70 Multiple contractors wire urban shopping center F YOU ARE GOING TO BE IN SAN FRANCISCO, put Westfield San Francisco Centre on your list of things to see. Located between Market Street and Mission Street, between Fourth and Fifth streets, i's only a few blocks from the Moscone Convention Center. Approach from Market Street to see the historic 1896 Beaux Arts facade restored to resemble The Emporium, once dubbed “The Grandest JMercantile Building in the World.” Groundbreaking was in November 2003, and the shop: ping center opened in September 2006. During construction, the 102-foot wide, 500,000-Ib, stee/-and-glass dome from the 1900s—which has long been the signature feature of the building —was raised nearly 60 feet and held in place for ‘more than a year, a5 ronworkers built a new steel structure ‘around and under it. It was then lowered 2 feet to its place atop the reconstructed Emporium building, which was con- nected on five levels to the adjacent San Francisco Cente. "Natural ight filters through the dome onto the 200-foot-ong, atrium, The effect is “Wow!” The 1.5-million-square-foot, nine-level center is home to the 338,000-square-foot West Coast flagship of Bloom ingdale's and the second-largest Nordstrom in the United States, 170 specialty stores and boutiques, restaurants, an international gourmet marketplace, and a nine-screen state-of-the art movie theater. Tenants, including Micro- soft and San Francisco State University, ate in a total 245,000 square feet of office space. The $460 million project isa joint venture between The Westfield Group and Forest City Develooment. ‘Westfield managed project development during construc tion, As a subcontractor to Westfield, Swinerton Builders ‘oversaw the largest tenant fit-out projects—Bloomingdale's, the San Francisco State University downtown campus and Century Theatres. 4 host af other companies also served as subcontractors to Westfield, functioning as general contrac tors on individual projects. Some ofthe electrical contractors that worked as subcontractors include Alight Electric, Ser Electric Co. Inc., Cupertina Electric Inc., Decker Electric Co, Inc., Dynalectric Co., E J Weber Electric Co., M3 Electric Inc., McClure Electric, McMillan Electric, Metropolitan Elec- ELECTRICAL CONTRACTOR SER.O7 www.£Cmag.com trical Construction Ine., Morraw-Meadows Corp.,. Paganini Communications Inc., Sasco Electric, Sierra Electric Co. In, and Young Electric Co, Inc, all ofthe San Francisco area. During construction, moce than a hundred projects were going on simultaneously. Except for a few, al projects had to be completed by the grand opening in September 2006. Logistics were part of the challenge. Deliveries to this Ccenter-city location went to one laading dock, and all 120 tenant contractors shared the few freight elevators to trans: port themselves and their material, “It was pretty chaotic. There was trade on top of trade on top of trade. And every store was getting everything delivered at the same time,” said Tom Carmody, project ‘manager, Metropolitan Electricat Construction Inc., the company that worked as a subcontractor to Fisher Devel- ‘opment Ine, on the retail build-out of two stores. “The set of elevators was on the opposite side of the building from where we were working,” said Matt Sullivan, general manager, Sierra Electric Co. whose ‘company worked on restaurants as a subcontractor to Josh Klein Construction and on a jewelry store as 2 subcontractor to Plant Construction. “When we had 2 delivery, one of our crew had to walk the length of a city block to the other side of the building, then wait in fine to board an elevator.” Complications City regulations also complicated the situation. “All the places tured aut very nice,” said Ernie Ulibar president, Barri Electric Co, “But all ofthe electrical con- tractors had a small window to complete a massive project, especially in light ofthe fact that, herein San Francisco, wehave seven-hour work days.” Bari worked under general contrac- tor Terra Nova Industries to do $1 million of lighting and power Gistribution for six restaurants and two store. In spite ofthe conditions, electrical contractors devised ways to.complete their projects on time, Sasco Electric, as a subcon- tractor to Westfield, did the core and shell Everybody did a good job,” said Bill Wong, owner, Alight Electric, a subcontractor to Sasco that handled the $1.7 mil lion temporary power job, did the basic electrical and worked on two stores, Coordination was key for us,” said Dan McAtee, project manager, McMillan Electric. His company used 10 people on projects amounting to $450,000, including a restaurant under general contractor R.N. Field Construction Inc., a retailer for Scott Thomas Construction Inc., and five restaurants for Wae Construction Inc. ‘Basically, we talked with the general contractors to find out What phase was going to be on-site on a particular day, and then We'd try to get in before them to get our electrical work done. My general foreman also did a good job of getting to know the people at the loading dock, so he was able to doa lot of scheduling. That worked out pretty well for us,” MeAtee said, Trained electricians were at a premium. “We relied heavily on The historic steel-and-glass dome from the 1908 Emporium Building was raised nearly 60 feet and held in place for a year. the local union hal for manpower and worked over- time as required when the owner-furished fixtures arived,” said Wayne Hule, president, Young Electric, wich did the electrical on several projects totaling ‘almost $600,000 under general contractors Oak- stone Construction, Skyline Construction Inc., RMR. Construction Co., and Swinerton Builders, general Contractor for retail planning and construction. E J Weber Electric Co., completed the electri- cal work on nine stores. ‘We kept our people on the go. Coordination of manpower and even keeping the materials straight was pretty difficult, and it was very com: plicated in terms of getting inspections for the electrical and life safety,” said James Coffman, E J Weber president. Morrow-Meadows worked under general contractor Taisel Corp., a Japanese firm with an office in San Jose, Calif, on a $2 milion build-out of a Century Theatre nine plex “We knew that the biggest challenge for us was to get the projection raoms done early since they were labor-intensive, and they needed to be turned aver to the owner prior to open- ing so the rooms could be programmed, balanced and started Up. Making the final date required two authorized weekends, of overtime,” said Jim Goetz, vice president and general man: ager, Morrow-Meadows, Northern California Division, whose work force peaked at 20. “Of the theaters we've done, this job was the most challenging because of the five-month timeline and its location onthe fourth level of the constaiction site. We were able to meet the schedule because of our preconstruc- tion planning, but every day, there were new challenges,” said Goetz, whose projet included the complete electrical system along with wiring the surround sound, projection rooms and three concession stands. ‘Borders bookstore is one of the only stores in the mall that used conduit to install all lighting and power. No MC. cable was allowed," said Tom McClure Jr, president and project manager, McClure Electric Inc., whose company did all the lighting, power and fire alarm for Borders (a three wewEtmag.com SERO7 -lcorHicaLcomtRacroR | 71month, $450,000 project as a sub to Swinerton Builders), for ‘2 $95,000 project for general contractor Bevilacqua and Sons, ‘and for a $70,000 project for Signature Construction. “To make sure the project would be completed before the mall was opened, our 14-person crew worked overtime during the week and Saturdays and Sundays," he said, Cupertino Electric (CE!) was a subcontractor to Swinerton Builders on Bloomingdale's, a nine-month, $8.5 million proj- ect, involving 69 separate vendors and more than 12,000 lighting fitures. The company peaked at 80 electricians ‘Due to our innovative method of prefabbing the light fixture components," said Tom Kirwan, project manager, Cupertino Electric, “we were able to keep up with the project schedule. Since all the vendor shaps brought in their own designs the last month of the project, the con. struction teams worked around the clock. And it was completed on time due to the instantaneous decision ‘making and construction expertise of the joint efforts of Cuper- tino, Swinerton and Federated (Department Stores].” CE! also worked under general contractors Lakeview Con- struction and Fisher Development Inc., Trainor Commercial Construction Inc., Commercial Contracting Management Inc. and International Contractors Inc., using 28 workers at peak fora different 17-week project for the electrical and life safety, and security systems on several stores. \We received our deliveries at night or had our workers. receive them on Mission Street to avoid the loading dock, said Philip Singler, project manager, Cupertino Electric CEL also did the electrical for San Francisco State University, fon the fifth and sixth flaors of the Centre, as a subcontrac: tor to Swinerton. Paganini Communications, also a Swinerton subcontractor, installed the voice/datalvideo cabling for a complete cabiing infrastructure. The company used nine IBEW. sound and communications technicians, trained in voice/datal video and Uniprise Solutions by CommScope. From the main server room workers ran fiber, copper and coax to various other, IDF closets throughout the fifth and sixth floors and then to classrooms, labs and office spaces. “It was a high-profile project that we are happy to have worked on," said Lary Andrin, vice president, Paganini Communications 72 | euectmica conTRACTOR =SERO7 www.£Cmag.com FARALL The Emporium Building was called “the grandest mercantile building in the world” when it opened in 1896. Historically significant elements have been preserved in the renovation. Ph COURTESY OFS METEONS The owner was pleased, to. “We're thrilled with the results, The expertise... helped shape the Centre's status as a wor'd- class etal, business and entertainment destination," said Steve Eimer, vice president for development for Westfield, "Thanks to the work of hundreds af skilled contractors, a strategic site to the city has been reinvigorated as a retail hub, drawing custom. es from around the world.” Ec CASEY, author of “Kiss inventing! A Hancbook for ‘Young Inventors” and "Women Invent! Twwe Canturies of Discoveries that have Changed! Qur World,” can be reached at sebookesaol.com or www.susancaseybooks.com, PROJECT PARTNERS THE WESTFIELD GROUP—Owners and construction managementigeneral contractor FOREST CITY ENTERPRISES INC.—Owners KA INC.—Executive architect RTKL ASSOCIATES INC.—Design architect, for retail, entertainment and office portions KOHN PEDERSON FOX ASSOCIATES— Design architect for facade of Bloomingdale's KEY SUPPLIERS COMMSCOPE-Voice and data cabling CUMMINS WEST—Generator DIVERSIFIED FIRE ALARM—Fire alarm EATON CUTLER-HAMMER—Tiansformers, panelboards, lighting contactors, LEVITON-—Lighting switches SQUARE D—Switch gear, transformers, electrical panels, distribution equipment