Feature

May/June 2009

Power Structure

Aging Michigan powerplant being converted to class-A office space

By Debra Wood

Built in 1939 and standing majestically along the Grand River, the art deco-style Ottawa Street Power Station became a beloved landmark in Lansing, Mich., even after the 25-MW coal-fired plant stopped producing electricity in 1992.

The Christman Co., Lansing, AGC of Michigan member, has begun a $182-million rehabilitation and adaptive reuse of the nine-story, 227,000-sq-ft brick building. Christman is transforming the structure and adjacent property into the headquarters of Accident Fund Insurance Co. of America, one of the city’s largest employers.

(Images courtesy of christman)

“The Ottawa Street power station is a great location for our national headquarters,” says Matt Haran, director of corporate communications for Accident Fund. “It is so strongly identified with Lansing, as we have been for more than 95 years.”

“Turning an old powerplant into a class- A corporate headquarters is not something that is done every day, so a lot of creativity went into the design,” says Steven F. Roznowski, CEO of Christman, the project’s developer and construction manager. “But the biggest hurdles to get over were financial because the cost of this adaptive reuse is far in excess of what building a new building would be. That is where the power of the public-private partnership we put together comes into play.”

To make the project a reality, Christman assembled the largest package of public incentives ever secured for a commercial development in Michigan. The money came from brownfield tax-increment financing, state and federal historic tax credits, the location in a tax-free renaissance zone, job-creation credits and various other government programs.

“With that group of stakeholders, we were able to put together a deal to take to Accident Fund,” Roznowski says. “We did this in a way that everybody felt it was a good deal.”

Christman will lease the space to Accident Fund at a set lease rate when the project wraps up in 2011. “It is a marvelous setting on the riverfront,” says Ripley Rasmus, director of design for HOK St. Louis, the project architect. “Even though it was never meant for human habitation, we have made it effective.”

Preserving the Past

The exterior of the powerplant will receive masonry restoration and new low-e and fritted glazing, but its appearance, with its graduated-hued masonry ascending from darker at the base to lighter at the top, will remain unchanged, a requisite of its status on the National Register of Historic Places.

Floating terraced platforms will provide four floors of office space in the former 25-MW coal-fired powerplant’s turbine room. (Image courtesy of Christman)

Construction began in September after contaminated soils were removed. “None of the existing interior structure is able to be reused,” says Chad A. Teeples, senior project manager for Christman. “We are building a ship in a bottle.”

The design calls for building floating terraced platforms to provide four floors of offices in the space of the old powerplant’s turbine room. Steel erection will begin in September. Crews will hoist the new steel down through two 30-ft temporary roof hatches, which later will be welded in place and become part of the roof structure, once the top floor is set.

The Lansing Board of Water & Light will continue to operate a chilled-water plant in about an eighth of the building during the next year of construction. Structural stability requires building around the chillers before tearing that facility out. Many of the existing elements provide structural support, so their removal must be sequenced with the new framing, bracing and concrete flooring. “Steel members will remain in place until we get the new floor in place,” Teeples says.

Executive offices and a boardroom will occupy the upper levels, which have significantly smaller floor plates. “It is so tiny you cannot use it for big office spaces,” Rasmus says.

New Construction

A glass atrium will connect the restored powerplant building with a new four-story 101,000-sq-ft structure that is expected to receive a LEED Silver certification for sustainability. (Image courtesy of Christman)

In addition to rehabilitating the powerplant, HOK designed and Christman is building a modern, four-story, 101,000-sq-ft, structural-steel frame building that will connect to the older structure with a multilevel, glass-clad stairwell atrium. Crews will start construction of a parking deck later this year. An old gantry on the exterior marks the entry to the new building.

The project team will seek a Silver certification under the U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) sustainability rating system. Green features include an under-floor air-distribution system, use of low-emitting materials, daylighting with energy-efficient windows, the addition of insulation and recycling of construction waste. “Everything about this complex is focused on it being a highly energy efficient,” Rasmus says.

Teeples says the structure was never designed for sustainability. “We are proud to be able to rehabilitate this historic building and make it work and be energy efficient in today’s times,” he says. “This will be a really unique building.”