Building a high rise condo tower starting at the top

[walker]

I'd never seen anything like this before.  In this Sunday's Free Press there is an article about a sixteen story condo tower being built in Greektown starting with the top floor and then working downward,  The two top floors were first assembled on the ground and then were hoisted up by hydraulics and steel cables.  The sixteenth floor was hoisted up in May and the fifteenth floor last week.  Once a floor is locked in place then they start assembling the next lower floor which then in turn will be hoisted then repeat.

The idea is that it is cheaper and faster to build a floor on the ground and hoist it than it would be to build each floor in the conventional way as you go up.

FREE PRESS: Upscale Detroit Condos Hoisted Into Place

Here is a link to the website of the company in Detroit  that is doing it:

liftbuild.com   

[walker]

After all these years my adult son and I rode on the people mover Monday for the first time.  It was free and we were the only people in our car the whole round trip (the train is a little worn and could use some refreshing.)  Anyhow my son spotted the LiftBuild site and pointed out to me the strange building.

I just noticed the Free Press link is a subscriber only article (if you read the Detroit forum then you really aught to subscribe to the Free Press and/or the News, since with introductory offers and specials they are really cheap.)

Anyway, here are a couple more links about the project for anyone who may be without a subscription: 

BARTON MALOW: liftbuild-successfully-completes-first-lift-at-exchange-project

CREW DETROIT: special-events - 2022-08-17-hard-hats-(no)-heels

EDIT - another comment about our visit: this was on Aug 1, a Monday morning.  The sky was overcast and it may have sprinkled for a few seconds.  We started walking the Riverwalk at the Drydock area headed towards RenCen.  Besides the people mover, both the Riverwalk and RenCen were eerily empty.  The weather probably explains the lack of people on the Riverwalk.  It looks like most people who worked at Renaissance Center before the pandemic are still working from home.  We stopped in at the food court looking for a snack and except for a Burger King and a Panera's, all the other food court restaurants were closed and most apparently are out of business.  The sky cleared up later and the Riverwalk was busier on the walk back in mid-afternoon.   

 

Edited August 8, 2022 by walker
later thoughts

[Madelyn]

High rise apartments are for the very rich because they offer lots of space for the price. And, the more people you have living in a building the less expensive it is per person.  Just check out https://www.nyrentownsell.com/blog/high-rise-apartment-vs-low-rise-apartment/ like to learn more. That's why high rise apartment buildings take longer to fill up than houses or other low rise buildings.

Edited October 22, 2022 by Madelyn

[walker]

The Free Press today (Jan 4, 2023) has an update on this unusual project.  It is just about done.  One more floor will be lifted then the last two floors will be constructed the normal way - from the bottom up and will meet the already completed and raised upper floors.

From the article:

A new 16-story building in Greektown with upscale apartments and condos is nearing completion and will welcome its first residents this summer.

The 165-unit development, known as The Exchange, is being built through a novel top-down construction method involving LIFTbuild technology in which floorplates are constructed at ground level, then hoisted up concrete and steel "spines" and locked into place.

The building is the first in Michigan to be constructed this way.

The eventual fourth floor of the building was lifted Monday. The final lift — the third floor — is tentatively scheduled for Jan. 15, after which the remaining two floors would be built conventionally.

Here's the link to the complete story but it is behind a pay wall so you can't read it unless you are a digital subscriber:

DETROIT FREE PRESS: detroit-developments-opening-2023 

Here's is an article from October that you can probably read for free from Engineering News-Record   (ENR) unless you've unlikely used up all your free clicks for that publication:

ENR: exchange-liftbuild-delivers-first-us-top-down-project-since-the-70s

Edited January 4, 2023 by walker
for clarification