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Clayco and CitiMortgageHave Set The Bar High

Companies locating inProgress Point Business Parkwill struggle to build as

attractive and efficient a buildingas CitiMortgage’s regionalheadquarters. The new $54-million, 515,000-square-footbuilding combines the aestheticsof a headquarters with a strongdose of economy. It even boastsgreen technology. The buildingcan house 5,000 people veryefficiently, yet with considerationfor comfort.It accommodates CitiMortgage (Citigroup’sresidential mortgage lending business), CitiHome Equity, Citigroup Real Estate Servicing& Technology, U.S. Citibanking Operationsand Citigroup Technology Solutions Group.Located just west of Missouri Highway 94along the Highway 40 High-Tech Corridor, itis among Citigroup’s largest North Americanprocessing sites.

Design/BuildSmart Solutions

Balancing Act–Value with ComfortCitiMortgage wanted to place the most employees inthe most efficient office building possible. Yet theyrequired a careful balance among aesthetics, comfortand economy. Clayco’s talented team cleverly met the requirement.

CitiMortgage’s hilltop location commands notice fromU.S. Highway 40 and Missouri Highway K. Load-bearing, site-cast concrete tilt-up panels with brickinlays combine with glass curtain wall and metal panelcladding for a strong corporate appearance.

The expensive-looking tilt-up concrete with brick inlayis an economical first for the St. Louis area. As with alltilt-up, a very flat, well finished first floor is poured.Forms are built for the wall panels over this floor. Next,a one-half-inch-thick layer of bricks is laid, lockedtogether, in the form. There is a concave strip inbetween each brick that is shaped like a mortar joint.When the concrete is poured, it goes between thebricks to form the mortar joint. Once the concrete iscured, Clayco tilts the panels up vertically. Then theplastic joint material that held the bricks apart andformed the mortar joint is removed. It is a veryeffective, but economical way to get a brick finish.

One of the biggest challenges was how to take such alarge building, housing 5,000 people on three levelsplus a partial basement, all working for the samecompany, and create spaces that were enjoyable and ashumanly scaled as possible.

Clayco designed an L-shaped building that containstwo wings – east, north and an intersecting knuckle.Executive and legal staff offices, plus commonfunctions, such as kitchen, cafeteria and majorconference rooms, occupy the knuckle. This minimizeslengthy walks from the east and north wings. Parkingfor 4,000 cars surrounds the building, allowing shortwalks to one of several ingress/egress points.

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East and north wing core areas house private officesand conference rooms. Large floor plates accommodate4,700 compactly sized work stations surrounding thesespaces, around the building’s perimeter. Providinghuman scale to employees in massive expanses ofopen office space could have proven unwieldy.

But nine-foot, six-inch ceilings, color schemes thatfacilitate way-finding and indirect lighting thatminimizes glare on computer screens lends humanscale. So, too, does a HVAC system new to the St.Louis area. “We used 14-inch raised-access flooringthroughout building,” said Dan Katz, one of Clayco’sdual project managers for the project. It contains one ofthe more unique, and cost-efficient aspects of thebuilding, an under-floor variable-air-volume (VAV)heating, ventilating and air conditioning system usingYork VAV boxes. “This is a relatively new system,originating in Europe,” said Katz. “Only 25 to 30buildings are in operation in the U.S. with thistechnology. This is one of the first in the St. Louis area.”

Clayco explains the logic behind the system: Typical airsupply and return are in the ceiling. Because there isso much heat gain in this type of building, we useprimarily conditioned cool air. If we deliver conditionedcool air into the space from the floor, it is betweenthree and four degrees warmer than if delivered throughthe ceiling, since it doesn’t warm up as it passesthrough the warm air collected against the ceiling.

John Rippy, C&R Mechanical Company’s project salesengineer, continued: “The VAV system eliminates agreat deal of distribution duct and . . . reduces staticpressure on the air distribution system.” Rippy outlinedthe system’s advantages: “The space in the ceiling isavailable for other building systems in lieu of duct andit reduces fan horsepower. Due to the thermal massnatural heat storage in the under-floor system, there isalso a reduction in heating requirements. The reductionin fan horsepower and heat result in energy savings forthe owner, so much so that engineers have begunselecting this system for ‘Green Buildings.’”

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There are diffusers for every four work stations. Withtypical VAV boxes, you can manually close a box orchange a grill, but this one is interactive, and has athermostat that controls air movement. Because it is anew system, there was a huge learning curve.

Rippy agreed. “We went to look at operational sites inKansas City and in Nashville. We took a great deal oftime there speaking to the owner/operators trying tolearn what works for the system and what does not. Wegathered as much data as we could to make this a goodsystem the first time.”

Katz continued, “This required a lot of coordination ofthousands of wire, conduit and mechanical systems inthe floor.” PayneCrest Electric, Inc.’s Larry Zelenovichelaborated: “It was challenging installing devices forworkstations, particularly coordination of who workedthere. We had to locate wiring and floor boxes, eventhough the floor went down before furniture design.Location of power, voice, data (PVD) boxes wasunique,“ he continued. “They were located where theywouldn’t be in the way or under furniture.”

“One of the key elements in this system,” said Rippy,“was one that we did not have a lot of control over. Thatelement was that any penetrations, seams, joints, etc.,in the concrete floor below the raised floor had to besealed tight. This was a task for the entire team andoverall, it went well.” “It was, surprisingly, a smooth-running job,” agreed Zelenovich, “Clayco did a greatjob of up-front design.”

Zelenovich discussed another feature of the building:“This is one of largest buildings in the St. Louis areawith indirect lighting throughout. The indirectlighting allowed ceilings to be raised higher, whichwas important because of the raised floor, withouthaving to raise the floor-to-floor space. This savedon cost of overall building height.” Cedergreenpointed out that this also minimized glare or hotspots on computer screens.

Aggressive ScheduleClayco first became involved with CitiMortgage in2000, when CitiMortgage began thinking of leavingits Clarkson and Clayton campus. “I think they werelooking for a good solution to future growth patternsand long-term, what the corporate environmentshould be,” explained Tom Schroyer, president ofClayco Real Estate.

While Clayco completed conceptual design to thepoint required to be selected among competitors, thebulk of design began in late 2001. The fast track hadbegun. Clayco began building foundations in April2002; the first employees moved in August 2003.

Six months into production, CitiMortgage added the requirement for an uninterruptible power supply.“We had to redesign the electrical backbone toaccommodate the UPS for workstations,” said Zelenovich.

The main computer command center was the firstspace enclosed and finished. By February 2003, Claycohad the room ready for occupancy: air conditioned, allcabling in place and emergency systems online. Thiswas an immense challenge that took unconventionalthinking and unsurpassable support from the localtrades. The Clayco team delivered Citigroup’s datacenter, and it went online four months ahead of thebuilding delivery.

Under-floor variable-air-volume (VAV) heating, ventilating and air conditioning system:The VAV system eliminates a great deal of distribution duct andreduces static pressure on air distribution system. This has severaladvantages: The space in the ceiling is available for other buildingsystems in lieu of duct and it reduces fan horsepower. Due to thethermal mass natural heat storage in the under-floor system, thereis also a reduction in heating requirements. The reduction in fanhorsepower and heat result in energy savings.

The Facility Must Remain Operational CitiMortgage facilities around the country back up oneanother, driving the computer command center’sschedule. Continuous operation is also key within thenew facility. “The majority of the systems in thebuilding are N+1,” explained Rippy. “That means thatthese systems have redundant back up. Not only is thechilled water and air side of the systems backed upwith redundancy, but the building also has anemergency power system to keep the building at 80degrees F without any power. If the building loseswater, the condenser side of the system is backed upby an automatically controlled well...”

“There are two, two-megawatt emergency backupgenerators,” continued Katz, “to run all computers inthe building, as well as emergency lighting. Each holds3,000 gallons of diesel fuel. They can operate thebuilding for a 24-hour duration at full load andcapacity. We have had to use it four times already.”“The first time was during a severe thunderstorm abouttwo weeks after going on-line.” Zelenovich added: “St. Louis was handling about 80 percent of traffic atthat time. We passed the test.”

The uninterruptible power supply room is among themost complex Zelenovich has seen, due to the requiredredundancy. Another location has to back it up. Switchgear and power distribution equipment are alsoredundant. Furthermore, the building’s three areas aretreated as separate buildings. Each could operate 100-percent independently of the others.

The building is value-driven and efficient, withprovision for employee comfort. It even has a bit ofgreen technology. CitiMortgage set the bar high, butClayco and its team met the challenge.

Clayco Construction Company2199 Innerbelt BusinessCenter DriveSt. Louis, MO 63114Tel. 314.429.5100Fax 314.429.3137

Chicago Office:One Trans Am PlazaSuite 400 Oakbrook Terrace, IL 60181Tel. 630.620.9494Fax 630.620.9595

Dallas Office:3625 W. Royal LaneSuite 275Irving, TX 75063Tel. 972.915.0404Fax 972.915.0429

Detroit Office:19500 Victor Parkway Suite 375Livonia, MI 48152Tel. 734.462.0200Fax 734.462.1266

Progress Point Business Park

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