uring the past few years, Michigan has been the “poster-child” for the eco- nomic crash of 2008. How- ever, in recent months, the media has focused less on
Michigan’s hardships and more on its ability to bounce back—thanks in part to concerted efforts by the state’s busi- nesses to be Michigan-centric. Two such businesses, The Christman
Company, a construction-management and real-estate development firm, and Accident Fund Holdings Inc., the 13th largest workers’ compensation insurer in the U.S. and a subsidiary of Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan, have been head- quartered in Lansing, Mich., for 97 and 100 years, respectively. The firms have had a working relationship for a number of years, so when Accident Fund began outgrowing its downtown office space in 2005, it hired Christman to determine whether to build an addition on Acci- dent Fund’s existing headquarters, build a new structure or renovate another building to meet the insurer’s needs. “It wasn’t really until later in the game
that the idea of renovating the vacant Ot- tawa Street Power Station came into the picture,” remembers Steve Reynolds, vice president of strategic planning and cor- porate secretary for Accident Fund. “As we did our due diligence around that op- tion to see if it was really viable, it became increasingly appealing to us for a variety of reasons.”
PHOTO: IBEW AND THE CHRISTMAN CO. One major reason was Accident Fund’s
strong ties to its community and the idea of revitalizing an iconic building along the Grand River that had stood since 1939 but had been mostly abandoned since 1992. Constructing an office building within a decommissioned 9-story power plant was no small feat, especially because the plant had no floors; it was essentially a large, open boiler room. “Many different organizations and
the city had attempted to redevelop the Ottawa Street Power Station, but it just never flew because it was a very different building to renovate,” explains Gavin Gar- di, LEED AP BD+C O+M, CFD, AVS, sustain- able programs manager and LEED project administrator for Christman. “There were all kinds of beams and structures in the way of easily turning it into a commercial building.” However, Accident Fund and Christ-
man weren’t deterred by the challenges and by 2008, they moved forward with the renovation. “We thought it was the right thing to do, not only for our busi- ness, but also for maintaining our strong
Many of the power plant’s original steel beams were reused in the headquarters facility, connecting the new space to its industrial past.