The historic Hotel John Marshall in Richmond, Va., was designed in 1928 by local architect Marcellus Wright and opened October 30, 1929, the day after the stock market crash that signaled the start of the Great Depression. Despite the bankruptcy that soon followed, the hotel managed to survive for another six decades, until it closed in 1988.
In 2007 Virginia Atlantic Development and Dominion Realty Partners formed John Marshall Building LLC to redevelop the vacant property. Starting in April 2010, the Building Team of Rule Joy Trammell + Rubio, Stanley D. Lindsey & Associates, Leppard Johnson & Associates, and Choate Interior Construction restored the 16-story, 310,537-sf building into the Residences at the John Marshall, a new mixed-use facility offering apartments, street-level retail, a catering kitchen, and two restored ballrooms.
Special attention was given to restoring the building’s historical elements. In the grand Virginia Room, three of the original ballroom chandeliers, weighing 600 pounds each, underwent two years of intensive restoration, including hand polishing and restringing 18,000 individual crystal beads.
PROJECT SUMMARY
RESIDENCES AT THE JOHN MARSHALL
Richmond, Va.Building Team
Submitting firm: Rule Joy Trammell + Rubio (architect)
Owner/developer: Dominion Realty Partners
Structural engineer: Stanley D. Lindsey & Associates
MEP engineer: Leppard Johnson & Associates
General contractor: Choate Interior ConstructionGeneral Information
Size: 310,537 gsf
Construction cost: $39 million
Construction period: April 2010 to June 2012
Delivery method: Cost-plus
The Building Team worked with specialty exterior restoration engineer Wiss, Janney, Elstner Associates and the local historic society to restore the limestone façade, the supports of which had deteriorated over the years. Every limestone panel was reanchored with stainless steel fittings bolted into the building and then patched. Terra cotta details at the top of the building were also restored, or in some cases recreated with glass-fiber-reinforced concrete to match the original. “The restoration of the façade was notable, when you consider they had to reattach every piece,” said Reconstruction Awards Judge Daniel Moser, SE, PE.
For its sustainability efforts, the Residences at John Marshall earned three out of four Green Globes through the Green Building Initiative.
The Hotel John Marshall reopened this past summer with 77% of its commercial space leased and more than 85 events booked prior to occupancy. As of early August, 202 of the 238 apartments were leased. “That’s a very good real estate story,” said Judge Martha Bell, FAIA. +
Related Stories
| Aug 11, 2010
Balfour Beatty agrees to acquire Parsons Brinckerhoff for $626 million
Balfour Beatty, the international engineering, construction, investment and services group, has agreed to acquire Parsons Brinckerhoff for $626 million. Balfour Beatty executives believe the merger will be a major step forward in accomplishing a number of Balfour Beatty’s objectives, including establishing a global professional services business of scale, creating a leading position in U.S. civil infrastructure, particularly in the transportation sector, and enhancing its global reach.
| Aug 11, 2010
Construction unemployment rises to 17.1% as another 64,000 construction workers are laid off in September
The national unemployment rate for the construction industry rose to 17.1 percent as another 64,000 construction workers lost their jobs in September, according to an analysis of new employment data released today. With 80 percent of layoffs occurring in nonresidential construction, Ken Simonson, chief economist for the Associated General Contractors of America, said the decline in nonresidential construction has eclipsed housing’s problems.
| Aug 11, 2010
Billings at U.S. architecture firms exceeds $40 billion annually
In the three-year period leading up to the current recession, gross billings at U.S. architecture firms increased nearly $16 billion from 2005 and totaled $44.3 billion in 2008. This equates to 54 percent growth over the three-year period with annual growth of about 16 percent. These findings are from the American Institute of Architects (AIA) Business of Architecture: AIA Survey Report on Firm Characteristics.
| Aug 11, 2010
CHPS debuts high-performance building products database
The Collaborative for High Performance Schools (CHPS) made a new tool available to product manufacturers to help customers identify building products that contribute to sustainable, healthy, built environments. The tool is an online, searchable database where manufacturers can list products that have met certain environmental or health standards ranging from recycled content to materials that contribute to improved indoor air quality.
| Aug 11, 2010
ICC launches green construction code initiative for commercial buildings
The International Code Council has launched its International Green Construction Code (IGCC) initiative, which will aim to reduce energy usage and the carbon footprint of commercial buildings.Entitled “IGCC: Safe and Sustainable By the Book,” the initiative is committed to develop a model code focused on new and existing commercial buildings. It will focus on building design and performance.
| Aug 11, 2010
Green Building Initiative launches two certification programs for green building professionals
The Green Building Initiative® (GBI), one of the nation’s leading green building organizations and exclusive provider of the Green Globes green building certification in the United States, today announced the availability of two new personnel certification programs for green building practitioners: Green Globes Professional (GGP) and Green Globes Assessor (GGA).
| Aug 11, 2010
Potomac Valley Brick launches brick design competition with $10,000 grand prize
Potomac Valley Brick presents Brick-stainable: Re-Thinking Brick a design competition seeking integrative solutions for a building using clay masonry units (brick) as a primary material.