The dated northern corridor of Meridian Street between 111th and 113th is being reinvigorated by Delta Faucet’s expansion and Liberty Fund’s new headquarters along with a new highway exit and improvements to Meridian Street.
Delta Faucet’s 82,000 GSF expansion will increase its existing footprint and provide much needed space for its growing business. According to Jill Ehnes, Vice President of Human Resources at Delta Faucet, the hope of this expansion is that it will, “continue to make Delta Faucet Company a preferred place to work and create a dynamic experience for the customers from around the globe visiting our headquarters each year,” (Erdody, 2016)
The expansion is comprised of five levels, a lab for product testing, kitchen/café, and outdoor garden space complete with walking and running trails. Employees will also be able to enjoy the outdoors from a second level with outdoor seating and space to relax. Another feature of the renovation is the showroom, which allows for product demonstrations and an improved customer experience.
Liberty Fund, a private educational foundation, is building a 63,100 SF headquarters that will consist of 2 stories with a basement, an outdoor courtyard, bar, exercise room, and dining room. Additionally, the nearby wooded areas include walking paths for employees. The project broke ground in September of 2015 and will be complete in January of 2017.
As stated by their website, Liberty Fund was “established to encourage the study of the ideal of a society of free and responsible individuals. The Foundation develops, supervises, and finances its own education activities to foster thought and encourage discourse on enduring issues pertaining to liberty.” The fund conducts many conferences, publishes books, and produces video and audio tapes in order to educate and disseminate information.
Among the many incredible architectural features of this building are the nine structural wood “trees” that are visible from US 31. These beautifully constructed architectural elements support the library portion of the building, which will house over 50,000 books collected by the foundation. Additionally, according to Andrew Meadows, Project Engineer, the exterior of the building will be draped with mesh paneling and etched with a timeline of all of the great philosophers of the world’s history.
The SCOOP | December 2016 | More from this issue