Better and Cleaner Unit Height Utilizing Precast Concrete and DELTABEAM

When it comes to new multi-family construction, a combination of precast concrete and the Peikko DELTABEAM® have a multitude of benefits.

One such project that benefitted from this combination is Wright & Wagner Lofts. Located at the corner of Grand Avenue and Broad Street in downtown Beloit, Wisc., Wright & Wagner is a former dairy turned luxury apartment community paying homage to the city's blue-collar industrial roots. The Wright & Wagner Lofts Riverfront Building opened to tenants in August 2023 with 83 total units. Also on the property is the Wright & Wagner Lofts Grand Building, opened in May 2021 featuring 54 loft units.

"(Precast concrete and the DELTABEAM) is a solution that provides a better and cleaner height for the units," said Jeremy Olivotti, Vice President of Sales and Marketing for Mid-States Concrete Industries. "It provides a fire rated assembly without having to add anything to it. The speed of installation works great on a project this size."

For the Riverfront Building, Mid-States Concrete Industries provided nearly 75,000 square feet of hollow core and solid slabs, 115 beams, 164 columns, 56 wall panels with a wood grain form liner, and 76 Peikko DELTABEAMS for five floors. Mid-States Concrete Industries also provided nearly 13,000 square feet of hollow core and solid slabs, 14 beams, 19 columns, and 85 wall panels with a wood grain form liner for the first floor of the Grand Building.

Corporate Contractors Inc. served as the general contractor on the project, and JLA Architects served as the architect on the project.

"The DELTABEAM was fantastic," said Sal Impellitteri, Senior Project Architect with JLA Architects. "Where it was in the middle of the building was really beneficial with the MEPs. Towards the edge, obviously the DELTABEAM has a cost factor... I think this was a good marriage of traditional T-beams and the DELTABEAMS."

DELTABEAM offers several of the same or similar benefits as precast concrete, including long spans, flexible open space, additional room height, easy and space-saving HVAC installations, lower heating and cooling costs, integrated fireproofing, and is suitable for all slab and column types.

Marc Ott, Vice President | Director of Quality Control with JLA Architects, was also satisfied with the precast concrete and DELTABEAM combination and called it "the perfect application for this project," adding that the combination also provided for the smooth ceilings desired in a multi-family residential building.

"We're really, really happy with it," Ott said. "It was really exciting to do something unique and work through unique things and solve problems."

While the project was under construction, Mid-States Concrete Industries created a four-part Precast Chalk Talk series with special guest Colin Butler of Peikko. Learn more about the DELTABEAM and how its integration with precast concrete can benefit your projects by clicking on the photos above.

Design Assist Positively Impacts Projects

While the residents of Wright & Wagner Lofts Riverfront Building start looking ahead to spring and their views of ABC Supply Stadium, the project team responsible for building that view started planning for it years ago.

Located at the corner of Grand Avenue and Broad Street in downtown Beloit, Wisc., Wright & Wagner is a former dairy turned luxury apartment community paying homage to the city's blue-collar industrial roots. The Wright & Wagner Lofts Riverfront property opened to tenants in August 2023 with 83 total units. On the property is also the Wright & Wagner Lofts Grand Building, opened in May 2021 featuring 54 loft units.

While Mid-States Concrete Industries provided precast concrete for both projects, the Mid-States team got on board with the Riverfront Building in its earliest stages. Planning started with a lessons learned session that included JLA Architects, the architectural firm for the project, and Corporate Contractors Inc., the general contractor on the project, among others. There was a desire for a structural system that would go up quicker and easier than the system used on the first building. The discussion led to precast concrete and the pros and cons of utilizing it up to the 6th floor.

For the Riverfront Building, Mid-States Concrete Industries provided nearly 75,000 square feet of hollow core and solid slabs, 115 beams, 164 columns, 56 wall panels with a wood grain form liner,  and 76 Peikko DELTABEAMS for five floors. Mid-States Concrete Industries also provided nearly 13,000 square feet of hollow core and solid slabs, 14 beams, 19 columns, and 85 wall panels, with a wood grain form liner, for the first floor of the Grand Building.

Mid-States Concrete is currently able to offer services to our customers - including layout, design, and value - as early as the schematic design phase, helping customers to keep their projects on-time, on-budget, and on-target. These services are provided by Tara Loomis, Senior Structural Engineer. Prior to joining Mid-States Concrete five years ago, Loomis spent 20 years in the consulting engineering field, which exposed her to a wide variety of building materials and systems. Her vast work experiences make her uniquely qualified to evaluate projects and propose the precast solution that best fits the project's needs.

When it came to the Wright & Wagner Lofts Riverfront Building, there were several things to consider - how do we transfer loads into the garage level; are we able to stack columns; how do we incorporate exposed precast into a living space; how do we ensure smooth ceilings in the units; how do we keep the project on schedule?

"CCI and JLA did a wonderful job in making the exposed precast part of the units," said Jeremy Olivotti, Vice President of Sales and Marketing. "Everything looks on purpose and adds to the space. We also make sure that when we design a building like this that we are looking at constructability the whole time."

Getting Mid-States on board early, and working through early design phases together, aids in cost-efficient element sizing and helps to limit issues during final design, saving time and money.

"The preconstruction process and assistance from Mid-States was thorough and efficient with Tara Loomis and Jeremy Olivotti (Vice President of Sales and Marketing)," said Marc Ott, Vice President | Director of Quality Control, with JLA Architects. "... On a more traditional building, the precaster is not necessarily in the room. This time Mid-States Concrete was. JLA had no floor plans, nothing from the beginning, so Mid-States Concrete was there from day one. We were able to have conversations about whether this would work before we started drawing it... I've worked with precast for 20+ years - the coordination between the structural engineer, Tara, and JLA was pretty seamless."

Sal Impellitteri, Senior Project Architect with JLA Architects, agreed getting Mid-States Concrete on board early helped the design process and saved time on shop drawings.

"We had lots of questions and Tara was able to answer all those questions," Impellitteri said. "We'd just take an educated guess, but she was able to help us because we do have columns with spacing  a little longer than usual to help with the coordination. All that was very helpful. There was also a premanufactured elevator opening, so Tara was great at helping coordinate the plank around the elevator to help with avoiding columns."

Among the design assist services Mid-States offers includes a review of drawings if they are already underway. Our team can review the drawings and provide any cost-saving comments to ensure an efficient and economical precast layout. If your project is not a total precast structure, we can help with how the structure will be framed, calculate loads, and aid in precast sizing that is critical at the time of design development, truly serving as a partner to ensure the success of the project. Determining precast element sizing early saves on drawing modifications later. It also eliminates other issues that often arise when element heights change late in a project. This early work can save time and money later.

Another area our team can help with is precast details. If unsure which is the correct detail to use on a project, or which is most cost efficient, our team is here to assist with drawing development and design. Loomis can aid in things from building envelope solutions to advanced building efficiencies and performance, which allows clients to maximize investments in their buildings.

Wright & Wagner Lofts Riverfront Building Timelapse

Located at the corner of Grand Avenue and Broad Street in downtown Beloit, Wisc., Wright & Wagner is a former dairy turned luxury apartment community paying homage to the city's blue-collar industrial roots. The Wright & Wagner Lofts Riverfront Building opened to tenants in August 2023 with 83 total units. It is the second building of the Wright and Wagner Lofts properties which also includes the Grand Building, opened in May 2021 featuring 54 loft units.

Corporate Contractors Inc. served as the general contractor on the project, and JLA Architects served as the architect on the project. Mid-States Concrete Industries served as the precast partner.

The Riverfront Building includes nearly 75,000 square feet of hollow core and solid slabs, 115 beams, 164 columns, 56 wall panels with a wood grain form liner, and 76 Peikko DELTABEAMS®.  Mid-States Concrete Industries also provided nearly 13,000 square feet of hollow core and solid slabs, 14 beams, 19 columns, and 85 wall panels with a wood grain form liner for the first floor of the Grand Building.

Mid-States Concrete Industries began production of the pieces for the Riverfront Building (featured in the video above) in August 2022 and completed production in November 2022, to deliver and erect components on site from September 2022 through November 2022.

According to Brad McCaslin, Project Manager with Mid-States Concrete Industries, precast components were erected at a rate of roughly one deck per week. Aaron Combs, Project Manager with Corporate Contractors Inc., noted the use of precast allowed him to have teams working on lower floors while Mid-States Concrete Industries was setting the higher floors, which helped keep the jobsite moving.

Proud Project Partner of Wright & Wagner Lofts located in Downtown Beloit, Wisc.

The residents of the Wright & Wagner Lofts Riverfront Building have celebrated their first Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year in their new homes. And to get them there, the project team started planning the project years prior.

“When you go through how we started and why and how and where we got to and how everything played out and how it was all kind of anticipated – we’re really, really happy with it,” said Marc Ott, Vice President | Director of Quality Control, with JLA Architects, the architectural firm for the project. “It was really exciting to do something unique and work through unique things and solve problems.”

Located at the corner of Grand Avenue and Broad Street in the heart of downtown Beloit, Wisc., Wright & Wagner is a former dairy turned luxury apartment community. It pays homage to the city of Beloit’s blue-collar industrial roots and celebrates its recent revitalization.

The Wright & Wagner Lofts Riverfront property, which opened to tenants in August 2023, encompasses 108,240 square feet containing 83 total units – 12 studio units, 41 one-bedroom units, and 30 two-bedroom units. On the property is also the Wright & Wagner Lofts Grand Building, opened in May 2021, encompassing 74,598 square feet containing 54 loft units.

“When we had started to discuss (the Riverfront Building) with the ownership and general contractor, we did a lessons learned session,” Ott said. “The general contractor was looking for a structural system that would go up easier and faster than the light gauge steel stud system that was used on (the Grand Building). Discussions were then had with Mid-States to assess the pros and cons of using a precast structure up to the 6th floor.”

The design of the Riverfront Building began when many building materials began to see substantial increases in pricing. During the preconstruction phase, discussions were had among the project team regarding what they learned from building the first building, where schedule had been a challenge.  Anyone who has worked within the construction industry knows that when it comes to construction, money is money, but time is also money. Enter precast concrete.

“We have had a great relationship with CCI, Hendrick’s Development, and with JLA,” said Jeremy Olivotti, Vice President of Sales and Marketing for Mid-States Concrete Industries. “We worked with the team on the first building at Wright and Wagner also. Aaron Combs (project manager with Corporate Contractors Inc., the general contractor on the project) and I had previous conversations regarding the DELTABEAM® and hollow core solution for specific buildings. As this project began to develop, Aaron reached out and we started to discuss the possibility of that being a solution for this project.”

Both JLA and Corporate Contractors Inc. found precast would fit the budget, reduce the construction schedule, and fulfill the owner’s desire for an industrial look on the interior. Precast concrete was also used to build the indoor parking for the building.

“(Budget and time savings) is really what drove it,” said Aaron Combs, Project Manager with CCI. “The things we’ve seen since then, obviously it went up a lot quicker, the ability to use scissor lifts on the floors increased speed to build. At the end of the day, it performed well and the other part of it is it gave the flexibility for us to have the owner’s branding on that and by having the exposed concrete ceiling and exposed conduit really fits into their branding nicely.”

For the Riverfront Building, Mid-States Concrete Industries provided nearly 75,000 square feet of hollow core and solid slabs, 115 beams, 164 columns, 56 wall panels with a wood grain form liner, and 76 Peikko DELTABEAMS for five floors. Mid-States Concrete Industries also provided nearly 13,000 square feet of hollow core and solid slabs, 14 beams, 19 columns, and 85 wall panels with a wood grain form liner for the first floor of the Grand Building.

Precast hollow core plank is the most versatile of all Mid-States Concrete products. It can be sized and shaped to meet virtually any need, offering true design flexibility. Ideal for flooring and roof systems, hollow core offers the strength and durability to support heavy loads and is resistant to extreme weather and fire. Hollow core also offers long span capabilities.

Precast beams and columns are available in various sizes for virtually any structural or architectural requirement, as well as design flexibility. They have the strength necessary for heavy loads and allow for fast installation and vibration resistant stability.

Precast wall panels offer a large variety of finishes and applications to choose from. They can be designed as non-loadbearing or loadbearing, carrying floor and roof loads, as well as lateral loads. Panels may be solid, composite, non-composite, or composite with continuous insulation.

“It’s an excellent project,” Combs said. “The look of it is amazing and you’re able to walk inside and kind of have that industrial feel that Hendricks is known for and it’s kind of accomplished a lot of things. I wouldn’t do it any different.”

One of the key ways Mid-States Concrete Industries was able to help ensure the project went well was the amount of pre-planning and coordination of this project. Mid-States Concrete Industries provided lots of early design assist. There are always design challenges with any structure, and this building was no different. Some of the things addressed in advance included how to transfer loads into the garage level, how to stack columns all the way up, and how exposed columns could be incorporated into a living space.

“CCI and JLA did a wonderful job in making the exposed precast part of the units,” Olivotti said. “Everything looks on purpose and adds to the space. We also make sure that when we help design a building like this that we are looking at constructability the whole time.”

To help achieve the industrial look and feel the building owner was looking for, beams, columns and hollow core were all left exposed, as well as the MEP components. The hollow core ceilings were painted black, and the columns painted white to match the walls within the units.

“The DELTABEAM we added was a unique thing,” Ott said. “When you’re in a residential unit, you want that more smooth ceiling."

DELTABEAM and hollow core slabs work together to achieve long spans, speed of construction, and integrated fire resistance. Among the benefits of utilizing DELTABEAM with hollow core are the flat ceiling Ott spoke of, which lowers floor-to-floor heights. The underside of the DELTABEAM can be left exposed and painted for a more industrial look and feel. The long span capabilities also mean fewer columns. Plus, the DELTABEAM comes with built-in fire resistance and eliminates the need for on-site fireproofing.

“It is a solution that provides a better and cleaner height for the units,” Olivotti said. “It provides a fire-rated assembly without having to add anything to it, and the speed of installation works great on a project this size.”

One of the things JLA praised about using the Peikko DELTABEAM is that Mid-States Concrete Industries handled all of the coordination regarding these components. JLA did not have to design and figure out how the DELTABEAM would work as Mid-States Concrete Industries did all the legwork and engineering related to the DELTABEAM.

“It was our first time working with the DELTABEAM,” Combs said. “We learned a lot and I don’t think we truly understood how the DELTABEAM impacted the schedule. It was a great finished look. It is impressive. It’s held up well. Through construction and all that, it was pretty cool to see how those worked."

Sal Impellitteri, Senior Project Architect with JLA Architects, echoed the benefits of early design assistance.

“Having Jeremy Olivotti, and Tara Loomis (Senior Structural Engineer with Mid-States Concrete Industries) on the project early, they really talked point blank (regarding) the benefits and drawbacks and they were very knowledgeable,” Impellitteri said, adding that Loomis’s structural engineering expertise was especially beneficial as she knew both what the precast needed and what the engineer of record needed. “…If Mid-States could get on the project early, it would be great for the more complex projects.”

Combs said precast concrete benefitted the project in several ways. Utilizing precast eliminated the need to have space on site for casting. Rather, the pieces were made at the Mid-States Concrete Industries production facility less than two miles from the jobsite, trucked to the site and installed as they arrived. He added that he was even able to have a team pouring topping on the second floor while Mid-States was setting precast on the fifth floor.

“A floor sitting empty with no work on it is costing us money,” Combs said. “There’s a lot of supervision and managing that goes into a job like that. If you are only working on one floor or doing only one thing at a time, you are over-costing that project.”

One of the biggest benefits of precast concrete is to the tenants of the building. Most apartments are made with wood framing which have a poor sound transmission rating, meaning tenants can often hear into the units above them, whether it be the sound of their footsteps at 2 am or their television blaring.

"Precast floors block a significant amount of sound," Olivotti said. "The structural system gives you the benefits of living in an apartment building with the privacy of a house."

Combs also emphasized the importance of focusing on the partner part of working with a precast partner.

“Mid-States bought in to what CCI was trying to do and invested just as much blood, sweat, and tears,” Combs said. “… Mid-States has always grasped well the benefits and impacts we are trying to make in the community.”

And it is that impact on the community that is so important to project teams. Finding the right solutions to build the buildings that make that community a great place to live, work, learn, and play.

“I don’t want to be a builder,” Combs said. “I don’t want to be just a construction company. We want something that will be around and last for a long time. We want to impact the communities as much as we want to build a building. This impacted hundreds of local companies and employers and people living there. We have a housing crisis in Beloit and now we have the ability to have 83 more units to potentially have another company come into Beloit and bring more business. This has more of a lasting impact than I think we will ever understand. And I think that is why we strive to protect that and our legacy.”