Garage milestone marked
The topping out ceremony, when the final beam of the Centre City parking garage was put into place Thursday morning, had a small tree and a broom.
The broom represented a “clean sweep,” meaning no injuries occurred during construction. The tree has another meaning.
“The Tree is an old Norse tradition,” said Dakotah Taylor, a Local 66 Operators construction worker. “Whenever they built a house they would put the tree there to ward away evil spirits and bring good luck to the house.”
And so goes the ending of one phase of the $3.9 million parking garage, which is part of the Centre City project.
“As we lift this beam today on the 239-space Centre City parking garage we see a prime example of government and business working together,” parking manager Jim Chiprean said in a press release.
“With this new garage, the city of Butler oversees more than 900 on-street parking spaces and over 1,200 spaces in open-air lots and garages. This will provide enough parking for the revitalization of downtown Butler.”
The Centre City project is being built by the city and J.S. Capitol, and includes an $8.2 million Marriott Springhill Suites, which is to be finished by the end of the year, and a Rite Aid store that opened last year.
Construction manager Joe Saeler is happy that the garage is to be finished by September, three to four weeks ahead of schedule. It also is $57,000 under budget.
“The big thing is to be under budget and ahead of schedule; it's a lot of team effort to get there,” he said. “Most projects there's arguing. This one, everybody's worked well together.”
Project engineer Joe Gray has had a bird's-eye view of the project, making sure everything is done right.
“It's very satisfying. My office is right catty-corner from this, with my window and my chair, watching this every day,” he said.
Gray said the workers next will start the electrical work inside the structure and then start putting rebar in place and setting slabs of concrete.
Former Butler Mayor Maggie Stock, who worked on the project while she was in office, is glad to see the project coming together.
“Finally, today this marks a new era for downtown Butler in parking with this new garage,” Stock said.
Mayor Tom Donaldson, who stuck with the idea when he was elected, touts the project's potential.
“I looked at it and decided that Maggie and the other people that were involved in this way back had a great idea,” he said. “This is a hope. This is a place to launch the future of Butler.”
Dess Schnur of Butler shared that sentiment.
“I'm hoping it will be instrumental and have an impact on the future of the city,” he said. “I think it's a building block for great things to happen.”
