May 2019
The Inside Corner
ST. ELIZABETHS WEST CAMPUS CENTER BUILDING
C.J. Coakley Co., Inc. received a WBC Craftsmanship award this spring for our efforts at the Department of Homeland Security Headquarters on the St. Elizabeths West Campus in Washington DC. The new headquarters is housed in the 270,000 square foot historic Center Building on the 176-acre campus. The entire site was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1990. The historic Center Building, originally known as the Government Hospital for the Insane, opened in 1855 and was the home of the first federally operated psychiatric hospital in the country.
This was a design/build project and had many challenges working in the confines of a building shell that was over 150 years old. To add to the difficulty, the building had a large, sprawling and unusual configuration. Most of the project consisted of standard office partitions and ceilings, but two levels were dedicated to re-creating the historic design of the original building’s interior. Our scope included replication of historic ornamental plaster elements from existing pieces that were salvaged prior to demolition. These elements included 4,000 linear feet of 14” tall crown molding throughout the historic corridors; over door pediments with detailed corbels at historic offices; imposts at corridor transitions and alcoves; and round ceiling medallions including very intricate floral diamond shaped medallions. The historic ornamental plaster elements were in terrible condition due to age and multiple layers of paint that covered the intricate details of moldings and ceiling medallions. The approval process for the replicated ornamental plaster was a very long and detailed process that involved many resubmissions. Not only was the production of exact replicas important to the project, but the installation of all these elements required excellent craftsmanship. The most impressive item was the extensive amount of 14” tall plaster molding that had to be installed, mitered at corners and finished to appear as if the crown was run in place.
Along with the ornamental plaster elements on the historic levels, our team installed veneer plaster walls and ceilings; corridor transitions and alcoves that were arched with bullnose corners; and a newly developed acoustic plaster system. Ensemble, the USG acoustic plaster system, proved to be a budget and time saver. The system is framed similarly to a drywall grid system with minor added components and perforated gypsum panels that are screwed directly to the grid system. The panels are finished with USG joint compound and the acoustic plaster is a spray application after which minor sanding occurs. The result is an elegant, seamless monolithic ceiling. The project also consisted of structural cold formed metal framing; three individual AllSpan CFM roof truss systems; custom curved ceiling panels by SkyAcoustics; and USG Mars and Halcyon acoustic ceilings (2x2, 2x4, 2x5 & 4x4) with Compasso trim. This project started in January of 2017 and was completed in April 2019. Despite all its complexity the project went well. The craftsmanship exhibited by the plaster installation is worthy of the accolades it has received and will be admired for many years to come by the DHS employees and visitors to the building.
EMPLOYEES OF THE MONTH
Each month our Foremen recommend to our Superintendents employees they feel have made outstanding efforts that contribute to our company’s success. The Employees of the Month are recognized in this newsletter and at one tool box talk each month across the company. We appreciate the hard work each employee puts forth to make the company successful, and we are proud to honor those who are selected.
January
Jessy Castillo - Laborer - CSOB4 Tenant
February
Pepe Calustro Villarroel - Carpenter - California St
Armando Contreras - Carpenter - DC Boathouse
March
Emanuel Barrera - Carpenter - Milken Institute
Silvia Rodriguez - Laborer - DC Boathouse
WASHINGTON BUILDING CONGRESS CRAFTSMANSHIP AWARDS
Each year the Washington Building Congress accepts nominations of exceptional projects completed during the year to be recognized for their craftsmanship in a variety of trades. This year C. J. Coakley Co., Inc. was selected twice for awards in the drywall category. Our winning projects were Capitol One Block B, and the Historic Center Building, Phase 2, Consolidation of the US Department of Homeland Security. As Edward stated in his article on the St Elizabeth’s project for Homeland Security, this building was a tremendous project that required a high level of expertise in many disciplines - from plaster restoration to some of the newest building systems. When we originally toured the job there was millions of dollars’ worth of steel holding up the exterior wall and inside there was five stories of nothing. It is hard to believe that from that giant empty space came one of the nicest interior spaces in the Washington, DC metropolitan area. Congratulations to Tommy Hurlock, Tony Cassette, Roger Marsden, Orlando Rivera, Roberto Garcia, and Juan Veizaga. These men are incredible craftsman and we are proud to have them on our team.
We featured Capital One in our January 2019 newsletter. It is the tallest structure that we have ever worked on. At 31 stories the building dominates the Tysons skyline. The exterior is impressive and inside is a beautiful work environment. The plaster staircases between floors are an amazing feature that proves cast plaster is not a dead artform. Everything in the building interior is curved. The client had high standards, and our team met or exceeded their expectations. Congratulations to Ted Woodward, Joe Carlisle, Richard Crisler, Sergio Santiesteban, Juan Curiel, and Jose Zalles for their outstanding craftsmanship on this project. For those of you who are counting, this is not the first time these men have been recognized with this award. Ted Woodward, Joe Carlisle, Tony Cassette and Orlando Rivera have all won twice before; Roger Marsden was recognized for the fourth time; and Tommy Hurlock’s fifth award this year makes him eligible for the WBC Hall of Fame. These guys know how to make it look easy over and over again!
Capital One Block B was also recognized on April 24, 2019 for winning the CISCA Construction Excellence GOLD Award in the category of Office Buildings larger than 50,000 SF East Region!
EMPLOYEE NEWS AND RECOGNITION
We said goodbye to our Receptionist Julie Riggles who retired April 12. We wish her well. We welcome our new Receptionist Nancy Ferman along with our new Estimator Marquise Sanders and Vice President Mike Funk.
Orlando Rivera, Juan Curiel, Tony Cassette, Richard Crisler, Tommy Hurlock , Michael Coakley, John Skeffington, Roberto Garcia, Javier Henriquez, Sergio Santiesteban, Juan Veizaga, and Paul Gallagher at the WBC Crafstmanship Awards on March 29, 2019.
This newsletter is published by the management of C. J. Coakley Co., Inc. to inform our employees about important developments in our company. We reserve the sole discretion to exercise editorial control over this publication and the contents should not be reprinted without our permission.
