Foundation Walls: Vintage Coop of Johnston

Built in 2018, the Vintage Cooperative of Johnston is a three-story, 46 unit senior living community. Features included within the building include a community room, outdoor patio, fitness center, lounge, library, heated underground parking and more.

The heated underground parking of the building was achieved through the use of precast foundation walls, beams, columns, and hollowcore.

Precast Components
25,891 square feet of 8” & 12” Hollowcore
36 Beams
26 Columns
97 Wall Panels (18,514 square feet)

Project Partners
GC: Downing Construction
Architect: JSSH
EOR: Blanchard Engineering

With a precast system of foundation walls, beams, columns, and hollowcore, you get a complete structural system to support even the heaviest of loads. Foundation wall panels hold back the earth creating a hole in the ground for usable space, like for a parking garage.

The two biggest reasons customers turn to precast foundation walls are speed and schedule. Our foundation walls are manufactured at our plant in South Beloit on a steel bed with side rails to create the edges. They are manufactured with steel reinforcing.

Once finished, they are stored in our yard, ready for shipping to the job site and can be installed in all weather conditions. Trucks bring the pieces to the site where they are installed with a crane. There is a welded connection from the base of the panels to the concrete footings and the panels are connected together with a welded connection. Once the panels are installed, the interior and exterior joints are calked.

LEARN MORE >>

Do you want to learn more about how Mid-States Concrete’s foundation walls could work with your project? Our preconstruction team is happy to assist.

Wisconsin: Jeremy Olivotti
Iowa: Troy Yaun
Wisconsin/Iowa/Illinois: Colin Jones

Senior Living Projects Utilize Precast Foundation Walls, Find Savings: Part 2

The Waters of Pewaukee is a three-story, 115 apartment building, with a one-story wing with memory care units, as well as 24 individual cottages. Precast concrete was used for the foundation walls and parking structure of the building. This project is currently under construction.

Waters of Pewaukee: Pewaukee, WI

When Continental Building Co. became the general contractor on the Waters of Pewaukee project in Pewaukee, Wisc., one of the first things that needed consideration was the foundation of the building.

Project Manager John Vitovsky said while his team typically goes with CMU foundation walls, while the project was still in the design phase his team anticipated precast foundation wall panels would be much faster than using CIP or even CMU. They also selected precast foundation walls due to the region of the project.

”At the time we anticipated setting during the winter, which cast-in-place would have created schedule issues due to weather,” Vitovsky said.

And although Vitovsky didn’t necessarily find material savings by utilizing precast, savings are realized elsewhere.

”Definitely through schedule, which tends to be priceless when working for a client such as The Waters,” he said.

Vitovsky acknowledged that as of the design phase, he would definitely recommend the use of precast foundation walls, since the scheduling aspect is very enticing, but felt his experience could be better evaluated at the end of the project.

”We have a lot of experience with precast from other projects… and feel this is much easier for coordination and for scheduling,” he said.

The project includes 28,994 square feet of hollowcore, 41 beams, 43 columns, 167 wall panels, and 1,318 square feet of solid slabs.

Project Partners
General Contractor: Continental Building Co.
Architect: Kaas Wilson Architects
EOR: BKBM Engineers

Senior Living Projects Utilize Precast Foundation Walls, Find Savings: Part 1

Grand Living at Tower Place utilized precast concrete foundation walls. This five-story, 174-unit senior living community also has restaurants, a salon, spa, fitness center, performance theater, library, club room, and other multi-use spaces in the building.

Grand Living at Tower Place: West Des Moines, IA

When Ryan Companies and Grand Living partnered to create Grand Living at Tower Place in West Des Moines, Iowa, they knew schedule was important. So while Ryan Companies looked in to cast-in-place concrete for foundations, CMU blocks for the elevator shafts, and a precast concrete foundation system - it quickly became clear that precast was the way to go for the best schedule.

In addition to using precast concrete for the foundation and elevator shafts, precast concrete beams, columns, and hollowcore were also used for the underground garage. Precast components included 20,547 square feet of hollowcore, 51 beams, 26 columns, 85 wall panels, and 1,730 square feet of solid slabs.

Project Manager Ryan Pigneri said his team found several benefits using precast foundation walls, including “schedule and money savings, as it goes up at a faster rate than CIP.”

Additionally, the team did find financial savings using precast foundation walls instead of cast-in-place. For CMU versus precast, the savings were in schedule. Pigneri was particularly pleased with the BIM modeling process and value engineering options provided for this project, as well as the accommodation of some last-minute structural changes. The use of precast components allowed the project to achieve the structural requirements while also maintaining budget.

”Installation went according to plan, efficient, and organized,” he said.

Pigneri said he would use precast concrete walls again on senior living projects, as well as other types of projects in the future. And he learned a few things along the way. For example, some of the walls were for area well air intakes. Lifting lugs were located at the top of the panels, which have an exposed finished condition. In the future, he might dress that up a bit more.

How did precast concrete make this project run smoothly?

”Time, money, and structural integrity,” Pigneri said.

Project Team
General Contractor: Ryan Companies
Architect: Ryan Companies
EOR: IMEG Corp.