Location:
Presidents Plaza is situated along the Kennedy Expressway (I-90) at the Cumberland Avenue exit, providing easy access to the buildings and wonderful visibility. The El-Station located at I-90 and Cumberland Avenue also allows for easy access.
Building Size:
Presidents Plaza sits on 14.1 acres of land and has a total square footage of 818,712. Presidents Plaza is comprised of the 8600 building & the 8700 building, each building containing one 12-story tower & one 10-story tower.
8600 North Tower totals 164,479 square feet
8600 South Tower totals 236,389 square feet
8700 North Tower totals 171,194 square feet
8700 South Tower totals 246,350 square feet
Building Exterior:
Structure:
Building construction type is IB, Fire Resistive Construction, consisting of fire proofed steel frames and concrete on metal deck floor slabs.
Facade:
Both the 8600 & 8700 building facades consist of an aluminum and glass curtain wall. Entrances are glass storefront with revolving doors and full glass aluminum framed entry doors.
Roof:
The roofs of all four towers are flat modified bitumen with a granular wearing surface, installed over insulation and lightweight concrete decking, applied over a metal decking and steel structure. The 8600 building roof was replaced in 1991 and the 8700 building roof was replaced in 1992. All four roofs house lightning protection.
Landscape:
Presidents Plaza itself, along with each building and the main drive off of Bryn Mawr Avenue, is surrounded by planted beds that are filled with trees, shrubs and seasonal flowers. The main focal point in the center of the plaza houses several mature trees, vibrant seasonal flowers and the American flag. Along side the 8600 building is a non-smoking picnic area.
Exterior Lighting:
The parking lot and garage parking are all illuminated with pole-mounted high-pressure sodium fixtures. The entrance areas are also lit via incandescent floodlights mounted on the aluminum glass canopies.
Loading Docks:
A two-bay loading dock is located in the rear of the south tower of both the 8600 & 8700 buildings. The docks are depressed to allow for truck loading and unloading. The service loading dock entrances to the buildings are protected by soffits and are illuminated with recessed lighting. Compactor & recycling dumpsters are located at each dock. Access to each dock is controlled from the security console in each building's lobby. Deliveries are monitored via CCTV cameras with monitors at the security consoles.
Parking:
A combination of the surface parking lot, parking deck, and underground garage parking provide Presidents Plaza with a parking ratio of 3.41/1,000 square feet.
Surface Parking Lot:
Parking Structure:
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The open parking structure located directly south of the 8700 south tower, on the southwestern corner of the site, was built in 1986.
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The four-story structure is made of cast in place, post tensioned concrete and is clad in vertically oriented aluminum panels of similar dimensions and finish to those on the four buildings.
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The parking structure holds 1,550 parking spaces.
Underground Garage Parking:
Interior finishes:
Standard Tenant Finish Materials:
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All the doors are solid core wood (9' Mahogany finish, 3' wide X 1 3/4" thick) full height, and feature Corbin/Russwin lever hardware.
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9' ceiling height with 2x2 Armstrong 571B and 1x1 Armstrong 506 lay in ceiling tile.
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Levelour metal finish mini blinds on all exterior windows featuring dual pane insulated reflective glass.
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Tenants may select from the building standard selection of Shaw industries carpet and carpet tile choices.
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Each tenant is provided with ADA suite signs located on their exterior of their suite and company identification at each illuminated lobby directory. New customer suite and corridor directory signage was installed on all multi-tenant floors in 2002.
Common Area Finishes:
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Recessed fluorescent lighting (2x4 parabolic lay in fixtures) on all floors. All the common area lighting has been retrofitted to energy efficient bulbs and ballasts.
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All ceilings are a standard 9'. The standard width of the hallways is 5'6''.
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Each floor has one drinking fountain.
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Each common area corridor is on a budgeted rotation for finish replacements.
Lobbies/Atriums:
The nearly 6,500 square foot skylit atrium/entry pavilions, which link the towers in pairs, are sophisticated geometrical essays in glass and aluminum with extensive floral plantings, open glass pedestrian walkways, carnelian granite floors with carpet insert and wall treatments. All Lobby and Lower Level carpet and wall covering was updated in 2001 & 2002. Each building Lobby has a security console with a tenant directory for assisting visitors to their destination within the buildings. A security officer always attends the security consoles.
Restrooms:
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Floor is a 1''x1'' ceramic tile.
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Walls are 4''x4'' ceramic tiles.
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Ceilings are 1x1 Armstrong 506 tiles.
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Lighting by recessed down lights and 4' fluorescent lighting.
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Each North Tower Men's restroom has two sinks, one urinal, and two toilets.
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Each North Tower Women's restroom has two sinks and three toilets.
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Each South Tower Men's restroom has two sinks, two urinals, and three toilets.
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Each South Tower Women's restroom has three sinks and four toilets.
Air Conditioning/Heating:
The HVAC systems are all electric, variable volume systems with zone controls and humidification for maximum year round comfort. The systems are controlled by a Carrier Comfort Work automation system that was installed in 1997.
8600 Building:
The 8600 HVAC system consists of two 725 ton and one 250 ton Carrier Centrifugal chillers and is located at the penthouse level of the south tower. The four cell induced draft Baltimore Air Coil cooling tower is also located on the 12th floor.
8600 North Tower:
Interior air is supplied by S1A& S1B fans. These fans are designed by Carrier and are capable of supplying 60,000 CFM each. They are constant volume fans. The perimeter is supplied by two constant volume fans, AS1 & AS2. These fans are Carrier design and are capable of 27,500 CFM each. They are all located on the tenth floor. In the lower level of the north tower there are two more AS fans, AS5 & AS6. AS5 supplies the air for the lobby and AS6 supplies the air for the lower level. Both these fans are designed by Carrier and are constant volume fans. AS5 has the capacity for 25,000 CFM and AS6 has the capacity for 33,000 CFM.
8600 South Tower:
Interior air is supplied by S2A & S2B fans. These fans are designed by Carrier and have the capacity for 95,000 CFM each. The perimeter air is supplied by constant volume fans, AS3 & AS4. They are also a Carrier design and both have the capacity for 60,000 CFM. All of this equipment is located on the 12th floor.
8700 Building:
The mechanical cooling plant is located in the lower level of the south tower. The system consists of two 650 ton Carrier Centrifugal chillers and one 250 ton natural gas powered Tecogen chiller. The Baltimore Air Coil three cell induced draft unit cooling tower is located in a below ground pit on the northwest side of the property.
8700 North Tower:
Interior air is supplied by two fans, S2A & S2B. These fans are designed by Carrier and are constant volume fans, and have the capacity for 60,000 CFM each. The perimeter air is supplied to the floors by either Tempmaster or Titius fan powered boxes on each floor. These boxes are tied into the medium pressure duct on the floors. A typical floor has six fan powered boxes. Each box has its own thermostat that controls only that box.
8700 South Tower:
Interior air is supplied by two fans, S1A & S1B. These fans are designed by Carrier and have a capacity of 106,000 CFM each. The perimeter is supplied to the floors by either Tempmaster or Titus fan powered boxes on each floor. A typical floor has six fan powered boxes.
Electrical:
Each building has its own power supply from ComEd. The buildings are capable of supplying 9 watts per sq. ft. for tenant usage. Each building has its' own, main electrical vault and automatic transfer switches. In October of 2002, Presidents Plaza installed two diesel Caterpiller model 3306B back up generators. Installation of the generators brought the complex up to City of Chicago code, for back up power generation.
Plumbing:
Each building has its own main water supply from the City of Chicago. The buildings house pump systems consisting of three pumps per building. Each building has one main pump that has 7.5 hp and two back up pumps that are both 10 hp.
Elevators:
The population of the buildings is approximately 1 person per 300 square feet, making elevator service very good. Separate elevator banks serve each of the four towers at Presidents Plaza. In total, 14 large high-speed Otis rope geared electric traction elevators with relay logic controls (Type 131HT), 2 Otis hydraulic elevators (Type 2HITL), and 2 Westinghouse hydraulic elevators service the property. The building elevators were recently refurbished and modernized. The standard size opening for the passenger elevators are 3'6", while the elevator interior is 5'4'' X 6'8'' X 8'.
8600 Building:
8600 north tower:
Serviced by three high-speed elevators and one hydraulic elevator. The three high-speed elevators provide service from the lower level up to the ninth floor. One elevator doubles as a freight cab and has a ceiling height of 10'. An Otis hydraulic elevator provides service from the ninth floor up to the penthouse.
8600 south tower:
Serviced by four high-speed elevators and one hydraulic elevator. The four high-speed elevators provide service from the lower level up to the eleventh floor. One elevator doubles as a freight cab and has a ceiling height of 10'. The hydraulic elevator provides service from the eleventh floor up to the penthouse.
8700 Building:
8700 north tower:
Serviced by three high-speed elevators. The elevators provide service from the lower level up to the penthouse. One elevator doubles as a freight cab and has a ceiling height of 9'6".
8700 south tower:
Serviced by four high-speed elevators. The elevators provide service from the lower level up to the penthouse. One elevator doubles as a freight cab and has a ceiling height of 9'6".
Parking Deck:
Serviced by two Westinghouse EV-100 hydraulic elevators. The elevators go from the lower level up to the fourth level of the parking deck.
Telephone and Electrical Rooms:
Each floor has its own electrical and phone closets that are 2-hour fire rated gypsum wallboard. Each floor has two 400-amp services. All tenants suites and floors are separately metered. In 2000, the building inventoried all phone rooms, removed abandoned cable, and took over the riser management for the building.
Stairwells:
There are two stairwells per tower, giving each building a total of 4 stairwells. The stairwells are connected to the fire panel to fail safe open in case of emergency. The stairwells are all equipped with battery powered emergency lighting.
Emergency Systems:
Both buildings are protected with a wet pipe sprinkler system, with the fire pump located in the lower level of the 8600 building. Standpipe risers are located in the stairways with test valve, tamper and flow switches located at each level. Sprinkler water flow devices and valve tamper switches are monitored separately, meeting Chicago Building Code requirements. There is one dry pipe sprinkler system located in the underground parking facility. The sprinklers are laid out in grid form, requiring that the pipes be fully charged before adequate pressure for system operation is reached.
A fire command panel is located in the lobby level of both buildings. Each building has the required fire detection system panel, status indicators for HVAC, sprinkler valve and water flow detector indicators, emergency power status indicators, exit stairwell door unlocking and voice communication system panels. The 8600 building panel is an Autocall 5200, with an added Simplex 4100 voice and fireman's phone system, which supports the ADA-required strobes on some floors. The 8700 building panel is a Notifier BE-5000 fire alarm control panel and a Notifier AFP 1010 voice evacuation system. Alarms are transmitted directly to the Chicago Fire Department and are monitored under contract with Rex Specialties.
Emergency lighting is provided throughout the building, consisting of a combination of dedicated ceiling light fixtures and battery pack units.