Back in September, we reported on the groundbreaking of 1601 Wewatta; the 10-story office building going up at 16th and Wewatta in the Union Station neighborhood. Since our last update, this project has reached some critical milestones in terms of construction: the project has ‘bottomed out’ at 53 feet below grade, and a tower crane has recently been installed. In the past, we have always gone ‘inside the infill’ when there has been some kind of structure built on the site but today we have something different for you! Thanks to Dave Klebba and Matt Greenberg of Hines, we were able see the bottom of the hole for ourselves!

First off, here are two shots from above the hole. There is still a lot of dirt; however, the concrete beams for the underground parking structure have started to go vertical, along with the elevator core.

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Let’s head down into the hole! The site was very busy with laborers working on either the shoring walls, setting rebar for the concrete beams, or finishing up the excavation on the southeast corner of the site.

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Because there are four stories of underground parking, this meant excavation ended up going below the water table. Because of this, an extensive dewatering system had to be installed. These systems pump out the ground water and filter it so it is safe to return to the storm water drainage network.

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1601 Wewatta is another great contribution to the Union Station neighborhood build-out. The 10-story office building will have a great public space along 16th Street, including an additional entrance along Chestnut Street. Having the additional entrance helps activate Chestnut Street especially with pedestrians using the light rail station across the street. The LEED-Gold building will also include solar panels on the roof. For more information including floor-plates and renderings, be sure to visit 1601 Wewatta’s website!