Members at Work

From left, BAC Local 21 IL Tile Setters Donald Bachler and Mark Parker.

Windy City Strong

How BAC members built one of Chicago’s most significant skyscraper projects

Soaring high above the intersection that includes River North, the Magnificent Mile and Gold Coast, One Chicago Square is the latest addition to the Windy City’s iconic skyline. The mixed-use project, which gets its name from its 1 W. Chicago Avenue address, replaces a block-sized parking lot across from Holy Name Cathedral. Scheduled to be completed in early 2022, One Chicago’s two towers (969 feet and 574 feet, respectively) will feature 735 rental apartments, 77 owner-occupied condominiums, 1,100 parking spaces, 60,000 square feet of office space, a Whole Foods and a Life Time athletic club.

Part of the team logging hours in the skyline-altering project included a number of BAC members working for A.L.L. Masonry Construction (17,000 hours), Bourbon Tile & Marble (31,000 hours), Granite Innovations (30,000 hours) and the Mike Cachey Construction Company (1,800 hours). They joined project developer JDL Development and general contractor Power Construction.

“BAC members are proud to be part of constructing another great building that will be an iconic element of Chicago’s skyline,” said the President of Administrative District Council 1 of Illinois Mike Volpentesta. “This structure will always be remembered by the people who worked on it as proof that we will continue on after this historic pandemic – overcoming all obstacles as they were put in front of us.”

PANDEMIC STRESSED SUPPLY CHAIN

In a development so encompassing — built in a time of such unprecedented challenges and circumstances — one of the most

interesting developments surrounding the work rested in the shipping problems spawned from supply chain interruptions worldwide. The issues primarily started after the foundations were constructed since the products mainly used for that — concrete, insulation, drywall, etc. — are manufactured in North America. Bigger setbacks happened when it was time to use materials that were manufactured or sourced overseas. For example, the stone selected for the One Chicago project was sourced from India, and the shipping costs and delays doubled the price.

“There were no time constraints for our installation, as we are able to follow behind the storefront installer and the concrete contractor with ease,” says Mike Cachey, owner of Mike Cachey Construction Company Inc. “But the shipping times were doubled. Instead of taking six weeks, some shipping durations took six months.”

Cachey said his team was able to order their material as soon as it was picked. They worked closely with the Power Construction team, who were understanding of where the delays were and why. Breaking ground pre-pandemic, construction on One Chicago Square is expected to take up to 42 months, as the developers continue to roll out the timeline in three phases — delays and all.

Mike Cachey Construction Company was in charge of installing two types of limestone and granite, as a veneer, honed granite for curbing in the planters and polished granite under the storefront. The Cachey team, including Foreman Tracy Wollenburg, Local 21; Supervisor/Foreman Michael Pazanin, Local 74; Jerry Huey, Local 21; and Marcel Mundo Maldonado, Local 74, worked on 5,800 square feet of stone.

Throughout the process, the team encountered challenges not unbecoming of a project this size. One of those incidents involved having to drill holes in the granite to receive the pins, and then pinning the granite to the concrete. Since granite is such a hard stone, drilling the holes heated up the bits so much the tips deformed and burnt up. To tackle the problem, Pazanin developed a little jig — a piece of plywood featuring a 3-inch square cut out with rubber gaskets, which held the water and kept the drill bit cool, also eliminating any dust.

Perhaps one of the biggest challenges came from the design itself. “Architects are always

Jeffrey Cooper, D Installations, Local 21 Tile Setter

Exterior of the One Chicago Square.

drawing stuff that’s impossible to do,” Pazanin said. “They have a detailed drawing for a clip for the façade stones that is to receive a clip that mounts to the wall, and then screws to a clip that holds the stone. The space between the stone and the metal panels is 3 inches and sits 2 inches back. They show it was supposed to fasten with a Phillips screwdriver. How can you fit a Phillips driver in a 3-inch space with a 1.5-inch screw that leaves only 1.5 inches to get a Phillips driver in?”

To solve this design problem they fastened the stone panel clips using 1.5” stainless steel Tek screws with a 3/16” ratchet. “It required a work-around” said Pazanin “but that's what we do as bricklayers. We find solutions to keep the job moving, on schedule, and on budget.”

“Our members used their training and experience to help troubleshoot problems to complete this project,” said BAC President Tim Driscoll. “With shipping delays affecting jobs across the country, contractors are seeing the strength of BAC trained craftworkers to get the jobs done right, without further hold ups.”

DANCES WITH SHOWERS

Some of the most challenging work for BAC on One Chicago Square was the intricate tile design specified for the tower's shower and bathroom areas. Boasting 276 apartments with 388 bathrooms and 69 condo units with 166 bathrooms, BAC members put extraordinary effort into making the primary bathrooms in the condos as remarkable as the building itself.

For example, one of the shower walls has a very large cut-out for a niche and several smaller cut-outs for a bench. Typically, cut-outs of these sizes would compromise the integrity of the 60-inch x 120-inch x 6mm gauged porcelain tile panels and would not be recommended by the manufacturer. However, by adhering Schluter’s 5/8-inch Kerdi Board to the back of the panels and cutting out the openings on a water jet to make the remaining panel seamless and offer stability, the team at Bourbon Tile & Marble came to the rescue.

In any area, due to tight corners in the condo units, drywall was left off some walls so the larger 60-inch x 120-inch panels could be passed through or navigated around. “There are anywhere from 10 to 20 60-inch x 120-inch panels per condo master bath,” said Nancy Bourbon, owner

BAC Local 21 IL Tile Setter Elton Marco.

BAC Local 21 IL Bricklayer Jerry Huey Jr.

and President of the Buffalo Grove, Il. company. “The external skip elevator was scheduled to be taken down before the bathrooms were scheduled to be installed, and the internal elevator is not large enough to transport the number of panels that were needed on each floor.”

To offset the challenge, the Bourbon team coordinated getting the material from its vendor to pre-stock the upper floors over three weekends before the skip came down. The panels were then secured and protected onsite. Since the niche walls are field measured and fabricated, they are transported one by one until they are ready for installation, using a technique called the doghouse — a raised section in the rear of the cab — in the freight elevator.

“Fortunately for us, there were some delays in the skip coming down, which allowed us a little extra time to get material onto the amenity floors and any remaining panels into the condo units,” Bourbon says. “Every project offers new experiences that you can learn from and new challenges to overcome. This one was no different.”

The Bourbon Tile & Marble team has tallied 14-plus months on site, working on 388 apartment bathrooms and 166 condo bathrooms, encompassing 72,000 square feet of 24x48 apartment tile; 31,000 square feet of 60x120; 28,000 square feet of 30x60, and 8,500 square feet of 2x2 and 12x24 condo tile; and an additional 4,600 of 60x120 and 3,500 square foot various sized tile for the amenity tile.

“The amount of GPT (Glazed Porcelain Tile) used on this project is unprecedented,” says Matt Jaicomo, a Local 21 tile setter who has been with Bourbon since 2006, when he started as an apprentice. “Our workforce had already been trained on installing GPT and had experience doing so, however, extra equipment was needed to accommodate multiple crews working at the same time.”

While every project has its share of challenges, Jaicomo says the size of the material and overall scope of the One Chicago Square project created logistical challenges not typically considered on other projects. “I’m very thankful that our shop showed the initiative to meet these issues head on, providing the necessary equipment to be as safe and efficient as possible. In the field, it goes without saying how proud I am of our crew. Every setter and finisher refused to let these day-to-day challenges beat us. Each one played a huge role in the overall success of this project.”

Bourbon Project Manager Christine Bailey echoed Jaicomo’s sentiments, saying that watching a project move from phase to phase, challenges and all, to completion is like poetry. “Our entire Bourbon staff has done

Members of BAC ADC 1 of IL working together to install a large tile in a shower room. A finished bathroom inside the One Chicago Square.

A finished living room inside the One Chicago Square.

a great job working together to provide a beautiful, quality installation. It’s always fun to work on a project of this size. The fact that it is being built with a team that includes great clients like Power Construction and JDL Development is even more rewarding. There’s a feeling of accomplishment when everyone works together for a common goal.”

Jeff Roers, Project Manager for A.L.L. Masonry Construction Inc., says the ability to have so many talented teams pulling in the same direction is what makes BAC such a powerful force. A.L.L. typically fielded a 10-man crew of masons on the project, working from May 2020 to August 2021. The team worked on approximately 120,000 concrete blocks, plus rebar and grout, rounding out to roughly 2.1 million square feet of work upon completion.

“This was a project secured via a competitive bid and a solid working relationship with Power Construction,” Roers says. “That relationship carried through all phases of our work, ensuring that it was completed on time in a quality manner. We are proud to count this project among the many others we’ve had a part of over our history that make up Chicago’s skyline.”

Mike Petritis, Executive Vice President and Director of Tile, Marble & Terrazzo for Administrative District Council 1 of Illinois says the One Chicago Square project came to Chicago at the perfect time. “This project shows the ability to have two of largest general contractors in Chicago come together in a setting that put all the crafts of the ADC and Local 21 to the test. We stepped up and built one of the most impressive structures in Chicago, one that has a lot to offer the people of the city.” //

From left, BAC Local 21 IL Tile Setters Pierluigi Luzzi and Alexander Vodicka.

From left, BAC Local 21 IL Tile Setter Rick Ruiz, Local 21 IL Apprentice Tile Finisher Rick Martinez, BAC Secretary-Treasurer Bob Arnold, and BAC President Tim Driscoll.

Members of BAC Administrative District Council 1 of Illinois installing tiles for the swimming pool inside the One Chicago Square. Learn how the BAC team completed a Life Time project by installing more than 50 different types of tile on page 8.

Larger than Life

BAC helps ‘wellness pioneer’ create one-of-kind ‘healthy lifestyle’ destination

Everything about One Chicago Square — the highly anticipated mega mixed-use project on the city’s west side — is larger than life, even the amenities. Along with a 65,000-square-foot flagship Whole Foods, One Chicago features Life Time River North, an athletic resort designed to also have office space for multiple companies or individuals to share (called coworking).

If you ask Local 21 Illinois member James Fulton, Field Superintendent for D Installation, he will tell you that the scope of work that BAC members logged was even more impressive than it may appear at first glance. This was a complete custom tile job loaded with more than 50 different types of tile throughout the project. Included in the work was everything from basic quarry tile in the kitchen area, to large-format thin porcelain tile as big as 5 feet x 10 feet infused with decorative metals, giving the wall tile depth and character.

Across the country, Life Time is known as a strong non-union company, often awarding work to non-union contractors. As a union tile setter leading the D Installation team charged with creating a signature facility, Fulton says he and his BAC brothers and sisters committed to show Life Time the difference that master union craftwork makes. The feedback has been incredible. “We intend to finish strong by putting out a beautiful product,” Fulton said — the kind of beautiful product that is only produced by the best union craftworkers.

The BAC team working for D Installation averaged about 32 workers on this project, logging 20,000 hours on the primary facility and another 1,100 hours on the pools. “The schedule was condensed immensely, and we basically had about four months to complete 7,600 square feet of custom floor prep and tile work,” Fulton says.

Along with adding large porcelain tiles wrapped over 30 columns throughout the building, BAC members installed two Myrtha pools — stainless steel wrapped in a PVC liner — and six hot/cold tubs. “We got to completely tile the very first one along with four hot/cold spa tubs,” Fulton says. “We used a new urethane type mortar made by Mapei, which gives the installation flexibility.”

A project of this scope does not come without its share of challenges. For example, additional drains were added per the Illinois Department of Public Health. Fulton explained they were added to the scope after the concrete was poured and the contract was signed. “This was challenging in many ways, but from a labor standpoint, we had to float the areas where these new drains were added and the concrete was not recessed in these areas.”

Fulton says the job called for innovative thinking on a whole new level. “We had to be very creative without compromising the functionality of the drains. This took many days of planning and strategizing because not only was this a tough job in itself, but everything else on the floor was based on our floor heights – toilets, vanities, doorways, etc.”

Challenges aside, Fulton says the project is something that will leave a mark in the city’s skyline. “I am very proud of this project, and I hope this gives some insight into the hard work, dedication and commitment that our BAC brothers and sisters have for our craft day-in and day-out.”

Nadine LaPointe, an Account Executive for D Installation, says that the detailed work in the One Chicago Square project is the kind that sets BAC apart. “It was one of the best projects I have ever worked on. The Power Construction and JDL teams were great to work with. They answered all of our questions and resolved any issues we had quickly. That makes a difference. You don’t get this teamwork on all projects.” //

State Street Revival

BAC at center of Chicago’s newest luxury residential complex — 1200 N. State Street Apartments

The game plan was simple. Chicago-based developer Newcastle Limited set out to deliver two mixed-use Gold Cost developments projects to replace a cluster of vacant commercial buildings in the city’s State Street area. Located in the Loop Retail Historic District—a shopping district within the Chicago Loop, the site had a combined 470 rental units, 193 parking spots, and more than 30,000 square feet of retail space. The tight city space led to some unique working conditions that BAC members were able to efficiently address safely.

“Like a lot of downtown projects, 1200 N. State Street posed challenges in terms of site access, requiring significant coordination of material and equipment deliveries,” says Richard Lauber, President of J&E Duff, the BAC mason contractor for the project. “Our team had to work more than 100 feet off of the ground on Hydro Mobile scaffolding.”

The first part of the project was at the northwest corner of State and Division streets. The plan called for an 11-story building with 102 rentals. Rising 11 floors into the sky, the 121-foot-tall luxury residential apartment complex also includes 12,000-plus square feet of ground-floor retail space, a car garage, and resident amenity spaces on the third floor and roof.

Combining an attractive mix of glass, brick, metal and panels similar to porcelain tile, 1200 N. State Street is designed to represent, but not imitate, the eclectic architecture of the neighborhood. It also is the kind of project where

From left, BAC Local 56 IL Journeyperson David Gantz, Local 21 apprentice Taylor Yates, Local 21 Journeyperson Victor Ramirez, and Local 74 Journeyperson Alston Stanley.

From left, BAC President Tim Driscoll, Executive Vice President Jeremiah Sullivan Jr., and a Local 21 IL member on the job. From left, BAC Secretary-Treasurer Bob Arnold, Executive Vice President Carlos Aquin, and Local 21 IL apprentice Taylor Yates.

BAC members, the best hands in the business, thrive.

In his over 20 years of experience running work, Chris Cankar, Local 74 Illinois member and J&E Duff foreman, has faced many challenges and overcome them. This job still gave him some new experiences, due to the tight space in the city. “We put stone up on the building, up on scaffolding where we couldn’t gain access other than through the building. They are 600lb stones. We had to use chain falls that are hung over the side of the building to handle them and set them on the building,” he said. “That is something I have never done before… but we made it happen.”

For the project, 27 BAC members worked the almost yearlong job, logging an estimated 10,200 hours. In total, they worked with 36,000 square feet (185,000 pieces) of Norman-sized and modular-size brick. In the parking garage, the BAC team worked with 21,000 square feet (23,625 pieces) and 2,000 cubic feet of cast stone veneer.

The project provided BAC Apprentice Taylor Yates her first opportunity to work with Norman size brick in a third bond pattern. “I liked laying it, I had never done that before,” she said. “Where I am, at Duff, they are really good at letting us lay brick and block.”

“I want apprentices to lay brick, I want them to learn,” explained Cankar. On this job apprentices also experienced “laying overhand, off the side of a building where they are harnessed off.”

“I try to give them the opportunity to learn when I get them on my job,” Cankar continued. “I was given that opportunity and I want them to have that… They are not making money if they do not know how to lay brick.”

Today, 1200 N. Street Apartments seamlessly fits into what the downtown area has become–a place of Chicago pride. When BAC Secretary-Treasurer Bob Arnold, a former Chicago resident, visited the jobsite, he was impressed with how his brothers and sisters continue to help transform the city’s landscape.

“It is great to see BAC members bringing brick back to the Chicago landscape,” said Secretary-Treasurer Arnold. “I was very impressed by the organized tempo of the job considering the tight workspace in the downtown area. Thank you to Richard Lauber, for setting up and joining us on the tour of the jobsite.” //

From left, BAC ADC 1 of IL President Mike Volpentesta, Local 21 IL apprentice Taylor Yates, BAC President Tim Driscoll, and BAC Secretary-Treasurer Bob Arnold.

BAC Local 21 Journeyperson Victor Ramirez meeting with BAC Secretary-Treasurer Bob Arnold and President Tim Driscoll. BAC Local 74 IL Journeyperson Mark Lewis.