From Manure to Money
Old Dairy Farm Becomes New Site for Wells Fargo Building
By K. Robert Wendel

For years, the area around Queen Creek and Price roads in Chandler was known for the smell of dairy farms.

Now the smell of money is coming from the suburban Phoenix area as contractors construct two new class A office buildings for banking giant Wells Fargo.

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"When you have a dairy farm, you have a lot of potential for environmental issues, but the site turned out pretty benign," said civil engineer Tim Huval of Mesa's Wood Patel.
Work on the $50 million project started in April, with plans to finish the shell in April 2004. A separate tenant improvement package will be put to bid for the remainder of the interior work.

The Phoenix office of Weitz Co. and its subcontractors are in the process of framing up the pair of 200,000-sq.-ft., four-story office buildings, with Schuff Steel of Phoenix supplying and erecting more than 2,400 tons of steel.

Designers debated to whether to use steel or pre cast concrete. Although construction of future planned offices would have made the concrete option viable, after running the numbers, the building team chose steel.

Gary Lewis, a senior project manager for the Weitz Co. in Phoenix, said builders are going for a mall concept. "Workers inside the building will have a place to go and relax and get away from the office environment," he added.

The two buildings sit on a slab-on-grade foundations with floor plates measuring approximately 50,000-sq.-ft. each. Contractors will construct offices around the perimeter of the floor plates, leaving the central bays open for cubicles.

Each building was designed with its own mechanical system, in case the owners decided to sell one of the projects in the future. Two 500-ton chillers and a 400-ton heat exchanger, all mounted on the roof, support each building.

Phoenix-based Energy Systems Design engineered the mechanical, plumbing and fire protection systems, while Tek Star of Phoenix installed the plumbing and RCI Systems of Mesa constructed the fire protection systems.

An extensive amount of glass, along with precast spandrels to break up the massing of the 500-ft.-long buildings will be used on the exterior. Architects designed the buildings with an eye toward low maintenance and longevity.

"The owner didn't want anything flashy and didn't want to get into any particular style that you see right now, and then have that design go out of style," said Steve Ferguson, a senior associate with architect DLR Group of Phoenix. "What we wanted to give Wells Fargo was a project that would meet their functional needs, but at same time, a project that lasts over the long-haul and is handsome looking."