Structural retrofit buys support for new retail mall; dry ice, a metal detector and an oxygen thermal lance were unlikely but valuable tools in garage reinforcement. (Nashville's Church Street Centre Mall )

Structural retrofit buys support for new retail mall

Dry ice, a metal detector and an oxygen thermal lance were unlikely but valuable tools in garage reinforcement Building a three-level shopping mall on top of an existing four-story parking garage in Nashville's revitalized downtown retail district necessitated extensive reinforcement of the structure.

The $17 million, 300,000-sq.-ft. Church Street Centre Mall required encasing the garage's existing concrete columns with additional concrete, cutting away post-tensioned concrete slabs to accomodate escalators and resupporting these cut-away sections with steel beams before any work on the retail mall addition could begin.

Designed by Stanley D. Lindsey and Associates, Nashville, the structural reinforcement incorporated both standard and novel construction techniques to ensure adequate support. The project architect was Smallwood, Reynolds, Stewart and Stewart, Atlanta.

The garage columns were deemed inadequate to support the extra load of the mall. However, …