One Thousand One

Philadelphia , PA

This latest Post project eclipses their prior, ground-breaking Piazza Alta, of which Klover was a key participant. Once all phases are completed, One Thousand One will total 1.9 million square feet and will consist of 1,500 luxury apartments, ground level retail, public promenades and various shared first-class amenities (over 140,000 square feet) and working spaces. The first phase of this project consists of over 828,000 square feet and 630 luxury units. The mix of the various heights and styles of the buildings were specifically designed to be seamlessly incorporated into the existing neighborhood and give the appearance that they had been there forever. The building designs incorporated certain design elements including large floor-to-ceiling black framed windows, brick façade, ACM panel, and terracotta finishes, to provide an industrial feel to the new buildings. Post Brothers worked with the existing community and city leaders on the design of the complex to ensure their concerns were heard and addressed. This project also boasts spectacular views of the Philadelphia skyline.

While Klover has been developing our prefabrication business since 2011, and at 50% larger than the previous Piazza Alta project, One Thousand One showcases our continued capabilities and even greater capacity.  Another example of Klover’s commitment to provide innovative solutions to our clients’ most complex projects.  The benefits of Klover’s prefabricated manufacturing and installation capabilities helped move the project from concept to reality.  Klover worked with Post Brothers and their architect, BKV Group, to design, build and install prefabricated cold-formed, light-gauge steel framed load bearing walls that allowed for greater flexibility and faster construction schedules contributing to lower per square foot costs that were invaluable in a high density, urban environment.  This prefabricated system also reduces the on-site workforce requirements and weather-related schedule impacts attributed to conventional concrete structures that are often used on these types of projects.  The architect estimated that the light-gauge steel model compared to the typical concrete and structural steel reduces construction time by 20% compared to conventional concrete structures because up to 60% of the building can be constructed offsite in the prefabrication warehouse minimizing weather-related impacts.  Faster construction time can also lower financing interest costs and allow for faster rental cash flow.  The labor required to prefabricate and install the panelized system is considerably less which is especially important considering the shortage of skilled tradesman in the construction industry.  While prefabrication can increase the costs of materials, the time and labor savings still result in overall project savings of 5% to 10%.  These savings allow the developer to spend more on unit finishes and amenities that are important to the tenants.  The prefabricated system is also lighter than conventional concrete which helped eliminate the need for a deep building foundation in an urban environment.  We were able to pre-purchase and store the raw material steel coils to accommodate for any disrupted schedules, significant price escalations and supply chain issues.  The finished panels were stored and secured at Klover’s facility until needed on-site, providing Post Brothers with additional space for all trades to work on this tight urban jobsite. 

At the time of this project, it was reported that this was the largest residential development in the United States utilizing the prefabricated, light-gauge steel for its walls.  Klover prefabricated and installed a total of 3,397 individual panels consisting of 742,000 square feet of walls.  The first floor alone contained over five miles worth of steel!!   Klover utilized our unique manufacturing capacity, inclusive of (2) simultaneous roll forming machines, to make each wall stud to exact size from coils of galvanized steel.  Each panel is unique to its placement in the building which allowed BKV to have easier design flexibility in the various buildings.  The prefabricated wall installation began in January 2023 with final completion occurring in December 2024.  Design and prefabrication of the panels began twelve months prior to the start of installation and continued throughout the project.  Klover was also responsible for installing all 571,550 square feet of Comslab decking, which was the chosen structural floor system for the project.  Klover designed, engineered, tested, and patented a special rigging system that enabled complete rooms of Comslab to be assembled on the ground and rigged into place.  Ordinarily, it would take 4 to 5 crane picks to assemble a single room.  This innovative approach reduced the crane time needed for decking and limited repetitive activities performed at heights. 

Klover took the lead and was a key participant in the extensive Building Information Modeling (BIM) and coordination throughout the project that allows for efficiency and collaboration among the developers, architects and other contractors on the projects.    Any design or project coordination conflicts were discovered and fixed in a virtual environment before the actual work is done avoiding errors, change orders, cost overruns and schedule slippage. This allowed the project to become more of a “Design-Build” concept giving the client and Design Team more time to make decisions or changes prior to fabrication and/or construction.  Typically, the BIM coordination process involves integrating various trade models into a single 3D model to resolve conflicts prior to construction. The mechanical system is a major part of this coordination, but this project was different in that the mechanical system was mainly designed in corridors of the building and not in the unit stacks.   Due to this precision, the BIM model was utilized by all trades in the field for layout and sequence of construction in complicated areas.  Design changes due to conflicts were incorporated into the design of the entire building in a cost-efficient way.  For example, in order to open the podium sooner on the residential floors, the construction of the masonry stairs and elevators cores needed to be built out of sequence and expedited.  Klover worked with the engineer to redesign these masonry walls into cold formed panelized walls which expedited this area of the project.  Klover’s design team spent thousands of hours on this project.  Using Revit allowed us to provide the “As-Built” building model before construction began. We are able to “print” the panel studs and layout in the shop straight from our add-on software that interfaces with our roll forming machines resulting in the final product matching the virtual building.  Klover was a pioneer in building this interface.  The BIM process allows precise estimation of material quantities upfront which enables team members to purchase large quantities of materials when market prices are most advantageous during the project. 

One of the primary challenges of doing such a large project in an urban setting was the coordination and logistics of the shipping of the panels themselves.  It took several hundred truckloads of panels that were needed for this project.  The oversized load panels had to be shipped through the narrow and traffic-filled streets of Philadelphia.  This required special permits and detailed coordination as only two tractor trailers were allowed on the site at any one time, and shipments had to be done at times of the day allowed by the city.  Philadelphia requires a police escort for oversized loads so deliveries must occur at the scheduled time to meet the escort or risk cancellation of the delivery for that day.  In addition, there was no storage facility onsite for the panels, so they had to be stored at Klover’s facility until needed.  Installation of the prefabricated panels onsite contained its own challenges.  The use of two separate tower cranes to install the panels had to be closely coordinated with other subcontractors to keep the project running smoothly and on time.  To ensure safety on the panel installation, Klover utilized our special rigging and signaling training certifications that are unique to Tower Crane use in the City of Philadelphia.