Welcome to the Elevator World News Podcast. This week’s news podcast is sponsored by elevatorbooks.com: http://www.elevatorbooks.com
AMBITIOUS TWO-TOWER PLAN FOR CHICAGO SPIRE SITE
Two-and-a-half acres along the Chicago River and Lake Michigan originally planned for the Chicago Spire, then Gensler's Gateway Tower, is now envisioned by Related Midwest as the location of 1,100- and 850-ft.-tall towers designed by One World Trade Center architect David Childs, the Chicago Tribune reports. Unveiled during a community meeting on May 15, the towers feature dramatic setbacks and contain 300 condominiums, 175 hotel rooms and 550 apartments atop a podium with parking and other amenities. Related hopes to break ground by next summer and complete the project, known as 400 Lake Shore Drive, in 2023.
CONSTRUCTION UNDERWAY ON CHINA’S FUTURE TALLEST
Construction is underway on the Shimao Shenzhen-Hong Kong International Centre, a 668-m-tall tower for Shenzhen, China. The height would exceed China's current tallest building, the 632-m-tall Shanghai Tower, which is also the world's second tallest, dezeen reported. Though several details, such as the architect, are unknown, the building is being developed by the Chinese firm Shiamo Group, which is said to have already invested CNY50 billion (US$6.85 billion) into it. Apartments; offices; a startup incubator; five-star hotels; shopping centers; international schools; and a convention, exhibition and performance center will take up the 321,900 m2 behind a rippling façade. Located in the Longgang district in eastern Shenzhen, the center could be completed as early as 2024.
WMATA ESCALATOR CANOPY BEHIND SCHEDULE IN VIRGINIA
A canopy being built to cover an outdoor escalator at Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority’s (WMATA) Huntington Metro Station in Huntington, Virginia, is expected to be complete in summer 2019, more than a year later than WMATA’s original estimate, Covering the Corridor reports. The US$2.5-million structure is being built offsite, with onsite construction expected to start in early summer. The source said preliminary work on the project began in October 2017, but little visible progress has been made since. Virginia code does not permit outdoor escalators to operate without a canopy, but WMATA and the government agreed that it could operate if weather is not inclement.
ELEVATOR FALL HURTS THREE PASSENGERS IN ALABAMA
Three people were hurt on May 17 when an elevator at a government building in Mobile, Alabama, suddenly fell from the ground floor to the basement, NBC15 reports. The elevator was in the Mobile Government Plaza, a building that houses city and county government and the local courts. According to the report, 18 people were on the elevator at the time of the incident. The elevator had last been inspected on January 31. The injured complained of back and neck pain, the report said.
BISMARCK ELEVATOR JOB INCLUDES HISTORIC BRASS DOORS
The Otis modernization of the four elevators that serve the 21-story, 1930s-era North Dakota state capitol building in Bismarck will include preserving and remounting 19 sets of brass elevator doors that are original to the structure, the Cavalier County Republican reports. Architect Edgar Miller designed eight sets of cast-bronze doors for the main hall’s first and second floors that depict the history of the Dakotas with cowboys, Native Americans, buffalos, miners and farming scenes. Facilities manager John Boyle said approximately 600 people use the elevators multiple times each day, and the doors are wiped down twice a day with an environmentally friendly product to remove fingerprints.
Image courtesy chicagotribune.com:
http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/columnists/ori/ct-biz-spire-site-development-ryan-ori-20180515-story.html
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