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Former power plant begins transformation into office space

Date Posted: April 24 2009

LANSING -The ongoing transformation of the Ottawa Street Power Station into the headquarters of the Accident Fund Insurance Company of America in recent months has made the structure a shell of its former self.

Currently a dusty, dirty, cavernous building – now devoid of old power plant equipment with nearly every interior nook and cranny exposed – work over the next two years by The Christman Co. and the building trades will create an airy office building that’s likely to be one of the coolest office towers in Michigan.

There are currently about 90 Hardhats on site, a number that will ramp up to as many as 250 when employment peaks out. Interior demolition began last fall, and now the project substantially consists of Hardhats removing iron and concrete that doesn’t need to be there, and shoring up the structure with new iron and support where necessary. “We left what needs to be left to maintain the stability of the building,” said John Holmstrom, senior vice president for Christman.

He said nine new floors are being created in the building, with new steel being lowered through a shaft in the roof. Then the steel is wheeled around on a cart to where it needs to go. “It’s like building a ship in a bottle,” Holmstrom said.

The Accident Fund’s new $182 million headquarters will span 333,000 square feet, including the renovated building and a four-story addition on the north side. Demolition of an adjacent parking deck will also open up the seven-acre campus to the rest of the downtown area. In addition to the office space, the project will include a large atrium, a top floor meeting room, a café and a wellness area.

“We are proud to be a part of the transformation of this magnificent building and the future
development of downtown Lansing,” said Elizabeth R. Haar, president and CEO of the Accident
Fund, when the new design was unveiled last year. “We can’t wait to share this exceptional new home with our employees, customers, business partners and the entire mid-Michigan community.”

Last month, the building was added to the National Register of Historic Places by the National Park Service. “It’s wonderful to see this amazing building get the recognition it deserves,” Haar said. “This inclusion on the National Register of Historic Places shines a positive light on all of downtown Lansing and ensures that the rich history of the station will be preserved and honored as the building takes on a new life.”

The information that accompanied the National Register designation said: “The Ottawa Street Power Station, located at 217 E. Ottawa St. along the Grand River, has been one of the downtown skyline’s most distinguishing features since it was built in 1939 by the Lansing Board of Water and Light. The power station was designed in the distinctive Art Deco style, and is significant for both its grandeur and its role in providing electricity and steam heat to downtown Lansing from 1939 until the late 1980s. Besides the Michigan Capitol dome itself, the power station – with its broad base, stepped arch windows and metal doors, blocky tower form and graded-hue masonry – is one of the capital city’s most visually dominating structures.”

For a decade or so after the 25-megawatt plant went dead, city leaders unsuccessfully tried to lure suitable tenants for the landmark building. The Board of Water and Light finally decided to use a portion of the structure to house a chilled water system to cool downtown buildings, in a project that was completed in 2001. All of that work will be torn out as part of this project, and a new chilled water plant will be built elsewhere.

The Accident Fund will also pursue LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification by the U.G. Green Building Council.

Holmstrom said the biggest challenge can be described in a basic explanation of what they’re doing. “We’re adapting an old powerhouse into an office building,” he said. “The tradespeople have been excellent, it’s been going great out here. Right now it’s a diamond in the rough, but it’s going to be beautiful when it’s done.”
Construction is expected to be complete by the first quarter of 2011.


FORMERLY THE Lansing Board of Water and Light's Ottawa Street Power Station, the Christman Co. and the building trades are transforming this gem of a building into a new headquarters for the Accident Fund Insurance Co. of America. Photos of this building have graced these pages before. In 2001 a downtown chiller system was constructed in the building, which was completed in 1939. The colors of the exterior brick represent the process of the burning of coal.


WORKING IN THE OLD turbine bay of the former Ottawa Street powerhouse in Lansing is Jeff Bradley of Iron Workers Local 25, working for Douglas Steel. This area will become an atrium for the renovated Accident Fund headquarters.