Workers poised to 'top off' Three PNC Plaza
Wednesday, September 24, 2008 at 01:00PMBy Michael A. Fuoco
Jake Desko and Richard Friedman were light on their feet as they peered into a crystal blue sky and stretched toward a beam dangling above them from a crane.
It was just out of their reach but in a second it swung back. They snatched it, steadied themselves, pulled in down, squatted and quickly connected it to two larger beams.
And then the ironworkers repeated the process, performing an amazingly nimble dance, balancing on a beam only 4 inches wide and 24 stories high. A crane operator, equally talented at his trade, floated beams to the men he couldn't even see but who had blind trust in him.
They were among 190 workers who yesterday were on the construction site at Fifth Avenue and Market Street, using their skills to build Three PNC Plaza, Downtown's first new high-rise office building in two decades.
Tomorrow, Mr. Desko and Mr. Friedman and a crane operator will have the honor of "topping off" the structure, signifying the completed erection of 4,500 tons of structural steel for the $200 million skyscraper. As is the tradition of ironworkers, the final beam will be hoisted with an American flag and a Christmas tree on it. The beam, which will be signed by about 200 construction workers beforehand, will be set in place about 11 a.m. on the building's northeast corner.
"That's a real big deal," P.J. Dick Inc.'s Ray Monaco, the project's general superintendent, said of the topping-off ceremony, the completion of about 333,000 hours of work on the project thus far.
Construction of the 26-story structure -- 23 floors, two mezzanines, and one elevator penthouse -- is on schedule for mixed-use occupancy next year. Housed inside the building on Fifth Avenue will be offices for PNC and the international law firm Reed Smith; a 165-room hotel to be run by Toronto-based Fairmont Hotels and Resorts; 28 luxury condominiums starting at $500,000 apiece; retail shops; and an underground garage.
Read more...
