Between 705 & 1200 SQ/FT The Garage at The Place in The Valley (Garage Condo 45x23x20)

SiGmA_X · May 3, 2016

Re: Garage Condo 45x23

I've seen completed garage-condo's, but never the whole in progress storyline! Very cool, thanks for all the pics!

stu999 · May 3, 2016

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Love the aerial shots!

Great to see the build from above. Will be a cool place to hang out so close to the run ways.

Thanks for pics, following with interest.

Greg_STL · May 3, 2016

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@readhead - Some small amount of shade today. Not much - but a start.

@Bib Overalls & Azpilot - Too funny - both of you. I live in the flight path of Spirit Airport as it is. I get to see the Blue Angels on approach fly over my house at least 2-3 times a year. I'll hear the first F-18 go over and by the time the second goes over the house I'm outside and I watch all six go by. The best was one year for the VP Fair down town they had a B-1 sitting at Spirit. It would take off and come low over our house on a bee line for down town for a fly-by twice a day. I don't think he was on burners but it was incredibly loud with the quad pack of engines on full throttle heading out. The business jets that take off from spirit are louder than your typical commercial but they mostly take off the other direction over the river and we usually just get the landing pattern. And that pattern usually goes over the shopping in the valley rather than the houses. I really do not notice 99% of the time. Still, they were here first and I bought with full knowledge of where I was.

Nor'Easter · May 3, 2016

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I hope they are planning on skylights to allow natural light in? Couldn't imagine having only a couple windows in a garage door as the only natural light.

AZpilot · May 4, 2016

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Greg,

Are you getting roof top access? That would be awesome. I have been to airshows at Spirit. I was in Wenztville for 12 years.

Greg_STL · May 4, 2016

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@Nor Easter - No skylights that I know of. My unit does not even get windows because the center building is two units deep. I looking at some good LED high bay lights.

@AZpilot - I won't for this airshow. As for the future, I guess that will be up to the association to decide. I'm guessing that the answer is no just because the roof is common space and people could damage the roof over someone elses unit. But that is a guess only - I really do not know.

Greg_STL · May 4, 2016

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Furthest building looks darker....

Yep, definitely darker....

One third of the large building has decking.

You can definitely see where they have not caulked between the big wall slabs yet.

A couple final notes; they are down to only needed to powerwash off about 4.5 units of the 36 units. The brick is looking nice. The crane is gone as well which makes me think the plan is to finish the main building roof before they actually start locating the trusses in the center building.

readhead · May 4, 2016

Re: Garage Condo 45x23

They are shooting down the decking which is much faster than welding. Roofing material should show up any day now. Next thing you will see is roof drains going in so they can start the roof.

What is the plan for heat? Roof top units or unit heaters?

Greg_STL · May 6, 2016

Re: Garage Condo 45x23

I didn't make it down yesterday but they have finished putting the decking down on the U-shaped main building. I can't really see details so i'm not positive if it is all fastened down or if it is just located.

I guess I've been looking up too much because I just realized they have closed out the flooring where the utilities enter the building. I'm really not sure when this happened.

Old photo:

New photo:

They have also started the cauking with the foam backer rod. They have only done it to the height that a person standing on the ground can reach. I'm guessing they only have so many cherry-pickers on site and they have been busy working the brick cleaning and truss welding. BTW - The brick cleaning is completed now.

The center building has put strings in to pull the electrical cable through the conduit from the power distribution panel (where the meters are located).

So all in all, lots of progress.

readhead · May 6, 2016

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Are the joists going to be left exposed? I see that the buildings will be sprinkled. Should help with your insurance.

Greg_STL · May 6, 2016

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@readhead - The joists are going to be exposed. The buildings will have sprinkler systems and everything is going in at commercial code. For example, all the interior doors are going to be steel not just the exterior doors. The contractor that is finishing out my unit has stated that the mezzanine has to be steel with a poured concrete deck and additional sprinklers have to be placed under the mezzanine. It all seems overkill compared to the pole barns that many more sane people build for garages. However, it is a shared space/building so it makes some sense.

I think this whole project has thrown the banks and permit people for a loop. It is not commercial because we can't run businesses out of the units. However, it is not residential because we can't live there either. It took a while to get the project off the ground and I attribute a lot of that to people just not knowing how to fit the project into their normal rules/regulations. Plus, the banks did not have an existing successful example in our market to use as a reference point. We are literally paving new ground in STL.

AZpilot · May 7, 2016

Re: Garage Condo 45x23

However, it is not residential because we can't live their either

Oh. I did not know that. So, it is like an aircraft hangar with attached office. When the thread title said condo I assumed it was a living space.

21lostboy · May 8, 2016

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Subscribed.

TIMI · May 8, 2016

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Hey. With the arrival of the heat building went cheerful. When housewarming :rocker:

Greg_STL · May 12, 2016

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Crazy week this week. Lots of storms and rain plus power and internet out on two different days. It could be worse though. I had one coworker's house get hit with baseball size hail and another coworker's mom's house have a tree fall on their house. No damage for us to our house or the condos. The pics below are from the newspaper (STL Post Dispatch) and twitter feeds of damage and hail about 5-10 miles west of us. I think there are going to be lots of discount Mercedes Benz cars from the Plaza West dealership....

So work is getting done on the condos. The steel truss work was signed off and the wall support poles have been removed.

It is hard to tell in the above picture but the sprinklers pipes are getting installed. A close up below:

The entry doors are getting their jambs filled with concrete for reasons that I do not know. Anyone?

Steel wall studs have been delivered. I believe these are for the "clubhouse" area that I am sure will also be a sales office early on.

There were also boxes of stone brick delivered. I didn't realized this; but, under the brick there will be about 3 vertical feet of a stone brick finish. I included a repeat of the artist rendering below to help you visualize where it goes on the building.

I'm not sure how much progress is going to happen tomorrow or if I will be able to take any more pictures this weekend. The airshow starts tomorrow. We've already had the Blue Angels buzz over head and I saw a B-17 on final when I was driving back from The Place this evening. A bunch of roads around the airport are getting shut down for the duration and I do not know that I will have access.

jay8s · May 12, 2016

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I was going to ask if you were going to try to take in the show from the condo. It would be a pretty unique view, and make for some great up close photos.

SiGmA_X · May 12, 2016

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Lookin cool!

GilmourGarage · May 13, 2016

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well there goes 2hrs of my day... what a great thread! Going to keep watching for sure.

So those in the know... what are the disadvantages of pouring the walls vertically with styrofoam molds? I have seen that done on most the newer basement walls here in Michigan.

Are these walls too large for that? Looks like tipping is the way to go, went smoothly by the looks of it.

Greg_STL · May 14, 2016

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Off topic - but I thought I'd post a couple pictures of the airshow since I'd mentioned it before. I'm going to the show tomorrow but these are just pictures taken from my front yard. Well, except for the F-22 pictures. I had to make a quick run to Lowes for a supplies for a school project for my daughter. We also had B-1 and B-2 flyovers but I didn't grab the camera fast enough.

djones1a · May 15, 2016

Re: Garage Condo 45x23

Just found this thread,going to be a cool place.I own a body shop in O'fallon not far from you. Is this the first type of buildings like this in the area? I will have to ride by and check them out.

Greg_STL · May 16, 2016

Re: Garage Condo 45x23

The airshow was fun. I took a nice SLR to the show and handed it off to my daughter at one point. She had such a big grin on her face getting to use the big camera that I just let her have fun. Little did I know that she took over 800 photos!!! It might take me some time to sort through those....

I did a quick drive by of The Place tonight in the rain. There were large white bundles sitting on the roof but I didn't try to take a photo though my rain splattered car windows with a cell phone. When I dashed inside, the roof was obviously not sealed because water was still pouring in in places.

Work is progressing. They have the steel studs up around the utility closet. The man size doors have been distributed around to the individual units. More exciting, two units had the garage doors installed.

Greg_STL · May 16, 2016

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I won't post all the airshow pics but the album is on Flickr.

Spirit Airshow 2016 Day 2

Here is one garage related though: A shot of The Place from the airfield side.

It looks a little ugly from this side but it does not have windows and is not painted yet.....

AZpilot · May 17, 2016

Re: Garage Condo 45x23

That is close. How big are the windows? Shame you can't live there. Great pictures. As a pilot it is awe inspiring to watch those guys fly.

Turducken · May 18, 2016

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That building reminds me of my old reform school.

Nighttrain · May 18, 2016

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Really neat build. Somehow I've missed this but am catching up. I do have to ask, did you spend more time looking at airplanes this weekend or more time staring at the garage from the airport? &#55357;&#56397;

Greg_STL · May 18, 2016

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@djones1a - I believe this is a first of a kind building in STL.

@AZpilot - I've never measured the windows but the appear to be about 3ft by 3ft. The Blue Angels are absolutely amazing how close they formation fly.

@Nighttrain - I'm currently shedding like a lizard from being sun burned from looking up at the airplanes all weekend. So I have to say more time looking at airplanes. I wanted to get a shot of the Blue Angles going over The Place but I didn't manage it.

Greg_STL · May 18, 2016

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Stopped by tonight with my daughter and wow - lots getting done.

First, they painted the outside wall closest to the entrance. I think this is just the base color and there will be different color accents in some of the recessed features. It is a shame that they did not do this prior to the airshow so that the building didn't look like a reform school. I would have had a big banner on the building to try to sell units but what do I know. They also pulled the meters off the wall and installed the transfomer on the concrete pad. I don't know if this had to do with the painting or the transformer install.

The club house area is getting the window frames installed in the entrance.

The sprinklers are completed except for a short run tying into the water supply on the main u-shaped building.

The large garage doors are getting installed clockwise around the u-shaped building. Included below is the first time I seen a door closed.

The person sized entry doors are getting installed counter clockwise. I guess you can't have crews fighting for space. It looks like there are large screws or bolts going through the frames into the walls.

And amazing to me .... The main center joist and roof trusses are all installed on the center unit where my unit is located.

It really feels like the pace has doubled or trippled in the last couple weeks. I have also been getting calls from the project manager on figuring out exactly what is going to get done to my unit prior to closing and what will be done after. I have a meeting set up Friday with the project manager, plumbing contractor and possibly the HVAC contractor.

readhead · May 18, 2016

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I see that they have installed the insulation. Framing should be starting any day now. This seems to be a pretty squared away builder.

Greg_STL · May 19, 2016

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The builder is making great progress. They sent out a nice set of photos today. The stone work has started. It looks a little odd because they are shimming it up to grade or just below grade level. It almost looks like this would have been easier to wait until after the concrete driveway portion was poured. I'm sure they have their reasons.

Another picture of garage doors having been istalled. These are on the other side of the main U-shaped building from the pictures before so they must be almost complete.

The person entry doors must be going fast as well because it looks like they are installed on the smaller center building as well.

Greg_STL · May 21, 2016

Re: Garage Condo 45x23

The windows are starting to get installed. About 1/3 of the windows are located in the u-shaped building.

The stone work continues on the lower sections of the courtyard sections of the buildings.

This probably happened a while ago but I just noticed. The caulking has now been done full height with a different color where the bricks are located. It obviously blends in well because I just noticed.

Lots of interesting details in the sprinkler system. The hook up to the main lines including an external fire hose hookup is getting sorted in the utility closed that is part of the clubhouse. One interesting point, they have a sprinkler that actually reaches under each garage door so that the areas under the doors also get water if the doors are open.

An external ladder has been installed on the runway side of the main u-shaped building. And it looks like the roof access in the center building will be from inside the building - probably from the utility closet.

One last detail. They have cut off the sewer access points at grade level in preparation to pour the courtyard concrete (the road between the units). Mine had gotten buried during the tilt operation so I feel better knowing they have it sorted prior to the pour. It may be hard to see in the picture below but they painted them high-visibility green so keep people from running them over.

Greg_STL · May 23, 2016

Re: Garage Condo 45x23

Progress continues at a fast pace. The building is in the process of getting accent paint on the outside. The vehicle doors and person doors have been hung on all units in the U shaped building. The stone work is also completed around at least half of the U shaped building. Windows are in 1/3, and window frames in at least 1/2 of the U shaped building. Shouldn't be long now until the U-shaped buiding is able to be shut off from the elements.

More important to me, the center building is starting to catch up. The support poles are still in place but the decking for the roof has been placed. The man sized doors have also been hung. It doesn't look like the decking has been nailed down yet but at least the roof decking has started.

Here is a shot looking in from the unit behind me. My unit starts where the center truss crosses and continues to the far doors. The width is set by the concrete breaks.

The floors are a bit of a mess. I can't wait until they pour the courtyard and clean the floors out. All the support poles left some large holes and you still see the random piece of fishing line sticking out of the concrete where the forms were nailed to the slab. I've started to realize I need to cut trenches in the floor because the water feed is about 8 feet from a wall. My unit is better than others because my sewer drain is only about 2-3 feet from the wall. I'm not sure who placed them and why they didn't aim for the periphery. The electrical conduit is coincident with the rear wall at least.

One last little detail: I showed that the sprinkler system was set up to reach under the garage doors in a prior post but showed a picture where is was not completed. This is a better picture taken today.

Greg_STL · May 24, 2016

Re: Garage Condo 45x23

More stripes getting painted while working around the windows going in.... The stripes do help the building look better.

First drywall and HVAC ducts going into the clubhouse.

My door got caulked with two colors of caulk. Plus they have started the first course of the stone work.

I have holes in my roof that I think are going to be for HVAC. Possibly some sort of vent. I'd heard they were fighting code on ventillation. Curious to find out what it turns out to be.

The ladder to the roof in the utility room is installed at least partially. I certainly hope it gets tied in along the height before they are done.

On the way out, this monster was parked on the road. Not sure what it is for sure - potentially something to help pour the courtyard??? Maybe it has nothing to do with the condos....

SiGmA_X · May 25, 2016

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That is a portable material screening machine. They use it at gravel/concrete processing sites - I've seen them used locally at small downtown recycling sites in Portland where they are bringing lots of old buildings foundations to for processing, sorting, and re-sale.

I'm not an expert at-all, I just googled the model and recognize it from a local processing/recycling setup.

Your building looks way better with the stripes going up.

Playwme · May 26, 2016

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Cool thread. It's good seeing all the progress in nice big clear pictures of a build like this.

I'm somewhat astounded that you can just head in and walk around whenever you want. If that was here there'd be a fence around the outside that was more solid than the building being constructed.

readhead · May 26, 2016

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The ladder will be against a wall in the fire sprinkler room. Some of the holes in the roof are for roof drains. Some may be exhaust or flue vents. If there is a bathroom the fart fan has to go somewhere.

What will be the heat source? I don't see any prep for roof top units.

Greg_STL · May 26, 2016

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Heat pump with resistive heat backup (3.5 ton I think). The air handler will be mounted between the joists but over the bathroom. I heard that the outdoor portion will be mounted near the back of my unit but I really have no idea what is going on up on the roof. I haven't seen drawings of the install yet. They are working them hard right now to get permits to start the drywall, plumbing, and electrical to get the basic unit done by 7/21. The mezzanine and bathroom will be in a second phase after I close on the basic unit. I went from three emails from the builders in six months to 30+ in the last three days.

Greg_STL · May 26, 2016

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The stone work has extended around the front of the clubhouse.

The have started putting the studs up in the clubhouse. One odd feature. There is a door like feature from the clubhouse into the next unit. When I looked at the other units getting studs in place that same door was located in the same relative space. I don't know if that is to allow movement back and forth during the build or if there is actually going to be access between units somehow....

The view down the courtyard is starting to look nice with the doors in place and the stone work getting in place.

They have pulled the support poles down in the center building. The pictures show that things are quite wet in there today. The roof decking looks to be attached but it obviously is not waterproof yet.

I noticed that they are caulking both the outside and the inside of the tilt slab joints.

The stone work on the center building is clicking along and is more that halfway done already.

One last piece of architectural archaeology. I saw these bricks a couple days ago and wondered what they were for. I thought maybe they were for the tops of the stone work as a cap. But, the bricks had holes through them so I couldn't figure out how they would make that look correct. Today I found the bricks in the dumpster. It appears they might have come to the same conclusion....

Then again, who knows. Makes it fun to guess what happened from small snipits in time.

Greg_STL · May 28, 2016

Re: Garage Condo 45x23

Driving up, you can see that the windows are installed on 2 sides of the main building. The stripe and paint really does help.

The club house is getting windows and entrance/exit doors installed. They have the upper windows installed but the lowers are still out. They may be waiting to install the lowers until the concrete gets poured.

Speaking of concrete for the courtyard, it can't come fast enough. We have had a lot of rain lately. The center building is a mess as the roof is not waterproof yet. There are puddles everywhere. Where they broke the concrete up to fix some the steel support posts, it is holding 6" of water. Several of the electrical conduits are completely filled with water. It's going to be interesting getting that all cleaned up. But, they can't really do that until the roof gets waterproof and the concrete for the courtyard gets poured. Some survey work has been done recently so i figure the pour can't be far behind. I'm confident it will be better eventually but it is a mess now.

The inside of the main building is getting very close to weather proof and they are making progress on the 3 units that are sold in that building. The studs are going up. I always wondered if they would only go to the bottom of a truss or all the way to the ceiling. It looks like all the way to the ceiling is the answer. I was also never sure if they were going to stud over the concrete wall but it appears they will but with a reduced thickness stud. My unit has a truss the follows directly on the split between units so it will be interesting to see how it is resolved.

I think the plan was to be completed with the building shells by 7/21 to do closings with the owners of the condo units. With only 6.5 weeks left and with two holidays (Memorial Day and Independence Day), I'm not sure I believe it. I've got a meeting Wednesday to go over the electrical. I was thrown some because it will be 208/120 three phase that is typical of commercial versus the typical 240/120 two phase that you get in residential. My air handler and tank-less water heater will be 208 three phase. We are doing a lift master commercial garage door opener that may or may not be three phase. I think in general it will be better with lower amp draw but I also expect it to be more expensive to install before I'm all done.

wasfast · May 29, 2016

Re: Garage Condo 45x23

The lower window glazing may be left out on purpose to prevent breakage until the heavy work outside is done.

69gp · May 29, 2016

Re: Garage Condo 45x23

Greg_STL said:
The stone work has extended around the front of the clubhouse.

The have started putting the studs up in the clubhouse. One odd feature. There is a door like feature from the clubhouse into the next unit. When I looked at the other units getting studs in place that same door was located in the same relative space. I don't know if that is to allow movement back and forth during the build or if there is actually going to be access between units somehow....

The view down the courtyard is starting to look nice with the doors in place and the stone work getting in place.

They have pulled the support poles down in the center building. The pictures show that things are quite wet in there today. The roof decking looks to be attached but it obviously is not waterproof yet.

I noticed that they are caulking both the outside and the inside of the tilt slab joints.

The stone work on the center building is clicking along and is more that halfway done already.

One last piece of architectural archaeology. I saw these bricks a couple days ago and wondered what they were for. I thought maybe they were for the tops of the stone work as a cap. But, the bricks had holes through them so I couldn't figure out how they would make that look correct. Today I found the bricks in the dumpster. It appears they might have come to the same conclusion....

Then again, who knows. Makes it fun to guess what happened from small snipits in time.

First off dats a wicked nice building.

Just looking at the electrical meter stack it looks like the expansion fittings are already in the closed position. Not sure kind of hard to tell by the picture as its a little small.

Between 705 & 1200 SQ/FT The Garage at The Place in The Valley (Garage Condo 45x23x20)

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