Crane spotting

HVAC replacement project at the Cosmopolitan thrills onlookers

The Liebherr LR 1300 Crawler Crane can hoist a maximum of 331 U.S. tons, or the equivalent of 55 adult African elephants in a single lift. The new HVAC equipment atop the Cosmopolitan didn’t come even remotely close to that weight. Photo by Walden Kirsch.

A yellow and blue hydraulic arm stretched across a silver sky Sunday and Monday, an awesome feat of engineering brought to Pearl District onlookers by Ness Campbell Crane & Rigging and I&E Construction.

The 550-foot boom from Ness Campbell Crane slowly rises over NW 11th Avenue. Video by Michaela Lowthian.

“Oh, they love it,” said Wyatt, who is with JH Kelly Industrial Construction. “This is a very big crane for down here.”

In preceding days, crews laid out V-shaped lattice sections that stretched from Northwest Northrup to Quimby streets and then put the crane together.

The heavy-duty crawler-driven crane is being used to remove and install a VRF (variant refrigerant flow) or water/heat source more commonly called an HVAC system. The cutting-edge technology, however, has not proved reliable in providing heat or coolness where needed, thus the wholesale replacement.

The Cosmopolitan is the tallest building in Northwest Portland, and the boom that Ness Campbell Crane deployed for this unusual job was one of the longest they have ever assembled. Photo by Walden Kirsch.

The crane extends 550 feet and will place a new 7,000-pound HVAC unit on the roof of the 28-story Cosmopolitan on the Park condominiums at 1075 NW Northrup St. Developed by Hoyt Street Properties, it’s the tallest residential tower in Portland. The Cosmo is 341 feet tall but looks even taller.

As crews raised and lowered the crane, they also moved it from side to side. A barber from Culture PDX gaped while others leaned against nearby buildings to film the event.

The crane needs its own temporary foundation.

“We poured the gravel for a level surface and put the railroad ties on top of that and then put a crane mat down to help to distribute the weight to make sure we have enough bearing pressure in the soil, and everything’s good to go,” Wyatt said.

Crane crews often use the term “flying.” As in: “We’re flying the HVAC to the roof.” The job at the Cosmopolitan required a lot of flying — about 50 separate lifts or so-called picks. Photo by Walden Kirsch.

On Sunday, crews did 18 picks with the crane’s hook and placed them on the roof: boilers, heat exchangers, various piping, a porta-potty and the walls for the HVAC frame.

The crane will also be used to set all the pipe pods into position.

At Snow Bunny Coffee nearby, students did homework and people seated at the counter had a front-row seat. Asked if she’d seen the crane go up a barista smiled said, “a few times, yes!” Another said business has been surprisingly good during the project.

“It’s like building the pyramids,” one onlooker said. “The principles haven’t really changed, it’s physics.”

Engineers considered using a helicopter to install the HVAC on the roof, but the government shutdown and FAA regulations proved too complicated and expensive.

Workers about to fly a porta-potty to the roof of the Cosmopolitan for the benefit of the crew up top. This was the first thing they flew skyward. The answer to the standard half-joking question? Yes, they did check first. No one was inside. Photo by Walden Kirsch.

Got 83 seconds to spare? Here’s a quick flight circling around the top of the Cosmopolitan. Once the video starts playing, click on icon to view full screen. Video by Walden Kirsch.