Background

The Baldwin Building was originally built in the 1920’s and was used to produce pianos. Over 2,000 employees worked in the building and it is said that 11,000 pianos were built in the first five years alone. In 1961, The Baldwin company built a new factory and the building was left vacant. In 1987, the Baldwin building was renovated to office space and Perfection Group was one of the contractors that worked on that project. In 2015, The Baldwin building was designated a historic landmark. CASTO and Neyer Properties partnered together to restore the historic building and turn it into luxury apartments. This building is in a perfect location in Cincinnati! It is close to great restaurants, shopping, nightlife, museums and theatres…perfect for those that enjoy urban living! Renovating, repurposing and restoring the historic Baldwin Building was very important to the contractors working on this project which is evident in its finished product.

Challenges

A typical construction project flows from the ground floor up. This project, due to how the developer wanted to begin leasing the apartments, needed the construction to finish on the 6th floor and work down. After the 1st floor was complete we then needed to jump back to the 7th and 8th floors. This apartment completion schedule not only added difficulty of the flow of materials, equipment and labor, but the overall project coordination between trades became far more difficult.

Many critical HVAC system components were located on the roof, just above the 8th. floor. To begin leasing the apartments on the 6th. floor, the Perfection Group and other support trades, needed to complete our scopes of work on the 6th floor but also had to have the system critical equipment on the roof completed and operating. The rooftop system critical equipment provided for bathroom exhaust and fresh air supply to all apartments and corridors.

Solution

Perfection designed a House Bill Energy Project with a project investment of $4.365 million to replace high voltage switchgear and motor control center equipment alleviating safety and operational concerns at both the Water Treatment and Waste Water Treatment plants. Additionally at the Water Treatment Plant, the plant-wide dehumidification systems were replaced not only to reducing operating costs and eliminate ongoing repair costs but to eliminate other safety concerns due to the failures of the existing systems. A new city distribution pump was implemented to supply fresh water to the city. The pump is operated on a variable speed drive which saves the city significant energy dollars while allowing for future system expansions.

• Replaced high voltage switchgear and motor control center equipment
• Replaced plant-wide dehumidification system
• Installed new city distribution pump