even my union wouldn't listen; they said they'd fought that battle already and lost. I dunno. I'm no elevator expert. Maybe freight elevators aren't supposed to have any automatic safety features. I just know I didn't care to use it after I figured it out and demonstrated it to several co-workers.

Actually, I won't be happy with just fixing the freight elevator. The building has lots of other problems though sometimes they work out for the better. I really love the screwed-up aircon on hot days because I know one men's room where the temp is always under 60 degrees. That can make a great first stop when you come back from a long, hot walk to lunch in August.

Folks on this forum are (quite rightfully) concerned with how things look and the cosmetic improvements to the building are a great idea. But I'll be happy if they just make the building *work*.

One qualification to all the above - I haven't worked full time in that building in nearly a decade. But I have worked there a week or two at a time every few months in the intervening years. So some things may have been fixed that I'm not cognizant of. I doubt it but it's possible.

[LTAWACS]

Welcome benenglish and thanks for the info.

[Talbot]

I like the pedestrian plaza shown in the first renderings.

[infinite_jim]

[rsb320]

I just noticed those dots on the building this morning, from the train. What are they? I'll get a better look on my way home this evening.

[infinite_jim]

They look like rigid frame structural flanges for the new curtain wall.

[rsb320]

I figured it was something like that, but didn't know what to call them. The entire eastern wall is done now and they are now working on the south side.

[infinite_jim]

The oaks along the entry way/courtyard have been cut down.

[Jax]

Is this the building? If so I've already got a pretty good "before" picture (and a good view of it from my roof). I guess they haven't done anything yet, but when they do I'll post some more photos.

[DrLan34]

that's the one

[infinite_jim]

[rsb320]

They started affixing a grid structure yesterday. I'm not sure what the fascade will consist of.

[Pleak]

Last week when I went buy it, the sign showed a sort of blue/silver end product. Bit more more modern looking than the faded brown.

My question is I know a lot of the concerns with federal buildiings, etc is security - what are they doing/can they do with the Smith Street side? It is right up against the sidewalk there with no setback - seems insecure for a government building - they are usually hiding behind a big plaza protected from vehicles, etc.

[Houston19514]

There are renderings earlier in this thread.

[infinite_jim]

Edited May 13, 2012 by infinite_jim

[infinite_jim]

Here's the job board; see attached.

Edited May 13, 2012 by infinite_jim

[mfastx]

It's about time they got started. It seemed like those little white things were just sitting on the building, with no other progress, for months.

[rsb320]

There's a big red crane on the south side of the building, as of yesterday morning.

[infinite_jim]

[mfastx]

Thanks for the update. It sure seems like they are taking their time with this..

[Jax]

Not the greatest photo, but I took this as I drove by the other day.

[infinite_jim]

The first spandrel glass panels have been affixed at the top of the eastern curtain wall. I'll post pics later tonight.

[infinite_jim]

pic 1 taken 07/12/2012

pic 2 taken 09/08/2012

[Purdueenginerd]

So which rendering will be the final result? the first or second rendering on this thread?