Building Renovation

Freecloud Building Renovation Project

Overview

Located on the corner of 101 Street and 108 avenue stands the Freecloud mixed-use building, a mainstay in the McCauley neighborhood for over 100 years. The building started out as an apartment building providing housing to many people in its quirky, small suites but eventually it became more commercialized as the neighborhood evolved. Freecloud record store has called it home for the last 35 years.

The new owners are keen to restore the building to its former glory as they see it as a beacon and a symbol of longevity in a neighborhood. They are creating office space on the second floor and an additional retail space next to the record store. They are hoping to see a candy shop in the new space.

Project Goals

Working within the confines of the intact load bearing structure, we needed to decommission the outdated HVAC system and replace it with a new system. Plus, seasonal flooding, a lack of adequate power for the new mixed-use space, and an antiquated electrical system needed to be overhauled to meet current building code requirements.

Our Solutions

The installation of a new HVAC system required some creative thinking as we needed to route duct work around the old wooden frame structure while still ensuring we met current code requirements. In a building such as this, many novel ideas are generated upon first inspection. For instance, a VRV system was considered as it would help to transfer energy from one area of the building to another which can result in a significant costs savings and reduce the annual load on the building by 50%. However, it was considered cost prohibitive for the project.

To stop seasonal flooding, we installed weeping tiles that drained into a sump pit allowing for the seasonal discharge of storm water into the sanitary system (in the winter) and parking lot porch (in the summer) as per EPCOR guidelines. Old incandescent lighting was replaced with LED lights to reduce power usage as well as to meet the needs any new tenants.

The undersized electrical service, with its obsolete knob & tube and aluminum wiring, was replaced with a modern, properly-sized 3-phase service. There is sufficient power to plug in electric vehicles in the parking lot, and the unsightly overhead wires to the building were replaced with hidden underground wiring.

Results

The restoration is almost complete, and the owners hope to make the space available very soon. The success of a restoration project is a result of building the owner’s knowledge by providing them with confident and novel solutions to consider and building their understanding of restoration and maintenance. This comes from an experienced team working alongside the owners to meet their needs.

“Working with Lexus Engineering has been great. They have been very responsive to our ideas and have shown great flexibility when new information or concerns with the project arose. Gerry and Mithun offered simple, affordable solutions that we could get behind financially.” - Owner