Bridgeview Bank | Chicago, IL

Southwest Coating Services

Specialty Contractor > Specialty Construction - Commercial > Other Specialty Construction: Commercial

In October of 2021 to Summer of 2023 Southwest Coating Services was chosen to assist in the renovation of the historic Bridgeview Bank Building in Uptown, Chicago. The building consists of approximately 190,000 square feet of mixed-use, commercial and residential space.

Upper floors contain 176 converted apartments and the grand bank lobby and mezzanine are being used for co-working office space. As per our past projects with Method Construction, this was a jump in and get your hands dirty kind of project.

Method Construction led the renovation. Their goal was to maintain as much of the historic charm of the building as possible, while updating it with modern features. Throughout the process, there were several challenges that included tackling an exterior painted logo from the top of a 14-story building, working to preserve some of the unique features of the building without sacrificing functionality, and managing a large team of painters through a new internal production process.

Exterior Painted Logo

In 2019 we installed a painted logo of the mascot bulldog “Lady Louise” for Method Construction on a gymnasium floor. They loved it so much, they have been hiring us to paint her image in other various locations. In the case of this project, it was on top of the Bridgeview Bank exterior façade. The logo is something we were familiar with, but the size and location were new. They wanted it placed approximately 30 feet from the top of the building and offset a bit so that it was centered between the front building and the further-set back building. We utilized a suspended scaffold to access the area and decided this would be a great training opportunity for anyone in our company without Suspended Scaffolding experience. One Foreman ran and remained on the project each day while all of our certified and newly certified painters rotated in. It was a great opportunity to broaden our painters’ portfolios, as well as ours. We believe that a company is only as skilled as its employees so we do our best to make sure ours are given development opportunities as often as possible.

We ordered a paper pouncing stencil per the designer’s specifications—approximately 30’ in diameter. A pouncing stencil is basically thin paper in which a shape is perforated and then chalk is “pounced” into those perforations to outline the shape. Since the stencil was so big, it required us to apply it in sections, in a specific order. It was like a puzzle. Once the “puzzle” was put together, the outline was chalked and then painted. The result is a very cool looking bulldog that can be seen for miles.

Historic Features

If you look at the before picture of the Grand Lobby ceiling, it might seem familiar because has been seen in a movie or two. Carved from plaster and a bit outdated, it was time for a clean up. Getting access to the ceiling required a special kind of lift—one that could not only fit through the front door, but could also get us up 2 stories. We chose a crawler that when folded up was narrow enough to get through a doorway (with the frame removed) and could be pulleyed up the stairs into the center of the atrium floor. It had legs that sprawled from it’s base for stability. This lift was costly but was the most efficient way of getting this work done quickly and safely.

As we began painting, water damaged areas were discovered and had to be addressed. Thankfully the majority of the ceiling was not affected. A restoration company was hired to do the repairs and then we applied a light Dryfall coating to the ceilings, brightening them up and giving them new life. This project gave us so much satisfaction. The difference is incredible!

The existing wood and ironwork throughout the interior was salvaged as much as possible. The bank Teller Cages were a unique feature that the designer could not bear to part with. The grand lobby that used to house the Bridgeview Bank was converted into a co-working space so the cages made for great “cubicles” for this type of work environment. After grinding almost every inch of iron work to remove years of paint and rust, an epoxy was used to fill in holes and scratches and then sanded down to reveal a smooth finish. After a good coating, the result was gorgeous, ornate ironwork that looks new.

Staircases with wood, iron and marble and old historic wood stained doors were scattered throughout the building. Marble was protected, varnish and paint from wood and iron were removed so they could be refinished—preserving their natural state as close as possible. Matching stain to 100+ year old wood was quite the process of trial and error before the right formulas were achieved.

In the residential corridors, there were transom windows throughout. The glass was replaced with inserts, and the gaps puttied and caulked so that they gave a wainscoting look. Our painters are skilled at their craft and did an amazing job of blending the old with the new!

Production Project

Hands down, the most beneficial result of this project for us happened internally. Over the past two years, as a company we have been gathering data on production. Phase 2 of this project involved eight cookie-cutter residential floors that were going to allow us to gather good data from floor to floor. Our goal was to glean production rates from each step involved—prep, patch, prime, first coat, final coat, etc. How long did each step take in for a given substrate? Who was collecting the data and who were we getting the data from? It was a very detailed documentation process.

We started in one unit on the first residential floor we were given access to. We recorded all levels of painters—from Apprentice to Foreman. Then we converted recorded times to rates per square foot, linear foot, etc., to get our estimates for the whole unit and then the entire floor.

We found that the numbers were shockingly low and could not be met by the team. What we discovered is that there is so much information NOT included in these steps that needed consideration: physically moving from one unit to the next, climbing up and down a ladder, taking scheduled breaks, stopping to update the Superintendent. So we determined a fair percentage to build into each recorded step in order to account for these unmeasurable items. As we progressed from floor to floor we found that these numbers were now more attainable.

So much valuable data was collected! These rates have since been applied to other projects to help better project budgeted hours. This has been a tremendous endeavor but has also had tremendous results. We have found that Project Leads get motivated and inspired when we discuss projected hours with them. Job profitability has gone up on the jobs we have applied these rates to. All of the hard work and data collection is definitely paying off.

This project has taught us so many things—how to be more efficient, flexible, artistic and productive. We are so pleased that there was not one safety issue during our time at Bridgeview Bank. Our team worked together to get it all done safely and we could not be more proud. We are always delighted to be a part of Method Construction’s projects, because we know they love to highlight the best parts of Chicago history, making them relevant again. We look forward to what comes next!