Dedication

Tacoma Program Center Formally Open

On Thursday October 20 there was a Grand Opening event to formally signify the inauguration of the Tacoma Program Center.

9/20/12 - Attendees mingle prior to inaugural comments at Grand Opening

9/20/12 - Branch Chair Geoff Lawrence

9/20/12 - Executive Director Martinique Grigg

Following comments by Tacoma branch Chair Geoff Lawrence, Mountaineers Executive Director Martinique Grigg, Mountaineers President Gavin Woody and Tacoma Deputy Mayor Joe Lonergan, the highlight of the brief ceremony was the the opening of the joined vintage and contemporary climbing ropes signifying The Mountaineers reverence for its past and aspirations for the future.

9/20/12 - The joined vintage and contemporary climbing ropes

Fittingly, the ceremonial 'biner unclasping was done by Mountaineer Jim Henriot, former Branch Chair, Mountaineers President, and President of the American Alpine Club!

9/20/12 - Mountaineer Jim Henriot formally opens The
Tacoma Program Center!

-- Grand Opening photos courtesy of Mountaineer Brian Kenison

Finished Product

The Mountaineers, Tacoma Program Center.  Image by Bill Hagstotz - constructionimages.com

Open for Business!

Merit Construction completed the punch list of clean-up items and an Open House was conducted on Thursday August 16 to signify that the Tacoma Program Center is Open for Business!

8/16/12 - View into the atrium at the Open House

8/16/12 - Great turnout for the Tacoma Program Center Open House

Just prior to the Open House architect Amy Dedominicis presented The Mountaineers with a "Certificate of Adoption" marking the turnover of the facility.

8/16/12 - Architect Amy Dedominicis and branch Chair Geoff Lawrence

And the final task on Merit's punch list was to install the plaque on the northeast corner of the building commemorating the Tacoma branch's centennial and celebrating the reconstruction of the Tacoma Program Center!

Open House - August 16

Merit Construction is finishing up the final touches and will move on to their next project by the end of this week.  Our task is now to furnish the Tacoma Program Center, repatriate supplies, artifacts and gear into the new space, and create the policies and procedures to successfully and productively run the facility. 

8/14/12 - Completed Tacoma Program Center

From 4 - 8 pm there will be an Open House to show off the Tacoma Program Center to Mountaineers and members of the community.  The architect, Amy Dedominicis will be present as well as representatives from Merit Construction, general contractor and AHBL, the engineers.  Members of the building committee will also be present along with Mountaineers staff members.  Please come!

8/14/12 - Engraved Pavers installed - more available!

8/14/12 - View of the back staircase

Occupancy!!

Early Thursday afternoon August 2 the City of Tacoma granted a Certificate of Occupancy marking the finish of the reconstruction of the Tacoma Mountaineers Clubhouse into the Tacoma Program Center!

 

 

7/31/12 - The Mountaineers, Tacoma Program Center

Merit Construction will be finishing up the last of the punch list items over the next week, and effective immediately we will be conducting the business of the Tacoma Mountaineers in our beautiful new facility!  Fittingly, the first event will be at 6 - 8 pm on Monday August 6 for a public comment session for Mount Rainier National Park personnel to present options under consideration for possible Camp Muir rehabilitation - more info here.  There is also an open-to-the-public Open House planned from 4 - 8 pm on Thursday August 16 for Mountaineers and all others to see the new Program Center.  Info about other events will be posted on this blog or at The Tacoma Mountaineers website.

TPC Portal

Though the Tacoma Program Center was not built entirely by Mountaineer volunteers as was the case when the Clubhouse was originally built in 1955 - 1956, there has still been a great amount of volunteer contribution.  On of the most visible contributions is the front door which was built by Tom (Tomcat) Labrie, and installed today, Tuesday, 7/31.

7/30/12 - Tom Labrie delivers and puts the finishing touches on the front door he built

7/31/12 - Jason of Merit Construction figures out the front door hardware

Finishing Touches

Many finishing touches are being done to wrap up the Tacoma Program Center renovation.  A work party of Steve Rork and Dawn Fast installed the acoustic clouds that were varnished in the past two weeks by members of other work parties.

7/27/12 - Steve Rork and Dawn Fast construct one of three "acoustic clouds" in the Greatroom

 The acoustic clouds were milled from wood reclaimed from the original Clubhouse beams, as well as the stair treads, and they are full of character!

7/27/12 - Acoustic clouds finished product!

Pavers were installed at the front entrance and at the northwest corner of the property - they will be engraved with inscriptions of donors purchasing them prior to an Open House planned for Thursday August 16 from 4 - 8 pm (additional pavers are still available for purchase - see the Tacoma Mountaineers website for information).

7/27/12 - Pavers being installed at Program Center entrance - will be engraved with purchasers' inscriptions.

Final Push

Larry has been knocking of the various inspections required to certify completion of the Tacoma Program Center, and Substantial Completion is still anticipated at the end of the week.  The ADA parking spot was cut, formed and curbed last week,

7/20/12 - Pouring the curb, corner of Carr & N. 30th

7/20/12 - Curb poured for ADA parking spot

and Carr Street was paved, the ADA ramp formed and poured this week.

7/23/12 - Finishing up the ADA ramp and sidewalk

7/23/12 - Site Super Larry inspects paved Carr St.

7/24/12 - The gorgeous new Mountaineers ADA parking spot!

Penultimate Week

Though it appears that there is a tremendous amount of work to be done, Merit Construction is still scheduling Substantial Completion for July 27 - a bit more than a week away!  2302 N. 30th St. has been a beehive of activity with numerous tradespersons being directed by Larry, Site Super in the role of Maestro!  It truly is an exercise of planning and oversight as all the pieces need to fit together like a jigsaw puzzle, while at the same time making sure the various trades are performing in logical sequence and not getting in one anothers' way!

Work on the ADA parking spot commenced late last week, and Wednesday of this week Carr street was scraped to the cobblestones in preparation for repaving after completion of the ADA spot.  The cobblestones are a thing of beauty - Larry did a bit of research, and we believe they were made of stone imported from England (used as ballast for empty ships coming from Europe and returning laden with products and goods), and installed by Chinese labor about 129 years ago!  It's a bit of a shame that they have to be covered by asphalt, so beautiful is the craftsmanship inherent in their installation!

7/18/12 - Carr Street scraped of asphalt to the cobblestones

7/18/12 - Beautiful installation craftsmanship on cobbled street

7/18/12 - Patch of brickwork between cobbled Carr St. and N. 30th St.

Concretework, Exterior Finishes

There was a lot of activity early this week preparing for the July 4th festivities in the neighborhood.  Some concrete work was done to prepare the sidewalks for the holiday traffic in Old Town, and the exterior siding was stained and finished.

7/3/12 - Floating Concrete at the entrance

7/3/12 - Finished product

The cedar siding was stained and finished,

7/3/12 - Cedar siding stained and finished

and on Saturday a small work party varnished the stair treads reclaimed from Clubhouse roof timbers, which will be installed next week.

7/7/12 - Mike Waiss varnishing stair treads to be installed the week of 7/9/12

Beginning of the End

We're getting to that point in the project where various finishing touches are being added.  This week the remainder of the cedar siding was installed on the front of the building, and the painters will add the finish next week.

6/27/12 - Cedar siding fully installed on north side of building

Concrete work was done in the back yard for footings, walls and curbs for fence support, stair pads, and belay pit & support pad for a future climbing wall.

6/29/12 - Pad for stairs landing and curb & pad for future climbing wall in back yard

Also this week, Merit Construction installed much of the wainscot in the Greatroom made of wood reclaimed and remilled from the original roof decking of the Clubhouse.

6/29/12 - Merit personnel installing wainscot remilled from Clubhouse roof decking

With the 4th of July on Wednesday, next week is a short work week, but there will be a lot of activity nonetheless with painting, flooring installation and some sidewalk concrete work.

Saturday Workparty

The interior will be turned over to the painters the week of 6/25, so a workparty was convened on Saturday to mask the galvanized struts of the TJL joists.  Despite a last-minute Friday afternoon appeal, we were able to assemble a Saturday morning workparty of Steve Klein, Sara Kosel, Mike Waiss, Bill Wood, Jim Feltus and Geoff Lawrence to mask the struts in preparation for the painters.  Fueled by Tully's coffee and donuts we were able to mask I-don't-know-how-many-hundreds of struts in about 3 1/2 hours.

6/23/12 - Steve Klein and Sara Kosel take a break from masking

6/23/12 - Bill Wood and Mike Waiss demonstrating their fine-tuned masking technique

Exterior Finishes

There was a lot of work done this week waterproofing and trimming out the east wall (Carr St. side), and trimming finishing the siding and trimming out the North wall (30th St. side) is right behind.

6/22/12 - Siding being installed on front of building (30th St. side)

Installation of the roof drains and connection to the storm sewer was also completed this week, and next week some of the sidewalk that was removed to accommodate the roof drains will be poured.

6/18/12 - Drainage from roof drains to storm sewer between Program Center and Slavonian Hall

The sheetrock has all been hung, taped and mudded and next week (week of 6/25) the painters will start to do their thing starting on the second floor and moving downward.

6/18/12 - Sheetrock installed and mudded

More Progress

One of the not-so-pleasant surprises we encountered a bit earlier in the project was the discovery that the roof drains on the original Clubhouse did not flow to the storm sewer despite showing that they did so on the drawings.  As mentioned in at least one earlier post, the condition of the soil at the construction site is sandy and porous, meaning that water percolates readily.  While it may have been acceptable to allow roof drains to terminate to earth 55 years ago, it certainly isn't in 2012!  So, we had to add connection of the roof drains to the storm sewers to the scope, and this work is being done this week.

6/13/12 - Connection of roof drains to storm sewer catch basin

Also, the fire sprinkler system is nearly completed, and installation of drywall is progressing at a rapid pace.

6/13/12 - Fire Sprinkler standpipe in place

6/13/12 - Drywall installed in upstairs classroom

Great Open House

The first of what will likely be several Open Houses was held at Slavonian Hall, next to the Tacoma Program Center-under-construction on Thursday May 31.  There was a great turnout of Mountaineers old and new, members of the community and other interested parties at-large!

5/31/12 - Open House Attendees mingle at Slavonian Hall, our neighbor

5/31/12 - First walk-through for many at the Tacoma Program Center

Insulation was installed early the week of June 4, and sheet rock installation starts late this week.

6/6/12 - Insulation in.  Ready for Sheet rock

 Otherwise, work continues on the myriad of finish projects that need to be done.

6/5/12 - Framing of the hearth starts

6/6/12 - Hearth will be tiled with granite reclaimed from original
hearth and will contain a time capsule to be opened ?