J&M Brown completes electrical fit-out of Amazon 17-story office tower

Boston, MA J&M Brown Company, Inc. (JMB) has completed the comprehensive electrical construction of Amazon’s new 17-story, 430,000 s/f office tower located at 111 Harbor Way (Parcel L4) in the city’s Seaport District.

The NECA contractor met an accelerated nine-month project schedule, effectively managing procurement and delivery of the extensive electrical equipment and commodities packages despite global supply-chain disruptions caused by the COVID pandemic. JMB’s electrical work in the two-phase project was delivered seamlessly, as Amazon took occupancy of the lobby and floors 3 through 9 in February, and floors 10 through 17 in June.

Utilization of 3D BIM coordination and prefabrication were keys to the efficiency of the project, as the facility’s open-ceiling design required wiring to be installed in hard conduit on 16 floors. Project coordination between general contractor Turner Construction, J&M Brown, and multiple trade subcontractors was critical in meeting the fast-track schedule. JMB worked methodically with multiple crews to ensure all electrical systems were roughed-in, inspected, installed and commissioned as planned.

The electrical project scope entailed JMB’s installation of the electrical distribution system via a new 5-section, free-standing 200KVA UPS. The project also comprised installation of an elaborate energy-efficient LED lighting package, which includes more than 75 types of lighting fixtures. Lighting is controlled via a state-of-the-art, networked Lutron lighting control system.

Spectrum Integrated Technologies, the low-voltage division of J&M Brown, provided all tel-data network installations at the Amazon facility.

The JMB and Spectrum project teams, headed by Dennis Nigro, Jr., vice president, special projects group, project manager Dave Marchand, and general foremen Frank DeFrancesco and Eric Wallace, and PM Randy Silva (Spectrum) supervised a crew of 51 IBEW Local 103 electricians and technicians at peak construction.

Amazon employs a staff of 2,000 workers in their new Seaport facility. The Amazon team’s work at the Seaport tower is focused on artificial intelligence technology, robotics engineering, and machine learning in support of Alexa, Amazon Pharmacy, Amazon Web Services, and Amazon Devices.