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R. J. Griffin & Company Breaks Ground on Second Tallest Building in Charlotte, NC

Charlotte, NC -Dunn Southeast, Inc. d.b.a. R. J. Griffin & Company general contractors recently broke ground on The Vue, a 1,095,314 square foot, 53-story, 409-unit condominium tower at the northwest corner of Fifth and Pine Streets in Charlotte, NC. The client is MCL Companies of Chicago, IL and the project architect is FS Architecture of St. Louis, MO. The Vue will be the tallest building R. J. Griffin & Company has built in its 23-year history and the second tallest building in Charlotte, next to the 62-story Bank of America Corporate Center. The $143.4 million project will be completed in early 2011.

Construction of The Vue, with its R. J. Griffin on site management and supervision team of approximately 25 professionals, is being micro managed due to very tight site constraints. The 1.16-acre corner lot is bordered by two busy streets and two occupied lots. There is no lay down area and deliveries will be taken only as scheduled between 7:00 a.m. and 9:00 p.m.

Further, this large building is being constructed within a residential district. Southeast of the Fifth and Pine Streets intersection are Fifth & Poplar and City View Towers residential complexes, also constructed by R.J. Griffin & Company, which contribute to car and pedestrian traffic in a manner different to commercial districts. Griffin's safety and security will be no different than a typical construction project; however, their good neighbor policy will be enhanced to reduce noise where possible, reduce construction debris, maintain open communication with nearby neighborhood associations, and generally protect the neighborhood's residential environment.

The structure of The Vue will have 106 caissions with overlying grade beams and mat foundations prepared to anchor the concrete, two-way post-tensioned superstructure. Below street level the structure will house mechanical and electrical operations, a trash compactor and recycling area, an elevator machine room, a communications room, and the fire pump and emergency generator rooms.

Street level will hold the lobby, conference and board rooms, a business center and offices, an electrical room, and future retail tenant spaces. Floors two and three within the residential tower footprint will include private tenant garage parking, mechanical rooms, and storage rooms. Floors four through seven will feature studio residence units along the Pine Street façade with further private tenant garage parking, all tied directly into an adjacent parking structure level. The eighth floor will feature the health club with yoga and play rooms, a cyber café, and a media room, with more studio residence units along Pine Street. Floors nine through 50 will feature one to three bedroom residence units with penthouse units on the 51st floor. Floors 52 and 53 will be the roof with cooling towers.

R. J. Griffin & Company will simultaneously build a 144,662 SF, seven-level, 761-car parking deck to the west of the tower that will be tied in on all seven levels. An amenity pool deck will be located on the top, 8th level.

"R. J. Griffin & Company has constructed nearly 26 million square feet of multi-unit residential facilities in the Southeast since 1992 and is the Multi-Family Residential Center of Excellence for our $2.6 billion parent company JE Dunn Construction," commented Project Executive Tony Manning. "While we will undoubtedly see a few new things on this project, our experience and adherence to standards of procedure insures this project will go up without a hitch."

In 2006 R. J. Griffin & Company successfully completed The Viridian in downtown Nashville, TN. The 40-story condominium tower was also constructed sidewalk-to-sidewalk, within an in-fill commercial site and upon completion was the recipient of six local and national construction awards.