Building Name	-	The First Albany Building
Location	-	677 Broadway, Albany, NY 12204
Occupancy	-	Angelo’s 677 Prime (restaurant, 1st floor) Mixed use office space (lower floors) Apartments/Condominiums (upper floors)
Size	-	180,000 square feet
Number of Levels	-	12 + Mech. Penthouse (all above grade)
Construction Start / Finish	-	September 17, 2003 – June 10, 2005
Structure Cost	-	$25,000,000
Project Delivery	-	Design - Build

This instant landmark is a  first class professional office building located in the heart of downtown Albany, NY.
Parking is available via a 900 car parking garage owned by the City of Albany Parking Authority and is located behind the building.
The building is also home to one of Albany's most prestigious restaurants for fine dining, Angelo’s 677 Prime.

The building’s entrance is secured by an HID Card Access system and a full time security guard. Closed circuit TV cameras and recorders monitor both the interior and exterior of the building 24 hours per day 7 days per week. The building has an intercom system for off hour notification when the security guard is not present. Unique to professional office buildings in Downtown Albany are the building's 12 balconies as well as its heated sidewalks which surround the property. The building has redundant fiber networking service and some added features of this building include; redundant electric; high efficiency lighting with occupancy sensors; a Building Management System (BMS) to monitor all Building and Tenant HVAC equipment; an Uninterrupted Power Source System and an emergency generator. 677 Broadway is located just off I 787 (Clinton Avenue Exit) making the building ideal for clients and employees. It also yields optimum access to surrounding area businesses and restaurants and is part of the Empire Zone, lending its benefits to tenants through its Landlord. The building calls to an earlier era with its use of a glass facade, yet affords all of the efficiencies and energy savings of the present.

The foundation system includes a 6" thick concrete slab on grade over a  network of reinforced concrete grade-beams and pile caps.   134 H-piles (HP14x89) were driven to practical refusal to fully support the building. Initially six test piles were driven and tested to verify calculated load capacities. The load capacity of each pile is 120 tons. The grade beams bind the pile caps together into a rigid matrix so they act as a single foundation rather than individual entities.  Columns transfer loads directly to the ground through pile caps and to the piles themselves.  The piles were carefully laid out as to not cause eccentric forces in any one group of piles.

Lateral forces, wind and seismic, are resisted by 5 braced frames around the core of the building (2 in the east-west, 3 in the north-south).  Bracing patterns include "K", inverted "K", and standard diagonal. Each braced frame acts as a vertical, cantilevered truss. This is the only area in the structure where combined loading of structural members occurs. Horizontal members are assumed to be a part of a rigid diaphragm, and do not carry any loads due to lateral forces.  All story shear forces are carried by the diagonal bracing.

Construction began on September 17, 2003 on a previous parking lot. BBL Construction Services served as the construction manager and general contractor. The site was large enough to accommodate the use of a regular mobile crane, thus eliminating the need for a stationary tower crane. There was a moderate amount of room directly behind the site for materials storage and staging. Still, careful planning and scheduling of deliveries was high priority so that the site wouldn't become cluttered, difficult, and dangerous. Delivery of materials and worker transportation was handled with ease as the First Albany Building is located just off from I-787 right at the end of an off-ramp in downtown Albany.

With these key conditions, work advanced quickly throughout the construction phase.

There are two building power distribution units that have an output capacity of 125 kVA (with 3 integral panel-boards) and 75 kVA (with 2 integral panel-boards) respectively.  Input voltage is 480 volts AC - 3 phase.  Output voltage is 120 / 208 volts AC - 3 phase wye configuration which is subsequently stepped down at each floor to 110/220 volts AC for tenant needs.

The building has redundant fiber networking service and some added features of this building include; redundant electric; high efficiency lighting with occupancy sensors; a Building Management System (BMS) to monitor all Building and Tenant HVAC equipment; an Uninterrupted Power Source System and an emergency generator.  Lighting throughout the  building was determined by expected tenant needs (which varied slightly).  A variety of florescent and recessed lighting fixtures is used to satisfy lighting requirements.

The primary environmental control system is a variable air volume (VAV) configuration with reheat coils.  The reheat coils only operate when minimum ventilation is required.  Individual air handling units serve each floor (multiple zones per floor).  An electronic control system allows the programming of temperature and humidity set-points, alarm parameters, operational status monitoring, and maintains a database of zone conditions and operational status.  Control systems are also capable of temperature anticipation, predictive humidity control, and compressor short cycle control.  Each control system is tied into a complete Building Management System (BMS) for overall monitoring.

Structural Steel is protected by spray applied or double-layered drywall fire protection, each rated at 1 hour minimum. Elevator and stairwells are protected with a 2 hour rating. The entire building is also protected by a ‘wet pipe’ sprinkler system, meaning the system is always charged and single sprinkler heads can be activated independently. In moisture sensitive spaces (communications rooms) Chemical Agent Extinguishing Systems are present.  Individual fire alarm systems (per occupant space or floor) are tied into a building wide audible fire alarm system for emergency situations.

Three elevators and two stairwells serve the building’s occupants continuously from the ground floor to the mechanical penthouse and roof.

All building pedestrian traffic must always pass through the main entrance security station, with no exceptions. The building’s entrance is secured by an HID Card Access system and a full time security guard. Closed circuit TV cameras and recorders monitor both the interior and exterior of the building 24 hours per day 7 days per week. The building has an intercom system for off hour notification.  All guests and visitors must be announced and/or verified to be permitted entrance, except for the restaurant patrons and employees who use a private entrance on the south side of the building.

*All information is to the best of my knowledge.