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Home > Issue by Date > April 2008

Storage Central

In seeking cost reductions, the City of Chicago captures the opportunity to revive an aging facility.

By Anne Vazquez

Since 2000, the “Pershing Road Complex” located at 1819-69 W. Pershing Road in Chicago had been virtually vacant. The five building facility, constructed in 1918 as a supplies depot for the U.S. Army, was transferred to the city’s Board of Education (BOE) in 1979, which occupied much of the complex for 19 years.

In 1998, the BOE began consolidating its operations to a downtown location, with a small portion of its facilities remaining at the complex. In 2000, the BOE vacated the buildings and transferred ownership to the City of Chicago, and the building came under the purview of the Department of General Services (DGS).

At that point, the BOE was using small areas of the complex for functions such as payroll administration and a central mail unit. But, in 2003 city officials began to discuss the potential for central storage in the West Building of the complex at 1869 W. Pershing, and DGS, under the leadership of Commissioner Michi E. Peña, was part of that discussion. Motivating the conversation was the desire to reduce citywide costs, as the city had identified the possibility of consolidating its warehousing space as a way to move toward this goal.

Ivan Hansen, project manager for the city, explains, “The leased facilities were represented by a lot of warehousing. There was a good deal of opportunity in consolidating leased space to reduce expenses and improve operational efficiencies. During our evaluation it came to our attention that the Board of Elections needed to move from its leased space. It is a big user, so we were able to tie that into the premise of redoing the building.”

In order to present a case to invest in warehouse consolidation, Hansen and fellow project manager, Matthew Beach, provided calculations on continued leasing versus relocating multiple warehouses to 1869 W. Pershing.

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Says Hansen, “We showed what our savings would be by bringing the Board of Elections into the building versus construction costs and payback.” It was determined that moving the Board of Elections to 1869 W. Pershing would save the city substantial rental costs annually. “That was a big push to get the project approved,” explains Hansen.

Beach elaborates, “The budget office had originally directed [DGS] to figure out ways to save money with regard to warehousing. We owned this large building, which was a good candidate; before you build new, you see what’s existing. We wanted to provide a value decision: ‘This is what it will cost on a square foot basis based on the amount of square feet we know we currently need for leased space.’ This took into account costs for new lease space, build out, telecom, and data infrastructure. We tried to come up with a value decision to find out where it would be smart money to invest in a facility like this, which would be a permanent home.”

The central location also tipped the scales for project approval. “This building is four blocks from the most central point of the City of Chicago,” says Hansen. “The complex is minutes away from several expressways and main arterial roads. We save a huge number of manpower hours in terms of those spent driving to and from warehouses throughout the city.”

Creating The Space

With the Board of Elections set to be the largest occupant of 1869 W. Pershing, the project team began the space planning process.

Photo: City of Chicago

Comprised of six stories and a basement, the West Building could provide up to 600,000 square feet of space, with each floor containing about 90,000 square feet. The Board of Elections would occupy close to two floors in the building.

David M. Madia, an architect for the city, suggested that the team retains the services of an architectural and engineering firm to evaluate and prepare a set of drawings covering the existing AE disciplines. With nearly 100 years of history and multiple owners, the building had undergone substantial changes since its original construction, and what little drawings existed did not always provide a clear picture of the facility.

Explains Hansen, “This gave us a good starting point to lay things out. I think that was one of the best decisions we made—to get ourselves a working set of drawings.”

Photo: City of Chicago

The first floor was programmed for four occupants with the remaining 18,000 square feet of common/open space to serve as a staging and loading area to the 10 dock areas and three freight elevators for all occupants. The entire second and third floors were allocated for the Board of Elections, which would also have its administrative field offices there. (The 3,777 square foot office space was designed to achieve LEED for Commercial Interiors (CI) certification from the U.S. Green Building Council; approval is pending.)

DGS had a list of departments that might come into the building. Says Hansen, “We identified departments that were in leased space in order to determine potential occupants. Then we laid out the square footages they would need. Once that was done, we were comfortable that we could fit everybody.”

The DGS team also solicited input from potential end users in order to plan. Says Nicholas Ahrens, Deputy Commissioner of DGS, “The major occupant is the Board of Elections. Meeting with them to get a full idea of their program, what was involved, and how their operation functions helped us and the architects to lay out very precisely the most efficient space for them and for our building.”

Madia designed a typical floorplan for the remaining floors that met fire exiting requirements and circulation to elevators. The floorplan was divided into six different size spaces with the flexibility of combining space for larger tenants.

“We divided each floor into six spaces,” he explains. “Each contains a small office area for a supervisor along with three cubicles. There is also an open space to serve as a conference area and breakroom, as well as a copy and fax area.”

In addition to the Board of Elections, city departments and programs that migrated early to the facility were: Department of Human Services; Fire Department; Department of Revenue; Community Alternative Policing Strategy (CAPS); Gallery 37; and After School Matters. Incoming occupants are The Mayor’s Office of Special Events and the Police Department.

Back To The Future

Renovating 1869 W. Pershing required attention to basic facility systems. In addition to outdated or inefficient equipment, there was a fair amount of deferred maintenance in the building.

Ahrens explains, “There was a lot of work in terms of demolition and systems that had been neglected. As we became more intimate with the buildings, we realized that a large amount of rehab work would have to be done to bring them up to speed.”

From the building systems standpoint, the team needed to implement fire alarm and sprinkler upgrades; changes to achieve compliance with the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA); and new HVAC and lighting systems. Elevators and restrooms were also part of the renovation.

In replacing HVAC and lighting, the project team took the opportunity to implement energy efficiency and controls technology. “Promoting energy efficiencies in the city’s warehouse spaces was another issue that came up during discussions,” explains Hansen.

A building automation system (BAS) enables the building engineer to specify heating and cooling set points and to control lighting timers for appropriate areas. “Many spaces are not occupied all the time,” says Hansen. “So a lot of thought went into laying out the lighting controls and the BAS system.”

Ongoing Move In

Going forward, future occupants of 1869 W. Pershing include the Health Department, as well as furniture storage. DGS keeps a list of other potential occupants as those departments express interest in relocating their operations. Full occupancy is scheduled for 2011, and DGS remains confident in the decision to renovate 1869 W. Pershing.

Says Ahrens, “We had a base that was well worth the investment because of the substantial way the buildings were put together. They were built solid; the foundations were very substantial as was the rest of the construction. The buildings need some loving restoration, and they’ll be good for another 100 years.”

This article was based on an interview with Ahrens, Beach, Duffin, Hansen, and Madia.

To share your new construction or renovation story, send an e-mail to avazquez@groupc.com. Past Showcase features can be found on the Web at TodaysFacilityManager.com.

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