LS Travel iStore & Porsche Design, Jamaica, N.Y.
It took a lot of coordination and communication to work on these two stores, which are located in the main hallway of John F. Kennedy Airport's Terminal 8, Concourse B and at the entrance of the connector leading to Concourse C.
Construction of the more than 1,500-sq-ft stand-alone space consisted of installing new heavy-grade structural framing, a job that had to be done during off-hours to mitigate noise and traffic concerns.
The design called for maintaining the open ceilings of the space and using the existing base building sprinkler systems above. Lighting was installed within the structural "trellis ceilings" and had to meet strict airport standards.
The general contractor says there are no other spaces in the terminal that share that kind of open-air design.
The Porsche space had its own Germany-based millwork fabricator, and so the general contractor installed all millwork shipped from that country.
The millwork included motorized shelves and displays that required careful planning and handling to install. Also, all of its dimensions were provided in metric system units, which is not used by U.S. tradesmen. Unit conversions for the entire installation had to be performed prior to the installation.
The team completed the 25,740-hour project with no OSHA recordable or lost-time accident incidents. As in most U.S. airports, "a heightened state of security has caused a change in the safety mind-set in airport construction," the general contractor says. To that end, the team paid extra attention daily to tool logs, safety, personnel tracking and construction activities.
One judge commended the team for managing to build a retail space under challenging logistical conditions in one of the country's busiest airport hubs.
Key Players
General Contractor Holt Construction Corp.
Owner HDS Retail North America
Design Firm FRCH Design Worldwide
Subcontractors Art Emphasis Design Co. LLC; Baybrent Construction Corp.; Certified Interiors Inc.; GMA Electrical Corp.; Sign Spec Inc.; Sirina Fire Protection Corp.; MobilFlex Inc.; Center Stage Production; Paramount Painting Group; Peepels Mechanical Corp.
