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Week 49: New Foundation, Big Debris, Protecting the 1929 Building 
This week at the Public Safety Complex reconstruction site, crews with Al Blankenship Enterprises are working on the east and west end footers at the Central Wing Annex, tying in rebar.

Below-grade levels of the wing have been demolished, which left a temporary opening. Blankenship installed reinforcing steel and poured the concrete footings. Next, the crews will begin forming a new foundation wall.

Here is what it looked like when the west end was poured:

West side pouring, Central Wing Annex


Meanwhile, more piles were uncovered (photo below) at the foundation where the West and Central wings, since demolished, had once met. The debris vaguely resembles a row of teeth, appearing to be 3 feet tall, above ground, and about as wide.

But looks are deceptive. In actuality, the total length of the piles below grade is likely much more massive. The piles in front of the 1929 Building, for example, are approximately 40 feet long.

Piles uncovered at the West Wing foundation


Elsewhere on the former St. Mary's Hospital campus in North Knoxville, Messer Construction crews are continuing to work on the temporary partitions for the 1929 Building, while Renascent continues its surgical separation of the historic building that's being preserved from the add-on structures that mostly have been dismantled.

The west end of the 1929 Building is being closed and protected.

Renascent crews are continuing to remove the debris from the razed Annunciation Wing foundation walls, and they also are beginning the process of removing underground storage tanks from the north end of the campus.

The work is all part of the City's $40 million project to convert the unused hospital into new space for Police, Fire, E-911, Pension System and City Court operations. The vacated hospital's Professional Office Building, Central Wing Annex and Women's Pavilion are being repurposed.

The iconic 1929 Building is being preserved, and it and the property to its north are being prepped for future private redevelopment. The City invested an extra $6.5 million to raze obsolete buildings on the north end of the site to make it available for productive reuse.

On the eastern edge of the property, the Magdalen Clarke Tower is being used by Lincoln Memorial University as a nursing education facility.

Posted by evreeland On 27 January, 2021 at 6:05 PM