Construction Equipment Guide
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Thu November 07, 2002 - Northeast Edition
An eight-story extended-stay hotel is taking shape in Alexandria, VA, under the direction of SIGAL Construction of Washington D.C.
Marriott International reportedly bought the land in January 2001 for $3.7 million after the city council approved the company’s plans for a 225,000-sq.-ft. (20,903 sq m) Residence Inn in a previously vacant part of Old Town Alexandria. The site is near office buildings and a mixed-use development.
Paul Paleologos, project manager of SIGAL, reported that the project is valued at approximately $26.3 million, which is privately-funded. Work, which is running on schedule, began in April 2001 and is expected to be complete by December.
The hotel will consist of 240 suites, each with a kitchen. It will have the brick facade that Alexandria buildings are known for, and there also will be three levels of parking.
The job site covers approximately 182,000-sq.-ft. (16,908 sq m) and involves approximately 12,000-cu.-yds. (9,174 cu m) of poured-in-place concrete. Paleologos said, “Deep caissons in bad soil next to an existing sewer culvert was our biggest challenge, which has now been overcome.” Approximately 9,000 cu. yds. (6,881 cu m) of dirt was moved for the project.
An average of 110 employees are working on the assignment. Major subcontractors include Seaboard Foundations, Jessup, MD, caissons; Facchina Construction, La Plata, MD, concrete; LJS Contractors, Glenwood, MD, earthwork; Truland Systems Corp., Alexandria, electrical; Southland Industries, Sterling, VA, mechanical; Fairfax Glass, Fairfax, VA, windows; Alliance Roofing, Baltimore, MD, roofing; and Federal Fire Protection, Davidsonville, MD, sprinklers.
Facchina Construction rented a Liebherr 182HC crane with 197 ft. (60 m) of jib from Morrow Equipment Company, Manassas, VA, for its part of the job. The crane also was used to set the precast pieces. SIGAL also rented a hoist and rubbish chute. The equipment list for subcontractor LJS Contractors included a Hitachi 200 excavator, nine 53 loaders, an Ingersoll-Rand SP70 roller, and a Bobcat 1845. It also leased several dump trucks for the job.
Brenda Ruggiero has written for CEG for over 20 years. She lives near the town of Accident in far western Maryland. Her favorite assignments so far involved interviews with Survivor’s Boston Rob and hot dog eating champion Joey Chestnut. Both were involved in construction at one time.
Brenda holds a BA in Mass Communication with a writing focus from Frostburg State University and minors in Public Relations and Political Science. She works full time as a staff writer for a weekly newspaper, the Garrett County Republican. She enjoys feature writing the most, which gives her the opportunity to talk to people and share their stories.
Brenda and her middle school sweetheart, Reuben, have been married for over 34 years and have three grown children and four cats.