Constructing a new tower at the site of the former Filene’s Basement retail store in the heart of Boston’s Downtown Crossing was bound to capture the attention and imagination of the city’s residents. Indeed, at times, previous pushes to redevelop the site became a favorite soap opera for many Bostonians, as plans started and stalled and eventually came to a complete stop amidst a deepening recession in 2008. Then Millennium Partners stepped in as the new, sole developer of the project in 2012 – and things finally started to happen, including the signing up of major tenants and the launch of construction in 2013. But there’s another aspect to the Millennium Tower Boston saga, beyond the rich and high-profile history of the site and the fact that an adjacent renovated building along Washington Street was designed by legendary architect Daniel Burnham in 1912: The residential Millennium Tower Boston would be 685 feet and 60 stories high, making it the third tallest skyscraper in Boston, behind the Hancock Tower (now known as 200 Clarendon and 790 feet tall) and the Prudential Tower (749 feet). And Millennium Tower Boston was also facing the fact that not since 1976, when the Hancock/200 Clarendon tower was completed, had Boston seen anything like this tower project – in terms of building height, materials, new building technologies and the sheer number of contractors, subcontractors and workers involved, all confined within a dense neighborhood with more than 200,000 people living and working there every day. The story behind the story – of how 65 subcontractors, 150 material suppliers, construction manager Suffolk Construction and Millennium Partners have worked together since 2013 – is one of intense pre-construction planning, precise execution and an unrelenting focus on safety, quality and hitting deadlines. The team has taken a “vertical assembly line” approach toward the tower’s construction – in which the lower floors of the tower were finished by subcontractors even while crews above were still pouring concrete for the upper floors. “It’s one of the most efficiently run projects I’ve seen in a while,” said John Cannistraro, president of Watertown-based J.C. Cannistraro LLC, one of dozens of subcontractors working on the $700 million project. “The job has been great, really lean with excellent execution among so many parties.” The Millennium Tower Boston project is now about 80 percent done – its topping off ceremony was held in midSeptember – and officials expect the residential tower of 442 luxury units (including a two-level club and lounge, dining, a health club and an indoor lap pool) to open its first phase this summer, on schedule. But the project really started well before construction crews ever hit the site: during seemingly endless pre-construction meetings between officials from Millennium, Suffolk and subcontractors. “It is the only way to get it done right and on time,” Rich Michaels, senior superintendent for Suffolk Construction, said of the multiple meetings to go over the fine points of FACING PAGE: RENDERING COURTESY OF MILLENNIUM PARTNERS LEFT PHOTO COURTESY OF LOU JONES; MIDDLE AND RIGHT, COURTESY OF PRUDENTE PHOTOGRAPHY
building Boston’s third-largest tower. “Everything has to be very organized and coordinated.” The project’s general statistics alone suggest the magnitude facing Suffolk Construction and all its subcontractors: 1.2 million square feet of horizontal construction; 61,000 cubic yards of concrete (including 6,000 cubic yards for its base mat, the largest continuous concrete placement in Boston’s history); 10,000 tons of reinforcing steel; 410 plate steel link beams (equating to 850 tons of steel); and 8,000 exterior curtain-wall panels. On any given day, up to 500 workers have been on site – and, at times, trucks hauling materials and equipment through Boston’s narrow and curving streets arrived at the site every six minutes or so. Careful choreographing of all the logistics on a daily, weekly and monthly basis – sometimes on days with 200 different activities going at the bustling site –is daunting, critical and simply a must, Michaels and many subcontractors said. “You’re dealing with such heights and all the workers and materials being hauled up by crane or elevators,” said John D’Elia, vice president of Worcester-based Greenwood Industries, a roofing and sheet metal subcontractor that’s working on the roofing and balconies at Millennium Tower. “It’s all about the details. Luckily, many subcontractors were familiar with each other and have worked together in the past. And Suffolk has been great.” Indeed, some subcontractors note that they worked together on a previous Millennium Partners project only a few years ago, Millennium Place at 580 Washington Street, just a few blocks away from the new tower. But that project was only 150 feet tall, or one-fifth the height of Millennium Tower.
Armies of Subs There have been a number of challenges and unique features to the Millennium Tower project. Among them were continued on page 18
ASM Members on the Millennium Tower Project • Automated Logic Contracting Services Inc. • Century Drywall Inc. • Daniel Marr & Son Co. • E.M. Duggan Inc. • Easton Concrete Cutting & Drilling Inc. • Gleeson Powers Inc. • Greenwood Industries Inc. • J.C. Cannistraro Inc. • J.M. Electrical Co. Inc. • JC Floorcovering Co. Inc. • Liberty Construction Services • Pavilion Floors Inc. • Pro Cut Inc. • Thermo-Dynamics International Inc. • Triple G Scaffold Services Corp. (excavation work)
The Professional Contractor
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