Ballantyne Magazine covers news, events, real estate, restaurants, shopping, health, schools and business in the upscale Ballantyne Area of Charlotte, NC.
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BALLANTYNE | feature Floyd's horse, Pancho, isn't camera shy. 'TOPPING OUT' CELEBRATED IN PARK That evergreen atop the Calhoun Building under construction in Ballantyne Corporate Park isn't a Christ- mas tree. It serves as the symbol of a ceremony dating back centuries that celebrates the setting of the last beam in place on a building. The rite, known as "topping out," was begun by builders of timber houses and eventu- ally came to America with European craftsmen. Today, buildings. "It might sound easy, but to site buildings at a certain grade elevation and to ensure the parking lot or parking decks fit is a skill, and Jeff may be the best," Coble says. "Jeff always ensures that our tenants have the best view or angle out of their office windows." Floyd wouldn't disagree about his sensitivity to the ultimate end user — the tenant. "Tenants want to feel they have become part of the building and that it is worthy of their business. At the same time, they want to be able to spill out of the building into a contained space with a human scale to it. We want you to enjoy your visual and active experience of working in this place of gardens, parks and lakes, where the buildings integrate with the landscape." Bissell Connection Floyd, LS3P and the Bissell Companies first teamed in 1987 when H.C. "Smoky" Bissell, chairman of The Bissell Companies, and developer Johnny Harris created Carnegie and 52 BALLANTYNE MAGAZINE Morrocroft Centre in SouthPark. Bissell retained his design relationship with Floyd and LS3P for the development of Ballantyne Corporate Park. "Jeff Floyd has been instrumental in bringing Ballantyne Corporate Park to life, designing and siting each building on a particular parcel to give park the look and feel that it has today," asserts Bissell. "His involvement has been virtually total, and his enthusiasm perpetual. Jeff is a valued member of our team with true talent." In retrospect, Floyd thinks he was the right man for the job because of his hybrid background in construction and design. That being said, he is quick to credit efforts of his longtime design partners on Ballantyne Corporate Park at LS3P: Rodger Hinton, Shawn Mottern and Jim Williams. "Jeff's unique gift is the ability to not only see the world as an architect but to understand architecture as business people understand," observes Williams, a vice president and principal with LS3P, who has worked with Floyd since 1984. "Plus, there's no architect who has the ability to put a building together as efficiently and economically as Jeff, and stay on top of a million moving parts." Ned Curran, president and CEO of The Bissell Companies, holds Floyd in high esteem for this unusual aptitude. "In addition to designing something we are all inspired to look at, Jeff considers all operational essentials, such as identifying the right location for the primary plumbing lines, expertly placing the electronic communication rooms, and addressing how to control the noise from an elevator equipment room," Curran says. "These elements are of equal importance to the developer and to the people who will one day occupy the structure." On more than one occasion Curran has spotted Floyd out in the field with engineers and contractors making mid-course corrections to substantially benefit a building. "Often times continued on page 54 CELEBRATING TEN YEARS 2000-2010 the ceremony has become a tradition among steelworkers, who paint the fi nal beam white and all sign their names on it, then hoist it into place at the pinnacle of the building and top it out with a green tree. The United States fl ag and/ or streamers are usually at- tached to the beam as well. A meal is then served to all the construction workers on-site, as was done at the Calhoun Building back in September. "Topping out" has also become commonplace to commemorate the comple- tion of bridges and skyscrap- ers. This age-old custom is a charming historical tradition that lives on in Ballantyne Corporate Park. WINTER 2010-2011 Photo courtesy of Bissell Companies Inc.