Caitlin Ferrell

General Building Statistics

Building Name- Erie Convention Center, Sheraton Hotel
Location and Site- West Dobbins Landing, Bayfront District, Erie, Pennsylvania
Building Occupant Name- Sheraton Hotel; Erie County Convention Center Authority
Occupancy or function types- Hotel and Convention Center, Parking Garage
(zoned waterfront commercial)
Size- 132,000 sq. ft.
Number of stories above grade- 11
Primary project team-
     •Owner- Erie County Convention Center Authority (www.eireevents.com)
     •Development Manager- Acquest Realty Advisors Inc.,Bloomfield Hills,        MI (www.acquestrealty.com)
     •Hotel Franchisor- Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide, White Plains, NY       (www.starwoodhotels.com)
     •General Contractor- Barton Malow Co., Southfield MI (www.bartonmalow.com)
     •Architects- DRS Architects, Pittsburgh, PA (www.drsarchitects.com)
     •MEP Engineers- Karpinski Engineering, Ashville, NY (www.karpinskieng.com)
     •Civil Engineer- Urban Engineers of Erie, Inc., Erie, PA (www.urbanengineers.com)
     •Structural Engineers- Atlantic Engineering Services, Pittsburgh, PA (www.aespj.com)
     •Landscape Architect- The Saratoga Associates, Saratoga Springs, NY (www.saratogaassociates.com)
Dates of Construction-Spring 2006-2007
Cost-$32 million granted from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
$64 million total (including the Bayfront Convention Center)
Project Delivery Method- Design-Bid-Build

 

Primary Building System Information:

Architecture-

The Port Erie waterfront location of the site for the Erie Convention Center Sheraton Hotel provides the opportunity for the building to have exquisite views of the Presque Isle Bay, while being within a short walking distance to other bayfront attractions such as the maritime museum, Bicentennial Tower, shopping, marinas, and more. This eleven story hotel and convention center will have 200 guestrooms on the upper nine and a half floors, with the lower one and a half floors for mixed use. The ground floor of the hotel contains the main lobby and seating with a grand stair to the second floor, dining room, private dining room, bar, registration desk, pool and spa, exercise room, and public restrooms. Taking advantage of the location along the bay, the ground floor is designed for clear sight lines through the hotel and out into the Presque Isle Bay beyond. The dining area is located directly next to the water and opens out onto a terrace for summer use. Also located on the ground floor are Laundry/Housekeeping, Kitchen, Administration, Employee Facilities, and a Loading Dock.

Located on the second floor are the hotel’s meeting rooms, pre-function area, and a second set of public restrooms. The largest meeting room is 3,300 square feet with the ability to divide into three equal rooms with operable walls. Three sides of the meeting room allow for unobstructed views of the marina, and the city of Erie beyond, through full-height windows. The four other meeting rooms also have full-height windows with views facing north looking out onto the Presque Isle Bay. Other back-of-house areas include food staging for the meeting rooms, storage, and 17 guestrooms.

The third through eleventh floors each contain thirty-nine guestrooms. The eleventh floor is a club floor with a higher level of finish and guest amenities, with a club lounge and a two-bay king suite.

A five story parking garage willattach to the side of the hotel. It will have approximately 344 parking spaces.

A pedestrian bridge will connect the hotel and the proposed Bayfront Convention Center on Sassafras Pier. It will extend over the West Canal Basin from the fifth floor of the hotel building.

Building Envelope-

Based on Sheraton’s signature low-rise ‘Soho’ prototype adapted to a high-rise expression, the new hotel/garage, and convention center buildings were designed to compose a unified and cohesive complex by using similar building materials and colors. All of the buildings have a buff-colored precast concrete base, rising to mid-first floor, and are detailed with copper cladding. The tinted green glass windows are accented with silver aluminum mullions and green louvers or metal panels. The exterior wall material is a combination of a panelized EIFS wall system in four different light shades in contrast with red brick, attached to the light gage stud wall structural system. This contrast is seen in the brick “columns” that are offset by the green tinted windows and light cream stucco background. The front entrance of the hotel includes a two level porte cochere approximately 75ft. x 45 ft. to allow for safe drop off and pick up of guests and visitors, protecting them from any harsh weather that may occur. The full height above the porte cochere protrudes out beyond the rest of the building, marking the entrance of the hotel. As well as protruding out horizontally, this section of the hotel also rises above the rest of the building, and is topped with a capital like expression. Drawing your eyes vertically up to the “Sheraton” sign, is an arched column of green tinted glass with silver mullions, stretching from the 3rd to 8th floors. The roof is a conventional rubber roof system.

The parking garage that extends out of one end of the hotel is balanced by the pedestrian bridge extending out of the other end of the hotel. The garage has the same symmetrical window openings as the rest of the hotel and as well as brick columns allowing for parking underneath, topped with the lighter shade stucco, cladding the exterior walls of the upper floors. The glass pedestrian walk way extends over the bay to the Bayfront Convention Center.

Major National Code- IBC 2003

Zoning- Waterfront Commercial

Historical facts affecting the site- The site, West Dobbins Landing, was developed gradually by placing timber cribbing and filling with fill materials readily available at the time. The bulkheads on the north, west and south sides were constructed about 15 years ago, and are made of soldier pile walls with concrete wall panels. The site used to house different marinas and boat works. These have been razed; however, some of the foundations may still remain. Because of the historical use as a marine facility, there is also a chance of underground storage tanks on site.

Structural-

The foundation system of the Erie Convention Center and Sheraton Hotel consists of concrete piers varying between 18”x18” and 24”x24” at a depth of three to five feet. These piers sit on grade beams that vary from 18 to 40 inches in width and depth. Due to the unstable soil on site, caissons are drilled into at least 3 feet of sound bedrock. The caissons are a minimum of 24” but range to 60” in diameter, and are approximately 20 feet deep. W14x43 to W14x426 columns are the structural supports in the high-rise portion of the building with smaller W8’s and W10’s supporting the roof of the porte cochere and other exterior canopies. The floor system is consisted of an 8 inch structural slab on grade and 8 inch pre-cast concrete plank floors on the upper stories. The average beam size for a typical floor is W10x22 with a girder size of W21x44, with roof beam sizes at W12x16. The lateral system of the Erie Convention Center and Sheraton Hotel is made up of HSS rectangular tubes in a cross-bracing system.

Mechanical-

The public areas of the Erie Convention Center and Sheraton Hotel are heated and cooled by a constant air volume (CAV) air system, with additional load requirements met by fan cooling units. The entry is heated by a radiant floor because of the high infiltration from the traffic entering and exiting the hotel. Areas near large amounts of glazing are additionally heated by resistive heaters. The individual hotel rooms are controlled by window air conditioners/heaters to ensure the comfort of the guests.

Electrical/Lighting-

The Erie Convention Center and Sheraton Hotel is powered by a 277/480 V, 3 phase, 4 wire utility transformer as well as a 120/208 V, 3 phase, 4 wire, owner transformer, which is located on the roof, used for receptacle and lighting. A 500 kW diesel generator acts as a backup system for emergency lighting and power.

The main areas of the hotel, including hallways are lit using 8 inch diameter triple tube compact fluorescent recessed downlights. In addition, the meeting rooms have decorative pendants and cold cathode recessed mounted horizontal cove fixtures lining the perimeter of the room. The hallways are also lit using wall sconces, with battery backup for emergency egress. The guest rooms will use a combination of wall sconces and other lighting fixtures to be receptacle powered.

Construction-

The construction process for the Erie Convention Center and Sheraton Hotel will need to take into account the slabs previous buildings on the site that have been razed, as well as other unknown obstacles such as storage tanks and poor soil as discussed in the zoning section.

 

Secondary Engineering System Information:

Fire Protection-

The Erie Convention Center and Sheraton Hotel is considered a hi-rise of mixed occupancy and, therefore, is fully sprinklered. The building will have supervisory initiating devices and water-flow initiating devices on each floor. Automatic fire detection, emergency voice/alarm communication, fire department communication system, fire command center and standby power are all required aspects of the fire protection system. All beams and columns have a 2 hour fire rating as well as the separation between the parking garage and adjacent stair tower.

Transportation-

A revolving door flanked by two traditional push doors lead people into the spacious and open first floor of the Erie Convention Center and Sheraton Hotel. Directly beyond the front door is the grand stair, an open stairway leading to the second floor. To the left of the grand stair are two gearless traction elevators leading guests to the upper floors. On the opposite side of this wall are two service elevators for the hotel staff. There is a stairwell on both the east and west sides of the building leading to the eleventh floor. A second enclosed stairwell on the west end leads from the first to the second floor. The unique feature of the Erie Convention Center and Sheraton Hotel is the glass pedestrian walkway leading over the bay from the fifth floor to the Bayfront Convention Center. This walkway can be accessed by 2 elevators which are located down a hallway to the right of the front entrance.

Telecommunications-

No information available at this time

Special Systems-

No information available at this time