The higher up you go in the Besse Hotel, the more work has been completed.
On the first and second floors, radiators are heaped in a pile, plaster and paint are peeling off the ceilings and walls, and demolition has barely begun, if at all. On the third floor, there is bathroom tile shattered and scattered, like some sort of incomplete puzzle. On the seventh and eighth floors, metal frames and wiring sit ready for gypsum wallboard later this week.
It’s just an example of everything going according to plan for Adam Schafersman, Besse Hotel project manager. Today, the city will inspect the seventh and eighth floors in preparation for subcontractors to start putting up gypsum wallboard (aka Sheetrock).
Schafersman said demolition is about 60 percent complete. This week, the third-floor demolition will be complete, and by the end of the month, the first floor demolition should be complete, with the second floor to follow the week after that. There was also a $55,000 expense to get an elevator in the building up to code that had been condemned in 2002.
“We’re going along really good,” Schafersman said. “What drives a rehab project like this is the demo. If that is not on time, nothing else is.”
The demolition still has plenty left to do, such as tear out a space for a pair of new staircases and back elevators.
The next step after demolition will be to complete the framing and mechanical/electrical/plumbing work on each floor before putting up the gypsum wallboard.
A month from now, the first residences should be mostly complete on the seventh (five residences) and eighth floors (two residences), with the exception of floors and windows.
Schafersman said the biggest hang-up in the building could be the windows.
“Because of the historical aspect of the windows, we have to take extra precautions,” Schafersman said. “The windows we have ordered are fantastic windows, with aluminum and thermal panes. From the ground, it looks like the original ones. There’s a delay in getting the approval. When we do get it approved, we have to tear out the opening. When you think about it, you’d like to do it right now, but you can’t do it.”
Next week when the Sheetrock crews arrive at the site, the number of workers on site will jump from roughly 45 to between 60 and 70.
There are other hurdles to jump, including roof work on each of the roofs (roofs above the seventh, sixth, fifth, third, second, and of course, 13th floors) and connecting staircases that currently go from the third to the fifth floor and the first to the second floor.
“The way they laid this out when it was built makes no sense,” Schafersman said. “To go to this height with this little amount of floor space on the upper levels makes no sense.”
Andrew Nash can be reached at andrew.nash@morningsun.net or by calling 231-2600 ext. 132.
