Author Topic: Tracking the 389 Main St rehab project  (Read 642428 times)

Offline BLeafe

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Re: Tracking the 389 Main St rehab project - (3-23-19 to 3-26-19)
« Reply #75 on: April 05, 2019, 03:46:31 PM »
As usual, I'm way behind on this. They seem to be ramping up the action, so I have a lot more photos to edit. Look for a few more posts in the upcoming days as I try to catch up.


3-23-19

1-3. A load on concrete blocks is delivered to the south wall and the workers pass and catch each one down the line. State Farm loses its north-facing windows and I lose my access to an interesting shooting angle. It was much appreciated while it lasted.

4. The second floor won't be flat for much longer.




3-24-19

5-11. From my apartment, on site and around the block (10 and11 are stitches - click to enlarge)




3-25-19

12-14. South wall almost done and a delivery from State St




3-26-19

15-18. Early morning sunlight, pouring cement into the blocks, worker throws a concrete block (circled and still in the air, creating Thud-a-Rama at Sign-a-Rama), south wall is finished.


Click to enlarge.



« Last Edit: April 05, 2019, 04:01:37 PM by BLeafe »
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Offline BLeafe

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Re: Tracking the 389 Main St rehab project - (3-27-19 to 3-30-19)
« Reply #76 on: April 05, 2019, 04:47:15 PM »
3-27-19 to 3-30-19

These are pretty self-explanatory.

I don't often get the chance to go on-site and shoot video, but there was no crew working on this particular Saturday - only one site boss, who graciously let me roam around as long as I didn't climb any ladders or start the crane up. Thank you, sir!

Click to enlarge all but the video and some verticals.







« Last Edit: April 05, 2019, 04:53:36 PM by BLeafe »
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Offline BLeafe

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There are 40 photos - 20 here and 20 in the next post.

4-1-19  6 pix

The first two pictures are sort of explained in this exchange with the site superintendent:

BL: Any idea what this guy was doing at about 9:30 this morning? My guess is measuring or marking something, but what?

SS: Yes, the bench mark for our height of finished floor is on that telephone pole. And we had a laser spinning up on the second floor. So on that pole he had a target that reads the spinning laser. When he gets close or on the mark, that laser target beeps loud and tells you how far you are to finish floor on the second floor. Make sense? You put the heights of floors on that pole and hold bottom of pole on your bench mark on the ground floor, then you work your way up each floor.

BL: It makes sense...........as long as the pole never moves (this neighborhood is full of tilting telephone poles that used to be straight).


Since tomorrow is The Big Pour of the Second Floor, the corrugated decking has to first be covered with sheets of wire mesh to strengthen the concrete.............skinny-mini rebar, if you will. It was interesting trying to get photos of it because, from a block away, one or two carried mesh sheets were practically invisible unless you caught the sun hitting it just right for a split second.

The fifth picture is a photostitch, showing the whole floor covered with the stuff.





4-2-19  14 pix (20 more in next post)

I'm getting used to the drill by now: giant cement-pumping crane shows up early and goes through its unfolding sequence (first 8 pix), while a continuously-scheduled stream of cement trucks vie for parking spaces.

On this day, the pour started in the southwest corner of the building and worked its way around the second floor in a sort-of clockwise fashion. At the same time, another crane was hoisting steel beams over to the Main St edge for other work.

I tried to get a shot of every part of this floor being poured, though some may look like the same place. In the next-to-last shot, the guy driving the red Zamboni-like machine appears to have run into a concrete wall and just discovered that he has no reverse gear. The last shot shows the poured floor.

As usual, click to enlarge.


The Video

So while I was taking about 200 photos, I also shot 66 (I think) little QuickTime videos with another (tripoded) camera. After editing out some and editing down the others, I had about 5GB of videos left. But the good thing about QuickTime is that combining all the videos reduces the file size by about 2/3. This one is now 1.7GB. So now I always try to take two 30-second videos instead of a one 1-minute vid. The space savings are tremendous.

Unfortunately, I don't think this video is equally tremendous. It's too long. It takes the cement-pumping crane a couple of minutes just to unfold. You can look at the pictures of the same thing in a few seconds.

You know the difference between optical zoom and digital zoom? Once you zoom as much as possible optically, there's like another gear (digital zoom) that lets you get a lot closer. The problem is that it's not as sharp. You can see everything closer, which is good, but the quality loss is disturbing to me.

So - like the pictures - the video is pretty complete, but it feels like it could be edited better.

You decide.





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Offline BLeafe

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The remaining 20 photos (continued from the previous post)

Click to enlarge.



« Last Edit: April 09, 2019, 06:10:29 PM by BLeafe »
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Offline BLeafe

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Re: Tracking the 389 Main St rehab project (4-3 to 4-5-19 STAIRWELL TOWER)
« Reply #79 on: April 12, 2019, 04:18:30 PM »
4-3-19

1. That tower begins in the garage where I saw something that looked like an old fence until I saw it drive out of the site. This shows both images.

2-8. The visible part of that tower begins to take shape as lots of concrete blocks are brought in, as upward scaffolding is built.



4-4-19

9-15. As the tower rises, another crane is delivering steel beams to the Main St side. At one point, plane buzzes crane (maybe)............twice.


4-5-19

16,17. The Main St-side towers will soon start climbing higher and the State St-side stairwell tower nears completion


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Offline BLeafe

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Re: Tracking the 389 Main St rehab project (4-6 to 4-9-19 TOWERS & WOOD)
« Reply #80 on: April 12, 2019, 04:37:17 PM »
4-6-19

1-7. The State St-side stairwell tower is finished and the scaffolding is torn down on Saturday.

8-10. Time for a quick walk-around:
- two views with one showing door openings for floors 3,4 and 5
- collected scaffolding waiting to get back into action in two days
- collected steel mesh waiting for the next cement floor pour
- STITCH  (with GLITCH) looking north (and the last time I get to sneak my building into the shot)


4-7-19

11. Day of rest.............to be cleaned up on Monday


4-8-19

12-15.  Cleanup, dryout, scaffolding back to work


4-9-19

16-20. The wood arrives (and some of it is pink!). Things will really be changing quickly now.


Click to enlarge.


« Last Edit: April 12, 2019, 04:45:36 PM by BLeafe »
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Offline BLeafe

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Re: Tracking the 389 Main St rehab project (4-10-19 & 4-11-19)
« Reply #81 on: April 18, 2019, 02:33:46 PM »
4-10-19

1. Sweeping water off the second floor

2. The first leaner on the new Leaning Tower of Hackensack

3. Waving goodbye to the sparkly view of the Hackensack River (boy, can I relate!).

4,5. While on Main St, I took these two shots.

6. "OK, smile!"    "I am, because I'm trying to figure out what your hard hat is sitting on."

7. Another load of wood arrives.

8,9. The tightrope walker steps over a bar, both with and without a load to carry.

10. The brand-new tower casts its first shadow on the second floor.


4-11-19

11. One crane makes a third-floor wet cement tray delivery as another brings a load of wood to the second floor.

12. Floor measurements are made before the wood becomes vertical.

13. Verticality first appears in the SW corner.

14. Dragging a pre-fab piece into place

15. A crane brings up wooden scaffolding planks.

16. The scaffolding as seen from Ward St

17. Looking down the Main St side of the pedestrian barrier

18. Picking up a load of wood from the storage area

19. Photostitch of the yard activity looking north

20. End-of-the-day shot


Click to enlarge.



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Offline BLeafe

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Re: Tracking the 389 Main St rehab project (4-12,13,14-19)
« Reply #82 on: April 18, 2019, 02:38:22 PM »
4-12-19

1.  Wood on wood

2. Distributing scaffolding planks

3,4,5. High-wire act

6,7,8. Getting the pieces into place

9. Rounding the corner and heading toward Main St

10. Whole site stitch


4-13-19

11. Shoveling cement into buckets for transport to the side where it's needed

12. More planking activity

13. Scaffolding going up another floor

14. Transporting concrete blocks over to the rising tower

15. A not-so-innocent bystander (but a good guy) takes a picture

16. Stitch showing that a LOT has changed since yesterday


4-14-19

17. The morning view

18. I’m not sure where these go.

19. Looking up the Ward St side toward State St.

20. Stitch of the site from State and Ward


Click to enlarge.



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Offline BLeafe

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Re: Tracking the 389 Main St rehab project (4-15 to 4-18-19)
« Reply #83 on: May 12, 2019, 05:20:58 PM »
They are really moving fast now. You may see a few of these posts this week as I try to catch up.


4-15-19 (4)

(1-4) Now that the elevator shaft is finished, you can see the scaffolding being taken down gradually.



4-16-19 (7)

(5,6) The first thing I saw today (7:48am) at 389 was smoke - a fire? After I emailed the site super, he sent me the sixth pic the next day, explaining that it was what happens when this 40 year-old welding machine on a flatbed truck gets started up in the morning.

(7,8) Workers peeking into future tenants' rooms.

(9,10) Breaking up a concrete block and cementing it into place.

(11) I'm enjoying the river sparkles while I can. As I write this less than a month later, I can only see a sliver of them on the far side and that'll probably be gone within the week.



4-17-19 (4)

(12-15) Four shots, including one taken from Teaneck - probably the last shot of my building from there. The whole thing will be obliterated once the fifth floor is built. That will make the building at least as tall as its concrete structures.



4-18-19 (5)

(16-20) A lot of spacer work going on between the second and third floor and by the time I shot the stitch (last image), the flat third floor flooring was started on the far right.


Click to enlarge.


« Last Edit: May 12, 2019, 05:25:47 PM by BLeafe »
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Offline BLeafe

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Re: Tracking the 389 Main St rehab project (4-19 to 4-30-19)
« Reply #84 on: May 12, 2019, 06:25:17 PM »
4-19-19 (1)

(1) Spacers in the sun



4-22-19 (1)

(2)  This post is non-stop wood.



4-23-19 (2)

(3) The ancient welding machine coughs back to life.

(4) Exterior spacer cover between the second and third floors



4-25-19 (1)

(5) Reading plans and hauling wood



4-27-19 (2)


(6) A new delivery of wood flooring

(7) By the end of the day, most of the third floor flooring is in.



4-29-19 (10)

(8.) Read the plans, make a mark.

(9,10) Lug a piece, kick it over

(11) Stairwell plunger keeps it clean (and if you believe THAT...............)

(12-16) Flying wood (look how much is piled on the third floor)

(17) By the end of the day, the third floor walls have started to go up.



4-30-19 (2)

(18) Multiple wood trucks

(19) Reading in the wood


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Offline BLeafe

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Re: Tracking the 389 Main St rehab project (5-2 to part of 5-4-19)
« Reply #85 on: May 13, 2019, 01:45:11 PM »
I'm gonna have to split up days and continue them in the following post because there's just too much to shoot and I have to stay within a 20-images-per-post limit.


5-2-19 (4)

(1-4) Wood City



5-3-19 (9)

(5-13) Check out the sixth picture. What are the chances that I would capture a certain numbered/lettered mid-air delivery, happen to have that wood utilized facing me a couple of hours later and make the connection between the two from nearly a block away and 4 floors higher? (as he hurts his arm from patting himself on the back)



5-4-19 (7)

(14-20) Three stitches from 5-4 will begin the next post.


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Offline BLeafe

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Re: Tracking the 389 Main St rehab project (part of 5-4 to 5-7-19)
« Reply #86 on: May 13, 2019, 02:35:16 PM »
5-4-19 (continued) (3)

(1-3) As noted in the previous post, the first three images are photo stitches from 5/4's walkaround. They face south, southwest and north, respectively.



5-6-19 (3)

(4-6) I'm tempted to call the guy in the sixth pic "Robin Troweler", but if you're not a 70s music freak...................



5-7-19 (13)

(7-19) I woke up to the view of a familiar piece of equipment that might not be seen again on this project: the very long-armed cement crane. I couldn't see where it was being used on the second floor until they got to the corner of Main and Ward. The last picture is a night shot after rain fell. The next post will begin with an observation having to do with that rainfall.


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Offline BLeafe

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Re: Tracking the 389 Main St rehab project (5-8 to 5-9-19)
« Reply #87 on: May 13, 2019, 03:33:35 PM »
5-8-19 (9)

(1-9)  After last night's rain, I noticed a big puddle in the middle of the new (and supposedly-flat) concrete-floor. I asked the site super about it and here's his reply: "The floors here get a coating on top of them, anywhere from 1/2'" TO 1". It varies. Its called a leveling course. Once all framing is installed, they get a self-leveling solution poured onto all floors."

Fifth pic: so it's not only the river that'll be gone from my view, as evidenced here by my new view of the "IAN ASSOCIATION" building (as the fourth-floor walls start to go up). Actually, I've already lost the view of Main St (and River St) that I gained last year. The ninth pic's scaffolding and wood planks show that the fourth floor will wipe out most of the river for me.



5-9-19 (11)

(10-20) After a shot from home, I got a Nixle notice that said one lane of Main St was closed from Passaic to Ward, so that told me that something might be going on on the Main St side of the building. It turned out to be nothing relevant, so after a couple of flying wood street shots, I went back home to find that they had just put up the picture window frame for the unit of some future tenant who will have my three-floors-lower river view. For the rest of the day, fourth-floor wall construction continued (and was completed, as the last compilation image shows).


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Offline BLeafe

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Re: Tracking the 389 Main St rehab project (5-10 to 5-13-19)
« Reply #88 on: May 13, 2019, 08:15:06 PM »
5-10-19 to 5-13-19 (19)

(1-19) In the second shot, the hard hat looks to be precariously-balanced on the guy's head. If you look at the images where the tallest blue scaffolding is behind the concrete elevator shafts on the left, THAT is the approximate height of the finished 5-story building, so I'm not only losing the river view, but half of Teaneck as well. Slightly on the plus side, a couple of the poorly-aimed local security lights no longer show up in my living room and will now delight the new 389 Main tenants.

In the fifteenth picture, you can still see some river and the last few river sparkles that I will ever see from here.

In the last four pictures - taken today - concrete construction continues on something on the Main St side. (5/14 - I just got word from the site super what that is: "Those are the metal pan steel stairs. They get bolted and welded to concrete walls, then stairs and landings get poured with concrete.")

And then the rains came.

And for one glorious day, I'm all caught up.


Click to enlarge.



« Last Edit: May 14, 2019, 08:10:24 AM by BLeafe »
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Offline BLeafe

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Re: Tracking the 389 Main St rehab project (5-14 to 5-17-19)
« Reply #89 on: May 28, 2019, 03:15:11 PM »
5-14-19 (4)

- last 2: dismantling scaffolding




5-15-19 (3)

- middle-of-the-night State St scene

- one more floor to go until I lose my river view


5-16-19 (6)

- long brush scrubs out stairwell (yeah, right)

- I think they're trying to slowly get me used to the idea of losing the river view

- STITCH - spacing for 5th floor

- a sunset scene



5-17-19 (5)

- walkaround


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