The historic MLK building was constructed in the early 1930s to function as a post office. Today it serves as offices for federal employees. Phase I of its renovation included a complete facelift for the building’s stone façade, and a chiller plant upgrade, which was McKenney’s main area of focus.

 

The key challenge of the project was to upgrade the building’s heating and cooling infrastructure with minimal impact to occupants. Keeping tenants comfortable and productive during this process required carefully planning—scheduling outages and the movement of large equipment to minimize interruption. We replaced three existing chillers with two 400-ton primary York variable-flow chillers.

 

The project began with demolition of the existing central plant, including three chillers and supporting piping systems. The team discovered that the initial drawings did not account for the true size of the new chillers, so McKenney’s redesigned the plant layout based on actual measurements. McKenney’s new design was approved by the engineer, with the equipment rearranged to fit in the space, and a new piping scheme.

 

Our team disassembled the new chillers and carefully lowered them down two stories below street level to the subbasement of the MLK building. Each chiller component was manually rigged and lowered horizontally down approximately 50 feet, through a window, and down another story to the floor of the chiller plant, where they were reassembled. The two York chillers are arranged in a series and in parallel with an older chiller that remained in place.

 

Ultimately, these new chillers will increase the energy efficiency of the building. McKenney’s continues to perform work at the historic MLK building, including service and maintenance projects.