Sherwin-Williams HQ construction materials start to arrive

Trucks deliver construction materials for Sherwin-Williams' new headquarters.

The first construction materials for Sherwin-Williams new headquarters began arriving today at the HQ site west of Public Square in downtown Cleveland. This view looks east from the HQ site toward Public Square. The truck is parked on Frankfort Avenue which will be vacated as a public right of way for the new HQ (Scott Muscatello). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM

New skyscraper’s groundbreaking is Nov. 16

With nearly three weeks to go before Sherwin-Williams (SHW) plans to hold a groundbreaking ceremony for its new global headquarters, construction materials began arriving today at the future HQ site in downtown Cleveland.

And that groundbreaking ceremony is scheduled two weeks before the coatings giant hopes to receive final approval from the City Planning Commission for its HQ plans. The ceremony will be held at 3 p.m. Nov. 16 on the so-called “Jacobs Lot” on the west side of Public Square.

The folks who desire to cover the Earth in their paints sure do seem eager to start covering nearly 7 acres of downtown Cleveland with their new HQ.

Ditto for SHW’s new research and development (R&D) facility in suburban Brecksville. Ground was broken Oct. 22 for the R&D facility that will replace a cramped, outdated space on 601 Canal Rd. in Cleveland. Combined, the HQ and R&D projects represent a $600+ million investment.

Trucks are unloaded of materials for Sherwin-Williams new headquarters.

Crews unloaded H beams and sheet piles from flatbed truck trailers today at the northwest corner of West Superior Avenue and West 6th Street. Post Office Plaza looms beyond (Gavin Brent).

To that end, stacks of sheet piles and I-beams were unloaded today on the west end of the HQ site, near West 6th Street. That’s where SHW will have its construction staging area for the two-year duration of phase one of its HQ project. The materials will be pile-driven around the perimeter of the site where the new office tower will rise — 1450 W. 3rd St.

That’s what apparently will be the street address of the new SHW HQ tower, according to an Oct. 20 filing with the city by SHW’s project engineer Osborn Engineering Co. That still-pending filing seeks a building permit for excavation necessary to conduct pre-construction environmental remediation. The work will be done by Independence Excavating, the application shows.

“Impacted soils will be excavated and exported from the site,” per the application. “Clean soils will be imported to the site and compacted in place to restore the site to original grade and elevation.”

Excavations will reveal some of Cleveland's earliest commercial history, dating back 200 years.

Imminent excavations will expose pieces of Cleveland’s history that may not have seen daylight in 200 years. The SHW HQ will be built in the Warehouse District’s Superblock, once part of Cleveland’s first business district. On July 19-20, 2021, investigative test pits were dug throughout the SHW HQ site. In test pit 17, this brick foundation and basement arch structure was uncovered (ConeTec).

The sheet piles, held in place by the I beams, are ideal for use in soil with a high water content in the soil, according to The Structural World, a structural engineering blog. After the interlocking sheets are pile-driven into the ground around the site’s perimeter, the soil will then be excavated from the site.

The date of the groundbreaking ceremony coincides with SHW’s scheduled submittal of final documents Nov. 16 for its $300+ million, roughly 1-million-square-foot headquarters complex. Conceptual plans were approved by the city in July with schematic plans approved Sept. 14 with no significant changes.

Proposed is a 36-story, 616-foot-tall office tower at the northwest corner of West 3rd and Superior, a two-story corporate training/orientation pavilion on Public Square and a 920-space parking garage north and west of Frankfort and West 3rd. SHW’s existing HQ is located at 101 W. Prospect Ave., its corporate home of the last 91 years. SHW was founded in 1866.

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