1534 Oak Supports Movember!

Our first regulars

We've got lots of regulars who come by to watch the building go up. Today was an especially busy steel and crane day. These folks came by to make a small pre-lunch audience. There's more sidewalk vehicular traffic in 5 Points than I realized.

The Quiet Waiter contest.

Above: the dumbwaiter shaft


The dumb waiter gets a bad rap!

Sure, all it has to do is go up and down all day - without speaking, greeting, ordering, ringing, cashing out or thanking a customer. But it's no easy job.

Up and down, up and down, up and down, etc. No tips, no "thank you"s, no "job well done"s, and no paycheck. It's paid for up front and property of the building forever. (Don't go there)

Sure, it will get fixed when it's broken. It will get all the power it needs to do it's job day in and day out. It will always have a home...as long as it works for the house.

Let's be realistic though - it's a piece of equipment. Just like the grill, oven, water filter, or computer system. It may not be smarter than the one, but certainly not dumber than another.

So...the person who comes up with the best name for the hardest working food runner in our restaurant, currently know as the dumb waiter, will get an invite for 2 to the first night of soft openings!

Submit your suggestions in the comment section below. And cheers to the quietest waiter we will ever manage!

D Coop site visit

A bird's eye view

Ever since the cherry picker came on site 2 weeks ago, we've been talking about going up. Up to the corner of the building to the highest point a guest might be and see - over the streets and tree tops toward the beautiful St. Johns River. Talking and planning aside, today was the day - for me at least.

After determining my fear of heights was unfounded and confirming my bladder was completely empty, I met our Field Manager Russ on site.

Safety first:
Harness - check

Hard hat - check

Movember 'stache - check!

My chariot approaches

Going up please

So worth it!

When it's all done - this view looking back will be the roof top dining space - filled with customers.

Truth be told, I prefer to be under a tree than above them, but I'll like this view a lot more when there's a building under me instead of harnessed to a shaky cherry picker bucket.

A dangling partition

The elevator shaft frame

These are going up via crane tomorrow. Starting at 7:15am. Should be cool to watch.

The first 45 days of overhead coverage

The folks across the street were kind enough to let us put a camera on their roof to record this great project. This covers from Nov 17-Oct 31 in 3:14. The cool shadowing effect that pops up on occasion is really rain and the effects of humidity on the lens of our high tech camera! Wait for it...there is a happy ending.

Finally building up!

After 4 months of site clearing, utility connections, ground preparation and underground conduit, the building at 1534 Oak Street is finally going vertical. Contractor DW Meyers emphasized the importance of this work as it, and primarily the foundation under the elevator shaft that goes down 8-10 feet and contains 1 million pounds of rock, rebar and concrete, act as the anchor for a building that has a relatively small footprint for it's height and built on an irregular shaped lot.

While "things where happening" over the past several months, the visual changes that will occur over the next 8 months will be much more gratifying and exciting. The steel sub contractor, Jax Steel has been fabricating the columns and beams over the past month and is anxious to put them up. In about a two hours time, the site went from looking like this

to this

The architectural team, Design Cooperative, has walked the lot to make sure all the conduit and wall bases are in the right locations. The vision they've seen for over a year is finally getting more clear to layman like us when we can see the 6 inch underground conduit that's going to take our 8 beer lines to the bar which is situated, right now, in the dirt amazingly close to the elevator lobby. It reminds us that, though is seems big on paper, the restaurant is only 5,200 square feet - roughly the size of the Brick.

Our eye in the sky saw this action on Monday