Montroy & MMB complete 40,000 s/f Publicis office in Philadelphia

Philadelphia, PA — The project team of designer Montroy Architecture (MA) and contractor MMB Contractors has completed construction of a three-floor US headquarters office of Publicis Groupe’s health division at the 130-year-old Bourse Building in Philadelphia’s Center City.

Publicis Groupe recently relocated its health and wellness arm to the Bourse after outgrowing its old space in the nearby Wannamaker Building next to Philadelphia City Hall.

Montroy Architecture principal Daniel Montroy, AIA, said, “MA began working on the Philadelphia project when Publicis’ executives and employees were establishing their post-pandemic return-to-office routines, and the goal was to make the transition to a new, shared work environment as easy as possible. Reflecting this, the design incorporates multiple social areas and comfortable, hospitality-inspired elements.”

The Bourse Building, located at 111 South Independence Mall East, is a Beaux Arts office property from the 1890s, designed by G.W. & D.W. Hewitt for George E. Bartol, a grain and commodities exporter. The property originally served as a commodities exchange and is one of the first steel-framed buildings in Philadelphia. The landlord during the lease agreement and construction was MRP Realty. Lupert-Adler Real Estate Funds and Keystone Development and Investment have since acquired the property.

The project team assisted Publicis early on, prior to lease signing, while the space selection was still ongoing. MA’s designers reviewed shortlisted spaces for functionality and helped with lease negotiations, while MMB’s construction personnel evaluated the constructability, available building systems and pre-existing conditions.

In addition to Daniel Montroy, Sarah Bigos and Thomas Yeh, Montroy Architecture’s team included designer Jessica Gross, AIA, technical designer Adithi Vellimana and job captain Tammy Huang.

Additional project team members included MEP engineer Bala Engineers, furniture supplier Creative Office Resources, partition supplier Lewis Stevenson Office Solutions, and lighting manufacturer Prudential Lighting.

The project’s construction started with demolition of pre-existing interiors, which, uncovered previously unknown historical elements. When construction crews began gutting the first floor, they discovered original plaster details along the floors and ceilings.

According to MMB’s project manager and chief estimator Zach Sette. “The building’s higher floors also featured unexpected conditions such as a significant number of unmapped piping, electrical wires, and other infrastructure. The MMB team quickly addressed these discoveries, mainly by either removing or rerouting those elements. In several locations, however, they represented a major challenge, as some of these installations served a healthcare tenant in an adjacent space and could not be shut down. In those cases, MA’s designers and the construction team implemented creative solutions, such as incorporating wood slat ceilings to cover up the existing infrastructure.”

“Access to work areas presented another logistical challenge,” shared MMB’s owner and president Marek Maj. “For a period of time, our crews didn’t have access to the freight elevator, which created difficulties for materials deliveries. To address this, the project management team developed alternative solutions, such as hand deliveries via stairs, a limited use of smaller passenger elevators with temporary wall protections and even removing a section of glazing on the fifth and sixth floors to use a tri-axle crane to deliver larger elements such as oversized piping and ductwork, drywall and studs.”

Due to the healthcare tenant operating in an adjacent space, the team was limited in periods when noisy activities could take place. In order to limit disruptions to healthcare operations, MMB scheduled demolition and other loud work in early mornings and on weekends.

Because of the building’s age and previous work, some of the concrete floor slabs on the upper floors developed a significant slope, creating a difference of up to three inches in some cases. MMB corrected it prior to proceeding with installation of new interiors.

In several instances, the construction team benefitted from the building owner’s supportive approach to the project. “The fourth floor was unoccupied during our work. The landlord, which at the time was MRP Realty, was very accommodating and allowed us to use the unoccupied space for staging and materials storage. This alleviated some of the issues we had with the site access,” shared Sette.

As part of the fit-out, MMB significantly upgraded the HVAC system throughout the space. The contractor installed approximately 70 variable airflow (VAF) units to allow for personalized climate control in small zones as well as two new HVAC systems on the first floor, which are hidden in the lounge’s ceiling. To serve the MDF/IT/low voltage -room, MMB installed three mini-split units.

Other historic elements that required repairs were the brick pier walls on the fifth and sixth floors. Upon removing gypsum board walls during demolition, the crews discovered that sections of walls were previously repaired and filled in with unattractive concrete masonry units (CMUs). As these walls played an important interior design role, the project team decided to restore them. This called for a search for brick matching the original color and dimensions. The team eventually selected Columbia Smooth brick from Diener Brick Company.

The “aging” of the new brick to match the original piers material called for experimentation and creativity. “We have tested applying several processes to the brick in order to make it look older and fit the aesthetic a little better. We tried limewashing and spreading grout and plaster. Ultimately, we ended up covering the new brick with a small amount of plaster mix and then scratching it off to give the surface an older brick look,” said Sette.

According to John Stevenson, Vice President at Lewis Stevenson Office Solutions, the piers also called for innovative solutions during installation of Pure 54 glazed privacy partitions by Planet Partitioning and Lewis Stevenson. “Securing our systems directly to the existing brick walls in several locations called for modifying the surface of the walls at the point of connection. From a technical standpoint, it created some challenges, but the same time resulted in a beautiful and clean aesthetic,” he said.