Congress Avenue Building Topping Off Ceremony

March 21, 2001

Distinguished guests, colleagues, talented construction workers and craftsmen, architects and friends ... it’s one thing as a parent to watch your own children grow, but I must say as Dean, it is quite another to watch this baby grow!

What an exciting day for Yale University, the Yale School of Medicine and the City of New Haven and, of course, for the hundreds of construction and ironworkers. This marvelous project has reached a milestone today and I thank all of you for attending as we celebrate the “topping off” of the Congress Avenue Building and the completion of 383 construction days.

A topping off ceremony, I have been told, is a tradition within the industry that marks the moment when the highest structural point in the building construction has been attained. To celebrate this event, the last steel beam is signed and hoisted into place. An evergreen tree is customarily placed on the beam to symbolize that the building project has proceeded well, without injury, and as a good luck charm for the occupants of the building.

With that in mind, today we celebrate not only the superb effort of the construction team, but also the realization of the vision of many people in the community and the University as we make this building a reality. By increasing our capacity for biomedical research-one of Yale’s great academic strengths-we will, in turn, allow our faculty and students to work and learn in state-of-the-art facilities. The creation of this building-which I note with great admiration and relief is on time and on budget-will, most importantly, quicken the pace at which we can bring laboratory discoveries to the benefit of our patients, and thus contribute to the health of the public here in New Haven and around the world.

There is much involved in this unique structure. Examples include:

Nearly 100 subcontracting companies are involved in the construction of this 450,000-square-foot facility.
By October of this year, at the peak of the construction phase of the project, we will have close to 600 workers on the job. Currently there are 250 of you and we commend you for your hard work and skilled contributions.
Last fall, at the beginning of this project, there was a large hole that required 4,500 truckloads of dirt to be removed. Truckloads that, if lined up end-to-end would stretch nearly 30 miles!
1,500 truckloads of ready-mix concrete were poured for the foundation and structure.
There are 7,000 pieces of structural steel and the total weight of the structural steel frame is 3,500 tons.
The weight of the shielding steel in the Magnetic Resonance Center is over 500 tons.
There are: 560,000 bricks, 700 very large windows, 10 elevators and enough electrical wire to extend 230 miles (or from New York to Baltimore) to power up the building, equipment and computers.

From the beginning, our colleagues in the Hill neighborhood and City Government have been an integral part of our planning and success. Your recognition of the value of this project for the future of the School of Medicine and the local economy is very meaningful to us, just as I know that the jobs, building permit fees, and PILOT payments are important to the City. Mayor DeStefano could not be with us today, but we are joined by his Economic Development Director, Henry Fernandez. Mr. Fernandez, kindly extend my thanks to the Mayor and your colleagues at City Hall for their support.

CAB topping off ceremony; construction workers.

Thanks also to the great team of Aldermen from the Hill-Jorge Perez, Andrea Jackson-Brooks, Hazelann Woodell, Anthony Dawson, and especially Esther Armmand, in whose Ward this building sits.

And, of course, a special thanks to our long-term partners at the Hill Development Corporation, led by Chairwoman Cathy Sutton-Dawson and Executive Director David Alvarado.

Before we sign the beam, which will be hoisted above this construction site, I would also like to publicly acknowledge the contributions of many talented individuals who have made this day possible:

From Yale: President Levin, Provost Richard and the other University Officers, Bruce Alexander, former Deans Rosenberg and Burrow, Carolyn Slayman, Arthur Broadus, Ralph Horwitz and our Department Chairs and researchers involved in the building.

Also, our Medical School Facilities Office: Bruce Carmichael, John Bollier, Ginger Chapman and especially Reyhan Larimer from Project Management & Construction for her diligence as CAB Project Manager.

From Whiting-Turner Contracting Company, I’d like to thank Senior Vice President Bob Ryan; Senior Project Manager John Giovannone; Senior Project Superintendent John Curran; and Project Manager Tom Mitchell.

From the mechanical, electrical and plumbing engineers, R.G. Vanderweil Engineers, thank you to Vice President Tom Gird.

Thanks to Jim Collins and Ian Adamson of Payette Associates, as well as Leon Auvil, who has been tireless in his efforts on our behalf.

From Venturi Scott Brown Associates, thanks to Bob Venturi and his talented colleagues, Dan McCoubrey and John Bastian.

And, finally, to the construction and ironworkers whose mastery of the many building trades has made this building possible, and has left us awestruck, a very special thank you from all of us.

Last modified: Saturday, 09-Jun-2001 23:17:59 EDT (PL).