LaSalle Bank Building

Situation

On the night of December 6, 2004, fire broke out on the 29th floor of Chicago’s LaSalle Bank Building. This classic in art deco design is a full city block long, rests on a massive footprint of 61,000 square feet and encompasses 1.2 million square feet of office space. It was completed in 1934, long before fire-suppression systems were required.

While the Chicago Fire Department was able to extinguish the fire, over two million gallons of water badly damaged the building from the 31st floor down to the sub-basement levels.

Senior Chief Engineer Steve Kuziela knew making the building suitable for his tenants would be a long, hard job. He was on the phone with his SiteStuff account executive long before the sun came up that morning, and we immediately began the job of restoring this important Chicago landmark.

Challenges

Quickly undo the damage done by a fire and the water used to put out the fire. Prior to the fire, the building was fully occupied, and each tenant needed use of their office space as soon as possible.

In addition to repairing the damage, the property team realized this was a good opportunity to improve their property with new safety and energy-saving features. And they knew SiteStuff could deliver every product they’d need quickly
and efficiently.

Objectives

• Repair all internal and external fire and water damage
• Upgrade lighting systems to more energy-efficient lamps throughout the property
• Do it all on an expedited schedule, allowing property tenants to move back in as quickly as possible

Results

• First deliveries of materials were made within just 24 hours of the event
• Some tenants were able to move back in within 8 days
• All tenants were able to resume normal business
within the improved LaSalle Bank Building within less than a year
• Even with the expedited schedule, SiteStuff was able to offer building management substantial savings on the cost of their retrofit.

In their own words….

Steve Kuziela is the Senior Chief Engineer for the LaSalle Bank Building. When disaster struck, he turned to the one organization that could respond with the speed he needed. “SiteStuff communicated and worked with us as a partner throughout every phase of  this project. SiteStuff gave me absolute confidence in meeting each of our deadlines throughout this process. They were always in communication with me.“By using SiteStuff I was able to get each of my orders processed and delivered quickly, he stated." “SiteStuff also gave us the ability to quickly upgrade our lighting systems to more energy-efficient lamps throughout the property.”