By Seth Daniel
Mayor Carlo DeMaria and Wynn Boston Harbor President Bob DeSalvio sign the ceremonial steel beam outside the new Wynn Design and Development office on Charlton Street Monday. The ceremony marked the impending erection of structural steel, which will begin Dec. 27.
There’s something about steel columns and beams that make a building project much more tangible no matter how many millions of dollars one pours into removing soil and setting foundations.
And that kind of cold steel reality is about to come to bear for the Wynn Boston Harbor development.
“This is a very important step for us to go vertical and get the building out of the ground,” said Bob DeSalvio, president of Wynn Boston Harbor.
Chris Gordon, president of Wynn Design and Development, said deliveries would begin by truck just before Christmas. The steel will be coming from Canatal Industries, a Canadian company that has awarded local company Daniel Marr & Son the structural steel contract.
He said residents would likely be able to see the structural steel from outside the site by mid-January.
“That’s a huge milestone and very symbolic,” he said. “Every big job, when steel starts going up, people get it. They don’t necessarily understand slurry walls and foundations, but they understand steel.”
Right now, the slurry wall foundation has been completed, and crews continue to dig out the parking garage portion in the middle of the building site – while at the same time preparing to pour slab foundations for the restaurant/retail wing and the back-of-house wing.
He said they have been removing about 5,000 tons of dirt per day and they intend on ratcheting that up to 8,000 tons per day this week.
“That’s two trucks per day going out to Ohio and 100 train cars per day leaving on the tracks,” Gordon said. “We’re also pumping 30 million gallons from the ground per day and the mud mat has been poured at the bottom of the garage. That means the very bottom of the garage is poured now.”
To celebrate that impending milestone, Everett elected officials, project designers and die-hard members of Everett United gathered on Monday afternoon to hold a Steel Beam signing ceremony.
As part of most projects using structural steel union workers, invited members of the community and work crews typically sign a ceremonial beam that is lifted into place at the end of the steel erection portion of the project.
The white beam was on display in front of the new Wynn Design and Development building on Charlton Street Monday, where about 100 people put their John Hancock on the beam.
“I’m here to celebrate this milestone,” said Irene Romeo, who is a member of Everett United and attended most all of the casino meetings, as she signed her name to the beam. “This is great. We really, really made it now. The steel is going to go up. Here we come Everett.”
Robin Brickley said she felt that signing the steel beam brought a sense of movement to the project. She said through all the twists and turns that have defined the Wynn casino, the time has come now for it to be a real place.
“It’s been so long and there were so many obstacles,” she said. “In the beginning, no one took it seriously. We all hung in there. To see it come to reality is just a good feeling…I have lived all my life and was a schoolteacher here for 35 years here in Everett. It makes me feel so proud of the city.”
Standing above the beam after signing his name and putting the date on it, Mayor Carlo DeMaria said he never doubted.
“I actually never doubted this day would happen,” he said. “I thought from the beginning it was the best site…I always knew it was the best developer and Massachusetts wanted Steve Wynn and they got him. They also got a City that could benefit from a hotel and resort.”