Lease Crutcher Lewis turned an old B-52 hangar into a manufacturing plant for Genie Industries.

The project involved remodeling an old B-52 hangar into 375,000 square feet of manufacturing and office space. The facility formerly housed eight B-52s in four high bays (with an unusual buttressed concrete roof system), and also includes five low bays.

The project began as a simple rehabilitation so the facility could be used as a warehouse. After construction began, Genie decided to use the facility as its central manufacturing plant, turning a $3 million project into a $16 million project via change orders.

The old hangar has an unique buttressed concrete roof system. Photos courtesy of Lease Crutcher Lewis

Working on the building was a challenge because of its unique buttressed parabolic structure. Its high bays have no columns. Instead, the structural loads from the high bays are transferred to the low bays, which act as buttresses.

The roof was not able to support heavy loads, so Lease Crutcher Lewis was limited to only roof penetrations. To install HVAC units, holes in the roof sidewalls were cut and bracing was cantilevered off the concrete roof trusses.

To reduce the need for heavy air-handling equipment, the “tail doors” above each hangar door were altered to provide natural ventilation and smoke evacuation.

The building also received extensive remediation of PCBs, lead and asbestos. The project was finished with 80 percent construction documents, with the as-builts becoming the final construction documents. No lost-time accidents were recorded.