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captions, page 4:
clockwise from upper left:
Main entrance wall
Gable brickwork
Arcade
Corner wall
Elevator (photo by Downes)
By Linda Lemmon
Town Crier Editor
PUTNAM — Despite some of the worst winter could throw at it, the Municipal Complex project is making “tremendous progress,” according to the senior project manager/superintendent.
March 4, on a tour of the complex with building committee members and town officials, Downes Construction Company, LLC superintendent Tom Sheard said “where it seemed like they lost one day a week to weather,” the progress kept coming.
Sheard said the brickwork is “substantially complete” around the large Town Hall portion of the complex. Black bricks in the gable sections of the larger building create a 3-D “Morse Code” pattern in the red brick background. The bricks around the main entrance are blackish. Brickwork around the arcade section is basically done — it’s curing now. Wide columns alternate with skinnier columns and there are indents and bricks laid vertically for interest. Large windows in the conference room run along the arcade.
Bricks will start going up on the library portion of the building “tomorrow (March 5) morning.”
He said the interior is substantially complete with the drywall and taping and yesterday painters started with priming portions of the inside. The elevator is installed and with a couple more additions it will be inspected and then deemed complete.
Inside, he said, the plumbing and electrical work are finished and inspected. The HVAC systems will be tested shortly.
With the painters already getting down to work, Sheard said the acoustical grid work should start, probably within the next two weeks.
Windows around the first floor are going in at a good clip. He said “curtain glass walls” should be started by the end of March.
The “prep kitchen” next to the community space (with adjustable walls) has been enlarged.
Sheard said the grand stairway at the entrance to the Town Hall portion of the building should be up by April 7 or 8. He said the stairs contractor was the one contractor who delayed the schedule.
Otherwise the building is still set for occupancy around the end of August. The project is still under budget.
The complex includes 40,000 gross square feet (sf) of offices, meeting spaces, and public library. Interior space will include approximately 11,400 sf for the library, 7,000 sf for the Community Room area, 3,600 sf for the Historical Society, and the remaining 18,000 sf for Town Hall offices.
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