Sights from the site: October

Some progress images from around the site on a rainy October Wednesday:

When seen from above, every building foundation (22) is complete, with vertical construction underway on eight buildings that contain well over half of the development’s apartments.  Townhouse framing progresses rapidly, with two buildings already under roof.

A midrise at Western Ave & Litchfield St is furthest along, with exterior windows, brick and stone in place.  Future retail bays can be seen at street level.

Inside the buildings, drywall and insulation now clearly show the ample light and living areas in the apartment units.

What a Difference a Year Makes

It’s been exactly one year since the formal start of construction, and the site has gone through a dramatic transformation as we’ve moved through demolition, excavation, foundations and steel.  The vision of a dynamic, mixed use Charlesview in north Brighton becomes clearer every day.

Click image to enlarge.

Coming into View

The City of Boston and Charlesview have layers and layers of importance to one another.    As the steel buildings rise along Western Avenue, downtown Boston comes into view.  And with activity ramping up all over the site, there are now over 120 construction workers on the jobsite each day, priming the Boston economic recovery and great local jobs.  We move closer and closer to realizing the vision of preserving Charlesview as a critical housing asset for Allston-Brighton families.

See the gallery below for lots of great images around the site (click any image to enlarge and launch slideshow)

The first townhouse foundation is formed along Telford Street, near STAR Market

The shape and massing of Building D1 comes into view, looking from the south

A closer view of the steel framing of Building D1

Boston views start to become apparent from the 4th floor of Building D1

A view of the third floor of Building D1 with steel and concrete in place

A view of the E1 framing progress, taken from D1, looking across what will be Antwerp Street extension

Workers prepare the reinforcement for the concrete deck to be poured later this week.

Progress continues inside the garage on mechanical and plumbing.

Street wall coming into shape: Steel erection of Building E1 in progress, with the steel framing of Building D1 completed in the background.

Change of Direction

After an incredibly mild winter and a carefully coordinated effort by JMA (general contractor), J. Derenzo Co. (sitework) and JL Marshall (concrete), the foundations will be substantially completed in the next week.  A small portion of the garage–about 10 isolated footings and a section of wall–will remain unfinished so the earthen ramp can allow a crane and other equipment to continue to access the garage level for another few months.

The garage structure is over 110,000 square feet in area, so what the team has accomplished this winter is the equivelent of building a structure the size of the old K-Mart/Office Max building out of reinforced concrete, underground, beneath the water table.

This milestone also signals an important direction for the project: Up.

Steel will begin to arrive in early March for the erection of the garage structure.  By late spring, the steel will be back up to grade level and the structure of the two largest mixed use buildings will commence.

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Concrete Foundation Progress Despite the Rain

Make a two-acre hole in the ground, exposing earth all the way down to the clay layer.  Then add about four inches of rain and tons of heavy construction equipment.  Those have been the working conditions on the Charlesview site this week, and yet substantial progress has been made.

Upon reaching the bottom of the western portion of the excavation last week, JMA has coordinated the sitework and concrete subcontractors to place, form and pour the foundations for the perimeter wall of the garage.  All this week, workers have had to continually manage the rainwater by trenching, draining, pumping and drying the areas where concrete is to be poured.  Despite the challenging conditions, the first several hundred feet of foundation have been poured, including the full length of continuous footing along Litchfield Street, and about a third each of the northern and southern foundations.  Next week, forms will go in place to start pouring the actual garage walls.

Rebar is moved into place for the future south wall fo the garage

 

 

 

 

Workers progress the foundation of the new north wall of the garage, mitigating accumulated stormwater as they go

Hitting Bottom

The Garage Excavation begins to reach the bottom in portions of the site

Excavation continues for the parking garage, with a constant flow of trucks hauling excavated dirt away to disposal facilities.  But certain areas have reached the bottom of the garage excavation and are ready to begin setting the first concrete foundations.  The concrete subcontractor, JL Marshall & Sons, will be coordinating with JMA and the site subcontractor to set the first forms and start pouring concrete, likely early next week, weather depending.

The installation of the foundations and garage slab is expected to take about 3 months.  By March, we hope to be erecting the garage deck.

Note that the Telford Street opening will likely occur a week or two from now, a slight delay from this previous post.  This is due to some additional coordination of grading and paving to ensure that Telford Street, the new McDonalds, and the existing STAR market parking lot all come together as smoothly as possible.