Hudson's Site Building Thread

[Zads07]

Fantastic picture updates, thank you 48307!

The 12th floor shot really gives a great overhead view while the others are great too.

[stasu1213]

I am curious to know if this building be as difficult to build as the RenCen was in 1975 to 1977? I remembered the problems went into the construction of the RenCen.

[Atticus]

I am curious to know if this building be as difficult to build as the RenCen was in 1975 to 1977? I remembered the problems went into the construction of the RenCen.

Please elaborate on what the RenCen problems were, for those of us not able to remember.

[stasu1213]

I remember the gas leak killing a couple of workers in 75 or 76. Also internal construction problems where walls had to be relocated

[ASilvaman]

I remember the gas leak killing a couple of workers in 75 or 76. Also internal construction problems where walls had to be relocated

Sounds very much like contractor errors. Why in the world would problems from 40 years ago apply now?

[stasu1213]

Why does it take 4 years to build a skyscraper when it took only a year and a half to build the Empire state building during the worst depression era

[DetroitSoldier]

Limited work hours due to labor law protections, more complicated infrastructure process [[fiberoptics, computer networks, security and fire systems), and much more complicated architectural processes.

[davewindsor]

Why does it take 4 years to build a skyscraper when it took only a year and a half to build the Empire state building during the worst depression era

Yup, and in China, with today's technology, they build a 57 floor skyscraper in 19 days [[3 floors per day). High speed video==> https://www.theguardian.com/world/vi...imelapse-video

[Gistok]

^As Rich Hall the comedian said... "good things come to those who wait.... but crap show up right away". This is especially true for a lot of stuff in and from China...

They don't bother with the messy task of letting your building settle or cement to cure...

Choose your Chinese building collapse...
https://www.google.com/search?q=chin...h=674&dpr=1.25

[animatedmartian]

Why does it take 4 years to build a skyscraper when it took only a year and a half to build the Empire state building during the worst depression era

The ESB is an anomaly. The owners didn't have money in the stock market but still had to take out a massive loan to cover the money that investors on the project couldn't provide [[the money equivalent to today's costs would be half a billion dollars). The construction materials were pre-ordered and pre-frabicated before construction and the owners bought materials from companies all over the US and Europe. Close to 3500 workers were on the site at any given time with almost 200 trucks making deliveries per day. All these things were not the norm for construction then and still not really the norm now. It takes a special kind of development with a lot of money to achieve something like this.

The ESB was a marvel of construction once it was completed, but it wouldn't make a profit until 20 years after it opened. The building sat mostly empty for the first several years but it was nice to look at so that's at least one benefit to building it faster.

[archfan]

ESB was especially fast, but even the Penobscot Building started in 1927 and finished in 1928. I can think of two factors:
1. manpower was relatively cheaper, so you could hire a hoard to work on the building.
2. very few work rules

[Detroitdave]

Thanks for the pictures, I like the 5th floor best, better view.
And as for hotels The Foundation hotel is one of Travel and Leisures best hotels in the world for 2018. I think they know what they are talking about.

https://www.travelandleisure.com/sli...-island-resort

That will probably change very soon when the Shinola hotel opens later this year.
Detroit has def up their hotel game.

[Kirmie]

Yup, and in China, with today's technology, they build a 57 floor skyscraper in 19 days [[3 floors per day). High speed video==> https://www.theguardian.com/world/vi...imelapse-video

The 19 day part was a public relations thing. All they really meant was that they built the tower portion, not including the stuff inside, in ~19 days of work. Those days involved 3 shifts where each shift had 410 people working.

The time from start to finish for the entire tower was actually way longer. It was 5 months to create the foundation, 30 days to setup cranes, 7 days to do the first 20 floors, a year hiatus from legal stuff, then the other 37 floors were built over 18 days with weather stoppages.

That was followed by 4 months of interior work needed before the building could actually be used. Total time without the hiatus was closer to 300 days. The building went up fast because it was modular and 1,800 separate workers spent 4.5 months building the modules, but I assume that was done while the foundation was made.

It's a cool way to build stuff, that's for sure. Kind of leaves you with generic looking buildings, but that can probably be addressed for an added cost. The USA would probably require more looks, extras, and rules to follow, but I wouldn't be shocked if the modular style could reduce build times and cost.

More info on the 19 day build in the link below.

https://www.bdcnetwork.com/asia%E2%8...odular-miracle

[abraham]

yea, and in China you rarely see a house more than 15 ish years old. They start falling apart about 6 months after they are built. Ruins in china are houses from the 80's and 90's. Average residential house there lasts about 10 or 15 years. They use very shoddy construction as do alot of other countries. We have the opposite problem. Everything is safety, safety, safety. No matter how long it takes or how hard you make it on the trades man. A meet in the middle woud be nice. 50 story building would take us and several other contractors over a year just on heating, cooling, and ventilation. Was a little longer than that on the ren cen. Took a year and a quarter for litttle ceasers areana. Figure 2 years on the hudsons. Not really sure how you can cut those hours by much. Haste makes waste.

[Towne Cluber]

What it will take to be the top hotel in the region:

https://www.crainsdetroit.com/hospit...es-coming-back

[Scottathew]

More progress and activity since my last pictures. The site was pretty active today even with the snow and rain. I'd love to accurately describe what they're doing, but I simply don't know very much. They've dug a lot of cylindrical holes on the floor. The walls of "the pit" look like they've received new concrete as well as perhaps some covers over what I presume are tensioning rods.

[Dexlin]

I'm trying to figure out what they are doing in the middle of the pit. My guess is digging out some of the floor to run utilities through; most of the parking will be automated on racks.

As I've said before, the semi-truck table and elevator is in the southeastern corner of the pit, so I imagine that's what all the drilling is for over on that side.

[401don]

What it will take to be the top hotel in the region:

https://www.crainsdetroit.com/hospit...es-coming-back

Since Detroit doesn't have a 1st class hotel [[i.e. 5* such as a Ritz Carlton, Four Seasons, etc) in the entire metro area, I would say not much.

[Nicholas D'Asti]

It'll be interesting to see how progress is affected when they inevitably have to get rid of the dirt ramp for the construction of the tower. Also great photos.

[stasu1213]

Would the tower have offices, condos, and retail or will it be just offices filling the towers while retail fill the shorter structure? I cant wait for in a few years when the structure finally top off and an American flag would fly from the top beam.

[southen]

Would the tower have offices, condos, and retail or will it be just offices filling the towers while retail fill the shorter structure? I cant wait for in a few years when the structure finally top off and an American flag would fly from the top beam.

The tower will have an exhibition space on lower floors, followed by two hotels, then residential. All of the office space will be in the shorter building.

[stasu1213]

Will the Detroit Fire Department be retrained to handle emergencies in areas that are higher than 730 feet? Detroit will have to get more advance updated equipment to handle fires that will possibly occur on the 90th floor or so

[southen]

How different is a fire at 900 feet vs. one at 730?

[Dexlin]

There is none. Fire codes change after what? The fifth floor or so of a building? After that, it's considered a "high-rise" by building code standards.

[southen]

That's what I figured.