The nation’s tallest checkerboard will soon be no more.
The iconic Westin Peachtree Hotel, which has been described as everything from a gap-toothed silo to a 73-story tick-tack-toe sculpture since last year’s downtown twister damaged about 1,500 window panes, will begin getting its new glass in coming weeks.
The hotel plans to replace not just the damaged panes, but all 6,350 in the building.
Workers have begun setting up scaffolding and rigging that will allow them to install the new windows, said Westin general manager Ed Walls. The replacements, each larger than a doorframe, will be heavier than the originals -- 270 pounds instead of 140 pounds -- in order to meet today’s building codes, which are more stringent than when the hotel was built in 1976.
“We had it structurally evaluated to make sure there would no problems, that was one of the reasons it has taken a while,” he said. “It is a very sound building.”
Built by Atlanta architect-developer John Portman, the cylindrical hotel was heavily damaged by the March 14, 2008 twister that ripped through the area. Designed to sway, the building moved two feet in either direction from the force. The damage knocked 320 of the hotel’s 1,068 rooms out of service, and 81 are still not being used.
Window replacement is expected to take 12 to 15 months andcost about $22 million, Walls said. The glass will be replaced from the inside while workers on outside scaffolds will do gasket work, Walls said. The glass, which is flat but seems curved to the eye because of the tower’s design, would stretch 11 miles if all the panes were laid end to end.
The windows will be replaced from the top down, Walls said, beginning with the rotating three-story Sun Dial Restaurant Bar & View, which will close Sept. 29 and reopen in late December.
Windows in the Sun Dial, which sits atop the building and is one of Atlanta’s favorite special occasion spots, are larger than those in guest rooms. The illuminated Westin sign also will be removed for rigging and to replace the windows behind it.
“The project is very complicated and potentially dangerous because of the height,” Walls said.
Skanska USA, which is doing the work, expects the work to take about one week for each of the hotel’s 52 guest floors.
“It’s iconic,” said Lauren Jarrell, spokeswoman for Atlanta Convention & Visitors Bureau, the organization that helps to bring conventions, visitors and businesses to the area. “When people see the Atlanta skyline, the Westin Peachtree is one of the buildings that they recognize.”
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