This comprehensive adaptive reuse project required lifting a 60,000-sq-ft steel-framed World War Two-era warehouse 12 feet in the air to create a workspace. The construction team them built a below-grade parking garage, “market hall” retail space with a common court and public restrooms, 45,000 sq ft of mezzanine space, and 60,000-sq-ft of office space.
More than 200 hydraulic jacks interconnected to a central hub were used to gradually elevate the 2,300-ton structure over the course of four weeks. This process included reinforcing and strengthening a significant amount of the existing building by adding plates, column knee braces and angle braces to create truss moment frames. More than a mile of 1-in-thick steel cable was used to provide temporary bracing that avoided welding or other attachment methods to protect the building’s historic fabric.