A 75-ton capacity Tadano GR 750XL rough-terrain crane leased from Imperial Crane Services, Bridgeview, Ill., played a key role in Concrete Strategies’ work on a new senior–living facility going up on North Halsted Street in Chicago.
Reportedly the first facility of its kind in the Midwest, 3600 N. Halsted Senior Housing will include affordable apartments for seniors and also contain retail stores. It is being created by constructing a new six-story, 77,000-sq.-ft., cast-in-place concrete building and renovating an adjacent two-story, 9,000-sq.-ft. masonry building. It will house 79 studio and one-bedroom apartments, community living space, 20 covered parking spots, and 6,000 sq. ft. of retail space. Renovation of the adjacent two-story building will preserve the structure’s historic elements.
Heartland Alliance, an anti-poverty group, owns the $26-million project, which was started in June 2013 and is scheduled for completion in August 2014. Power Construction Co., LLC, Schaumburg, Ill., is the project’s general contractor, and Concrete Strategies, Chicago, is the concrete subcontractor.
A division of Claycorp, St. Louis, Mo., Concrete Strategies self performs all types of concrete construction, including cast-in-place, pre-cast, and tilt-up. It also does architectural concrete work, steel erection, and bridge and road work.
On the Halsted Senior Housing project, Concrete Strategies handled all of the concrete work for the cast-in-place structure, including mixture design, forming, reinforcing-bar installation, concrete placement, and surface finishing for all of the footings, caisson caps, grade beams, foundation walls, slabs on grade, suspended slabs, columns, building walls, and concrete fill on metal deck. The company started work in August 2013 and completed it ahead of schedule in December 2013.
Throughout nearly four months on site, the company’s 30-person crew worked eight hours a day, five days a week to form, pour, and finish some 2,500 cu. yd. of concrete.
Crane does variety of work
To support the crew, Concrete Strategies leased a single 75-ton capacity Tadano GR 750XL RT crane and its operator from Bridgeview, Ill.-based Imperial Crane Services Inc. as the only crane needed on the project.
In addition to the Tadano’s capacity and reliability, Concrete Strategies selected the GR 750XL because it was large enough to do the job efficiently, compact enough to work on the tight site, and in a capacity range that doesn’t need an oiler under Chicago construction rules.
Equipped with a 36.1-ft. to 141.1-ft., five-section, telescoping boom and 33.2-ft. or 58.1-ft. lattice jib, the GR 750XL placed about 1,000 cu. yd. of concrete. It also loaded and unloaded truckloads of material and equipment while working in tight quarters. The Tadano RT placed each load of concrete with a partially filled 2-cu.-yd. bucket that weighed between 5,000 and 6,000 lbs.
One of the main challenges in the crane work was the operator’s lack of visibility when pouring walls and stairs for the far side of the building, said Concrete Strategies project manager Matthew Tierney. In addition, said Tierney, the construction crew took extra care to make sure the crane’s traveling paths were kept free of material and equipment, to permit safe, easy mobility on the tight site.
The GR 750XL’s compact size was a plus in the tight quarters. It measures just 10'10.5" wide with outriggers retracted, has an overall chassis length of 27'6.5", and a counterweight tailswing of 13'9". In addition, it can turn in just 22'4" and its outriggers can be set at four widths ranging from 10'10.5" to 23'11.4".
In addition to placing concrete, the Tadano GR 750XL lifted 10,000 sq. ft. of decking material for each of the building’s six floors, placed 30 16"x16" columns per floor, and handled multi-ton bundles of rebar.
Even though the tight site required the crane to sit close to the building, the Tadano’s boom-and-jib combinations let it place loads on the far side of the structure’s upper floors. Equipped with 141.1-ft. boom and 33.2-ft. lattice jib offset 45°, the GR 750XL could place a load weighing 5,400 lbs.(including rigging) on the sixth floor at a 95.1-ft. radius.
When it was not making lifts for Concrete Strategies, the Tadano helped move the job along by handling equipment and material for other contractors working on the project. For example, near the end of its time on the job, the crane lifted boilers, air conditioners, other mechanical equipment, and materials to the top of the building for the project’s general contractor.
“The crane was extremely useful and fast,” said Tierney. “Its many jib configurations, easy boom-and-jib adjustment, and ease of moving let us reach all of the project’s tough vertical framing and pouring elements.”
Lift & Access is part of the Catalyst Communications Network publication family.
