Whew........

Did you hear that? It was the biggest exhale of the past 6 years! Finally, finally, finally we got Beneficial Occupancy of the building I've been working on yesterday. January 2006, I was on an interview team to try to win the Construction Management contract for a new building at UNC's Dental School. We won, spent two years doing Pre-construction and by the time we broke ground in May 2008, I was the only one left from the Interview team (seriously!). And now, 6 years and a lot of work, sweat, tears later (a LOT of tears later!), we were granted Occupancy from the State. We have received some site work changes that will have our forces there for a little longer and we have to finish the punch list, but we met a MAJOR milestone!! I imagine our guys will be on site for another month and then I'll have the long task of completing all the paperwork to close out the project and wade through some legal stuff with a few companies closing their doors, us having to finish their work and also them owing folks money. Just the normal stuff!!

But seriously, it has been a long long project and lot of my life and I am beyond happy that it's complete and they're moving in. I've learned way more than I ever expected and dealt with situations you couldn't imagine but I survived. Definitely in need of a long break and not sure what the next project will be. For now, I'm just happy to be at this point.

Now, pictures......

From our web came across the street, the exterior of the new building

Street corner shot

A new pedestrian bridge we put over the road. Unfortunately there have been multiple deaths at this crosswalk location and this bridge will provide safe passage across the street.

South elevation of the building. We connected the new building (left) to an existing building (right) with a long open corridor called 'Main Street' and then an atrium to the North connected the new building to this and another building.

Bridge and, across the street, elevator / stair tower.

Glass elevator and stair tower

The atrium space - this used to be outdoor space between buildings.

5th floor of new building is at the roof height of the existing building.

There are open labs on 3rd, 4th and 5th floors for Research.

4th floor is open to Main Street and the Atrium. Glass handrails and very open. This level has a smoke curtain that comes down to seal off the floor and prevent smoke from entering if there is a fire in the Atrium. It's amazing how all that stuff works!