Award of Merit - Rehabilitation

90 Church Street

The judges were most impressed with the quality of the restoration work at 90 Church Street.

"It's a beautiful lobby with a lot of wonderful detail that they had to repair after it was damaged on Sept. 11," one said.

The project dates to 1995 when the U.S. Postal Service appointed Boston Properties as development manager to supervise a redesign and renovation transforming the 1938 building into a dual-purpose postal facility and Class A office space. Boston Properties withheld the project cost from its submission.

The general post office and its mail-sorting facilities also had to stay operational throughout the renovation, requiring the project team to ensure detailed coordination and communication with the postal service.

advertisement

The initial renovation involved extensive abatement, installations, and upgrades to the building and its systems. But it took on a greater scope after terrorists attacked the nearby World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001.

The 90 Church St. structure sustained major fire and water damage and massive contamination, requiring remediation, restoration of base building systems, and reconstruction of the interior fit-out and three major tenant spaces. That additional work, for which the team developed a rigorous demolition and remediation protocol and safe implementation procedures, came under a "make ready" package to deliver the core and shell space for tenant fit-out.

After the attacks, the postal service also re-examined its operations and opted to move its mechanized mail-sorting function to another location, while transferring two nearby stations into 90 Church.

The original core and shell renovation prior to the attacks had included:

• a major restoration of the historic limestone and aluminum-paneled exterior facade, including cleaning and repointing, as well as full restoration of the main lobby
  
• upgrade of the electrical system to provide tenants with 8 watts of electricity per sq. ft. and installation of an emergency generator
  
• refurbishing the central refrigeration plant and upgrade or replacement of domestic hot and cold water systems
  
• addition of sprinklers, fire alarms, smoke detectors, and an emergency public address system for each floor
  
• modernization and cab installation for 12 passenger elevators and a 5,000-lb. capacity service elevator
  
• and demolition to build out new tenant interiors for the New York City Housing Authority and Legal Aid.