Wind And Snow Challenges Builders

November’s ice storm problems no longer concern contractors at the Spokane Valley Mall. But the cold weather does.

“Things are moving on,” said Rex Frazier, the mall’s developer. “With that (ice storm) behind us, we’re back on the time frame and getting the mall building shell buttoned up.”

The mall, for the most part, has been enclosed and work has moved inside as the contractors proceed with construction of the interior of the anchor stores and the mall area stores.

In the main mall area, crews are building the walls between tenant stores, Frazier said. Work also continues on corridors throughout the mall as well as the service corridors, he said.

The Bon Marche building’s roof is complete and the first floor of the department store is 75 percent framed, said project manager John Carlson of Baugh Construction.

Currently, crews are installing the the emergency sprinkler system and lighting fixtures, he said. On the second floor, crews are beginning framing work.

The store front of the Bon Marche building will be going up over the next couple of weeks, he said.

At the J.C. Penney building, duct and frame work is continuing on the first floor and crews are fireproofing the second, said Vincent Campanella, project manager of Lydig Construction.

“We worked really hard to get the building enclosed after the storm,” said Campanella. Now, he said, they’ve got gas heat pumping through the store, warming and drying out the building.

Campanella said work on the store’s loading dock will continue as weather permits.

All structural steel for both the main Sears store and the Sears auto center is complete, said Steve Goebel, project manager for Robert B. Goebel General Contractor Inc. The first floor’s slab is done and crews are starting to pour the second floor slab.

In the next two weeks, crews will begin work on the store’s facade as well as the interior fire sprinklers. Interior electrical, mechanical and plumbing work will continue, Goebel said.

He said the wind and snow have been a challenge.

“Things are moving along pretty good, considering how bad the weather is,” he said.

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