There were plenty of hurdles to cross during the building of Chestnut Square at The Glen, an independent-living facility in Glenview, Ill., but none was as rough as the construction timetable.

"What was tricky was getting the beams and columns installed from outside the building," said Jerry Walker, senior project manager with Paul H. Schwendener Inc., the Westmont, Ill.-based general contractor on the project.

Typically, when building a structure with a basement-parking garage, columns and beams are erected before the concrete floor is poured, but at Chestnut Square, the approach of winter in late 2002 necessitated an earlier concrete pour.

"We had to go ahead and pour the concrete floor before the ground froze, and we couldn't get to [the beams and columns] until spring," Walker added. "Then, we couldn't put a crane on the concrete floor, so we had to install it from the outside. Your lifts were much longer from the outside, and the cranes had to be upgraded to accommodate additional loading."

advertisement

Has 164 Units

Fortunately, not all the aspects of construction work on the $40 million, 164-unit facility were as daunting. Located across the street from Glentown Center, the shopping center of the new multiuse development called The Glen, Chestnut Square is a congregate living complex for abled and independent elderly individuals.

Work began in July 2002. Approximately 40 to 60 residents had moved in by November, and when complete, the building will house 300 people.

Chestnut Square features a three-story main structure with five wings. The center core is built on a radius with wings extending from each side of the corridor. The bulk of the complex is wood frame, but the central area is steel frame. The basement features just one level below ground and offers 71 parking slots as well as storage areas.

There are four elevators in the building serving the three above-ground levels, and two of those travel to the basement. The building is 39 ft. high, as high as the law allows a structure that is not 100 percent steel frame.

Other than the fact columns and beams had to be installed from outside the building, the buttressing of Chestnut Square's above-ground structure was pretty standard, Walker said. "We had a column-and-beam system to accommodate precast planks," he added.

"You put your concrete columns up, then put precast concrete beams across, sitting on top of these columns to carry the weight. They're designed to span certain distances. These planks are then set on top of the beams and attached in, just as you would put planks atop horizontal wood framing in a backyard deck."

Dealing with Stormwater

The project team encountered little problem with high water tables or obstructions, but did have to deal with stormwater collection. The water table at that location isn't high, but the Chestnut Square site is in a low area in The Glen.

That meant the area would absorb water runoff after a rainstorm.

Temporary pumps were kept onsite to pump out the hole after it filled with water, and a lift station was designed for the development.

The lift station is a storm system that pumps stormwater off-site, providing some assurance the facility won't have to suffer future flooding.

Potential staging issues were headed off before they occurred. Schwendener borrowed a 0.75-acre parcel the village of Glenview owns adjacent to the Chestnut Square property to use for staging. In addition, some material was staged in parking areas before roads were built. The site borrowed from Glenview will eventually be a parking area for golf events at The Glen.

Installing mechanical, electrical and plumbing systems required redesigns to meet Glenview's code requirements. Plumbing contractors, electrical contractors, mechanical contractors and fire sprinkler systems contractors all were onsite at the same time.

"They would bring materials and shop-fabricated items, such as ducting, and install them as needed," Walker said. "With the exhaust and ducting systems, we had a lot of challenges in the radius wall area and the common areas. We had to do a lot of redesign on the ducting side, which necessitated moving lights, sprinklers and other plumbing equipment so we could get the ducting in and still be in code with all our other trades."

A Senior Friendly Place

April Maifield of Waukegan-based Legat Architects said the project involved a long and arduous process of meeting the design demands of facility owner Bethany Methodist Corp. and the village of Glenview.

"When we developed plans we were happy with, we took them to Glenview and got their feedback," said Maifield, Legat's Schaumburg-based project leader. "They had a specific matrix of hurdles you had to go through to get certain approvals and get from your preliminary stage to your final stage. They played a specific hand in how each of the buildings in the redevelopment came into being."

The final approved design was heavily dictated by Chestnut Square's location in the pedestrian-friendly center of The Glen, she added. The facility is in a transition area between the relocated historic Naval Chapel directly east, the Great Park directly northeast, townhouses directly north and Glentown Center just beyond the townhouses.

"All the adjacencies helped us program the building," Maifield added. "For example, we don't need a state-of-the-art fitness club within Chestnut Square because there's a new fitness center within The Glen that actually has a senior section in it. That helped us orient our program specifically to our site."

Bethany Methodist Corp. aggressively sought to win approval from Glenview to build Chestnut Square because of its central location, said Stephen Dahl, president and CEO of the Chicago-based corporation.

"We're about a block away from the community center, which has a senior center within it, and we are right next to the Glentown Center, with some of the finest retail shopping on the North Shore," he added. "Across the street is a wonderful park and lake. We knew by being there, our seniors would be part of the community."