One Madison Park

The Western Specialty Contractors Facades Division, based in Ridgefield, NJ, has helped to transform the discreet entrance to one of Manhattan, New York's most luxurious condominium high rise buildings into a functional work of art.

 

Located at E22nd Street in the Flatiron District is the entrance to an award-winning, modern high rise featuring some of Manhattan's most luxurious condominiums (prices start at $10.5 million for a three bedroom apartment and $72 million for the penthouse). Its private entrance was made up of concrete columns and spandrels with large windows covering the majority of the south elevation. Its lobby often features commissioned art work.

 

Western Specialty Contractors was hired by Lend Lease Project Management and Construction to install a terra cotta rainscreen system on the entrance's facade at a total cost of $1 million.

 

Work began on the project with a laser survey of the concrete structure. Boston Valley Terra Cotta would use the survey to custom-design a terra cotta facade for the building. Multiple trips were required by Western crews to Boston Valley's manufacturing plant in Buffalo, NY for dimension verification and revisions to the shop drawings to ensure that the system would fit a variety of conditions.

 

Once the terra cotta rainscreen system design was finalized and its fabrication complete, Western crews began waterproofing/insulating the building's entrance using a Sika Air-Vapor Barrier (AVB) and Roxul mineral wood insulation, hung with aluminum pins. Western then installed the rainscreen metal girt and track support system to carry the terra cotta facade, then sealed the window mullions at the perimeters.

 

The challenging work for Western began with installation of the decorative, vertical terra cotta fins, which were supported with a steel tube spine system outboard of the wall tiles, some of which spanned over windows from floor-to-floor to create a “floating fin” effect. The terra cotta tiles were then set on the support system at columns, spandrels, window returns, soffits, floating fins and the entrance return. The runs spanned from the sidewalk level to the top of the structure, which is approx. 65 feet tall.  Lastly, Western crews installed colored aluminum sills to complete the system.

 

Each terra cotta tile, which had a natural color finish, had to be meticulously installed by Western crews based on the architect's specified color pattern. Multiple site visits with the architect were required to confirm the colors and final tile placement.

 

<
>

215 East 68th Street

Western Specialty Contractors and their facades division has received the 2013 Transformation Award by Friends of the Upper East Side Historic Districts as part of the design team for the recladding of the Rudin family's East 68th Street.

Formed in 2013, as a response to a growing number of large-scale facade repair and replacement assignments, Western's facades division draws on key personnel with extensive experience from our acquisition, formerly known as Brisk Waterproofing, a Western company serving the New York City real estate community for nearly a century. The facades team works exclusively on large-scale, complex facade restoration and recladding projects requiring the company's unique expertise and experience.

Click  to read the related Press Release from April, 2013

Property Description:

606 unit, residential building with a 34-story core and two, 21-story wings

Tasks:

Remove weather-worn brick facade
Abatement
Waterproofed by:

  • Installation of cementitious parging materials at the block back-up walls
  • Applying a water-based permeable liquid membrane to the prepared wall and flashing at the penetrations
  • Placement of anodized aluminum support system with stainless steel hardware and EPDM gasketing and spacers
  • Insulating with mineral wool
  • Finished with Duranar aluminum sills, head closures and wall coping

Exterior tiling with terra cotta tiles
Silicone sealant application

Challenges:
Building located in a busy residential neighborhood
Occupied with 606 rental apartments during construction
Existing block back-up behind the brick veneer is unreinforced and only 4″ thick
Exposure of reinforced back-up wall could not exceed footage that could be supported within five days in the case of an extreme wind event, and/or coordination of design, fabrication, shipping and site delivery of materials on a global basis
Any one portion of block back-up could only be exposed for five days at a time per the restrictions of the Structural Engineer
Over 150 tradesmen onsite at a time – careful management imperative to control quality and safe working environment
Limited working space making coordination of material arrival and debris removal critical to keep space free
Unexpected Atlantic hurricane and record snow storms demanded unique problem solving capabilities and a high degree of flexibility

Timeline:
Completion – Fall of 2012

Corbin Building

Ornate and slender 19th century terra cotta building.

Built by its namesake Austin Corbin (1827-1896), this slender, 19th century building was designed by architect Francis Hatch Kimball (1845-1919) and construction was completed in 1889. Kimball specialized in utilizing ornate architectural details for various revival styles, and terra cotta provided him with the ideal material to decorate his buildings. Western was tasked with the complete restoration of the ornate terra cotta, as well as the rest of Corbin’s historic exterior, which is adorned with brick, cast-iron window bays, and brownstone.

The scope of work included documentation and assessment of each individual terra cotta unit (over 2,000) and cast-iron part (over 1,000) on the building. Terra cotta units and iron parts deemed beyond repair were slated for replacement with original models from the building, which were removed for precise replication. Other highlights from the project scope include comprehensive facade cleaning, 100% re-pointing of all brick and terra cotta units, complete rebuilding of the highly ornate brick and terra cotta parapet wall, building new brownstone storefront entrances to match original construction, as well as restoration of the building’s main staircase with bronze-plated cast-iron panels, mahogany handrails, and marble wainscoting.

This project was awarded the “Lucy Moses Award for Historic Preservation.”

TASKS

  • Restore the terra cotta and the rest of the brick exterior adorned with cast-iron window bays and brownstone
  • Assess each individual terra cotta unit (over 2,000 total) and cast-iron part (over 1,000) – those that were too damaged to repair, were removed, models were made to replace them
  • Clean the facade
  • Re-pointing of all the brick and terra cotta units
  • Rebuild the ornate parapet wall and build new brownstone storefront entrances to match the original construction
  • Restore the building’s main staircase with bronze-plated iron panels, mahogany handrails and marble wainscoting

CHALLENGES

  • Building located in a busy, urban environment
  • The historic exterior needed to be matched exactly and replicas of 19th century materials were created to do so

TIMELINE
Completed December 2012

Worldwide Plaza

One Worldwide Plaza is a 49-story, 778 foot tall office skyscraper located in midtown Manhattan. The base of the building is clad in granite and precast concrete. The tower facade is clad in brick. The building is crowned by a copper roof and glass pyramid. Western Specialty Contractors was contracted by Macklowe Management to perform the remediation of the facade of the building. 100% existing caulking at joinery of the base granite and precast cladding was removed and recaulked. All window perimeters at the base and tower of the building were also recaulked. The brick masonry of the tower received repointing and brick replacement on an as needed basis. All exposed window lintels were scraped, primed, and painted.

The building’s tower lighting system at the 42nd floor was removed, the light sills re-waterproofed, and a new lighting system installed. Working together with the owner and architects, the project was completed ahead of schedule, and with the least possible disruption to the tenants.

<
>

55 Water Street

Privately held office property made up of two buildings, totaling three million square feet of leasable space. Complete building facade restoration in New York City.

TASKS

  • Seal windows with silicone tape at perimeters
  • Install custom silicone boots at window washing rack and stack joints
  • Remove and replace precast concrete and precast concrete sealant
  • Apply protective coating of elastomeric silicone to protect precast concrete

CHALLENGES

  • The Water Street Office buildings combine to total over three million square feet of leasable space making this a very large project
  • Western needed to develop and implement a testing program to ensure that all of the products were installed according to published procedures
<
>

80 Pine Street

Eighty Pine Street is a 40-story curtain wall building designed by Emery Roth & Sons. Construction was completed in 1960, in the Manhattan Financial District. Western Specialty Contractors was contracted by the owner, Rudin Management Co., Inc. to perform the curtain wall repairs and 100% sealant replacement of the curtain wall on the building.

The scope of work included the following:

  • 350,000 linear feet of metal-to-metal sealant replacement with GE Silpruf sealant
  • 268,000 linear feet of glass-to-metal sealant replacement with GE Silpruf sealant
  • 56,500 linear feet of extruded silicone tape installation at the spandrel glass mullions
  • 205,000 each of stone sealant caps at the existing and supplement fastner locations

The project was completed on time and within budget.

<
>