Historic Julia Ideson Library sparkles with new touches
December 06, 2011
The newly-renovated Julie Ideson Library held a ribbon cutting ceremony on
December 5 to showcase the clean, restored and expanded building that has been a part of the downtown Houston landscape since 1926.
SpawMaxwell, a Balfour Beatty company now operating as Balfour Beatty Construction, began the first phase of the project three years ago. The second and final phase of the $32 million project began in March 2010. The entire project included construction of a new four story, 21,500 square foot south wing addition to the existing building and the restoration of the original, historic five story, 66,000 square foot building.
“We did a significant amount of improvement to make sure this historic building, which has been around for more than 80 years, is around for generations to come. Much of what we did was behind the scenes, like pipes, lighting and more,” said Don Fernbach, Balfour Beatty Construction vice president of operations.
The project meets the standards for LEED Silver certification.
Congratulations to the entire project team: Carl Biano, Tanna Bohlmann, Eric Cossey, Mark Crippen, Timothy DeBord, Don Fernbach, Sarah Fretwell, Shane Goertz, George Howe, Ronald Perry, Jim Ritsema, and Melissa Thompson.
News highlights of the ribbon cutting:
•
Take a video tour with Houston’s KTRK Channel 13
• Read about the renovations on
CultureMap Houston
• Read the
Houston Chronicle blog story