December 20, 2018

Foundation is Set for Block 9 in Downtown Fargo

Block 9 broke ground on September 12, 2018 with a great party for the community.

After a few weeks of mass excavation and hauling soil out of the site, the process began to install 367 auger cast piles, 110 feet deep, as the foundational base of the structure. After each hole was drilled, the bit was backed out of the hole, which was then backfilled with concrete. Then, the drilling crane was moved out of the way, and a second crane lowered rebar into the concrete-filled hole. This foundational process required roughly 110 tons and 19 miles of rebar, as well as 300 trucks of concrete.

This 900-ton mobile crane is one of only a handful in the U.S. It was used to set the first of two tower cranes on the Block 9 project.

 

The two Block 9 tower cranes are the tallest freestanding cranes (supported only at the base) in the Midwest. The taller (west) crane is 305 feet tall. When fully extended to finish the top floors of the building in the summer of 2019, it will be 346 feet tall. The east crane is 264 feet tall. When fully extended, it will be 305 feet tall. The differing heights allow the two cranes to cross over each other. The cranes were assembled by a specialty crew of Northwest Tower Crane Service, Inc.

Kilbourne Group Project Manager Keith Leier and Jesse Helland of McGough Construction provided an update on the project to the Fargo Rotary Club. If you are part of a group with an interest in the Block 9 project, you can request a presentation or tour at [email protected].

On December 12, the construction crew onsite held mock safety drill, which involved emergency vehicles and personnel. KVRR Local News covered the event.

A crew has set the forms for the basement walls and filled them with concrete.

This is the bottom of the elevator core, the backbone of the building which provides rigidity. These metal cages were created by hand-tying rebar and will be filled with concrete.

General Foreman Scott Dengerud leads the group of craft workers on the Block 9 project, including concrete workers, iron workers, plumbers, electricians and more. At the end of December 2018, there are approximately 75 people on site each day. This will ramp up when works starts on constructing the building in January.

Learn more and view time-lapse videos at www.Block9Fargo.com.