AC Hotel on West Main

[westsider28]

As you may have noticed, part of Daniel Morgan Ave was closed today to accommodate construction.  Grading is still going on.  A surprisingly tall concrete retaining wall (like 8-10 feet) is being poured at the back corner of the property.  I didn't expect that, as I thought that sloping the land toward the back would suffice.

[westsider28]

Work is really coming along now.  Tons of workers & equipment out there.  The hotel's FB page posted, "Dirt is being moved this week to prepare the ground for foundation work on the hotel. About 5' of the top half of the site is being moved and stone columns are being installed. The foundation will sit on these stone columns."  The survey stakes outline part of the foundation.  They've already moved a lot more dirt near Daniel Morgan Ave since I took the photo, too.

Looking more closely at the site plans, I noticed that pretty much the entire parking lot will be encircled by a retaining wall.  That doesn't strike me as looking particularly attractive.  Anyway, the wall is the grey line starting and ending at the red circles (the red line is what they've completed so far).

[Spartan]

Based on the grade, the parking lot would be at the top of the retaining wall. I don't think it will look too bad for a parking lot.

[westsider28]

Ah ha! I finally found the construction camera for this project! Enjoy:

http://oxblue.com/open/oto/acmarriottspartanburg

[westsider28]

Crews are doing significant digging / dirt-moving where the hotel's foundation will be.  And they're using that dirt to fill in by the retaining wall.  I heard a while back that foundation work would start in February, so it looks like they're on schedule. Here's a screen-cap from the webcam:

[westsider28]

So, I've been noticing that the retaining wall doesn't match the site plan I posted above.  It looks like they've nixed the Grove Street access to the parking lot.  And then I found the landscaping plan below (LandArt Design Group).  I gotta say, I'm disappointed that the pool area will take up the whole rest of the West Main frontage.  I know @OTODevelopment has posted on this thread. I'd be interested to hear the reasoning behind the changes.

[OTODevelopment]

As always, thank you for your interest in the new AC hotel! As with most development projects, the plans are part of a creative process that adjusts as conditions and assumptions change.  Our main concern will be guest access and use of the entire facility.  The preliminary plans have been modified to better coordinate existing conditions and the limits of the property boundaries to maximize parking lot efficiency and improve guest property access while also making an effort to improve the pool experience.  

For the latest in updates to the project, be sure to also follow us on Facebook on the AC Hotel Spartanburg page. Watch for some exciting announcements that will be coming in the next couple of weeks.

[Spartan]

Obviously we're all excited about the project overall. It's going to be a great addition to Spartanburg. However, It feels like you've left out the opportunity to build additional retail in the future due to the pool location, and that is highly disappointing. It seems like the grass area south of the pool is wasted space, so why couldn't the pool have shifted south, leaving the same amount of grassy space available next to the street for development in the future?

[westsider28]

So I took a closer look at the site this morning, and noticed that foundation work has begun!  You can't really see it from the webcam, since the hole is pretty deep.  But here are some photos that show the concrete and rebar down there.

[westsider28]

Crews have been doing a lot of work over the past month pouring the foundation.  I'm posting an update now because I think we may see the building start to go vertical in the next few weeks.  Workers have put up quite a bit of vertical rebar (around the elevator shaft area?), and I suspect the square hole behind the hotel foundation will anchor a tower crane.  Exciting!  Here's a webcam screen-cap: (I've been checking the webcam way too frequently. Haha.)

[spartanburgh]

The tower crane is going up!!!

[gman430]

First piece of tower crane is arriving on site today.

[westsider28]

Tower crane base is up!  Going back in time on the webcam, it looks like they started installing it at around 3:30 AM!  Can't wait to see the rest of it rise.  I guess the last time we had a tower crane in the sky was when the Marriott was being built? (or did QS/1 use one?)

[westsider28]

The AC Hotel posted a progress photo on their Facebook page today, showing that they've begun pouring concrete for the basement walls.  They also said, "Walls visible from the street level will start appearing in the next month or so."  Awesome!

[westsider28]

The H-J has a brief update on hotel construction (and some progress photos).  Not much new info.  It mentions a few minor issues crews ran into: they found two large, empty fuel tanks underground at the site, and they encountered streetcar tracks when connecting to a water main under West Main.  I'm surprised the tracks weren't unearthed when the City did the West Main streetscaping a few years ago.  I wonder what was done with them.  I'd love to have some tracks here displayed like East Blvd in Charlotte. (/off topic tangent)

[Spartan]

They absolutely should do that with the tracks on West Main. The East Blvd project in Charlotte didn't originally include the re-installation of the tracks in that way. They were just going to thow them out (or recycle them). The Dilworth neighborhood had to beg to get the City of Charlotte to add the tracks in as a 'public art' component of the project. If Spartanburg wants that to happen, its probably best to get the Downtown Business Association and maybe some other groups involved.

[westsider28]

On the streetcar, I contacted the developers and it turns out it wasn't actually tracks, just foundation stuff.

Anyway, it looks like they're a little over halfway done pouring concrete for the basement walls.  Here are a few photos I took today (including what I presume to be the types of brick to be used for the hotel):

[westsider28]

Looks like crews are getting pretty close to finishing the basement level.  Concrete has been poured for the elevator shafts and stairwells, along with walls and support columns.  I'm hoping they'll start on the ground floor soon.  I can't wait for the tower crane to go up.  I found it strange that they poured the curbing for the parking lot so soon, but what do I know.  Webcam screencap:

[gman430]

Anybody know why the tower crane hasn't gone up yet? Never seen a base been installed for this long (1.5 months) without the full crane not yet attached. Really odd. 

[westsider28]

I contacted the developer, and they said the basement concrete slab should be poured around the first week of June. The first floor slab would be poured next, and the tower crane should be up in July.  The building will go vertical from there.  I noticed that gravel was added to the basement floor today, which suggests that concrete pouring should be happening soon.

[Spartan]

Awesome, thanks for the update!

[westsider28]

Good H-J article about hotel progress today.  Basement floor concrete was poured yesterday.  I assume they'll need to let it dry for several days before they start prepping the support structure for pouring the first floor.  The article seems to suggest that could happen as early as next week, unless I'm reading that wrong.  The article also says the structure (concrete frame) should be finished by mid-November. (10 floors / ~5 months = ~1 floor every 2 weeks)  Can't wait to watch it go vertical!

[OTODevelopment]

You are invited to check out the new "viewing deck" at the corner of Main and Daniel Morgan for a better view of the construction progress!  For the next week or so, this will be a great peak at the footprint of the hotel.  As the floors rise, the viewing deck will no longer be needed to see the hotel, so we'll dismantle it at that time.  Remember, this is a busy corner so please be careful as you proceed on and off the viewing deck so you don't end up in traffic!

[roads-scholar]

Thank you OTO!

[Spartan]

That's very cool