Located in the heart of Tysons Corner in Vienna, Virginia, 8150 Leesburg Pike is a newly renovated commercial office building that features a conference center, lounge, and fitness center. Adjacent to Tysons Corner Mall, the three-story parking garage offers ample space to tenants in the building and local shoppers visiting the area.

The parking garage had a noticeable intertwined buttonhead and monostrand post-tensioning system with two elevated slabs in an occupied space. The owner was concerned about stability when they began seeing broken and exposed post-tensioning cables and columns that were bowing. STRUCTURAL was contracted with the expertise of STRUCTURAL TECHNOLOGIES to improve the integrity of the structure.

During demolition, it was discovered that there were a series of columns within the garage that was inside the profile/building footprint of the larger office building above, instead of supporting the street-level retail, and the columns had significant deterioration of the concrete and reinforcing at the slab areas immediately surrounding them. Due to the level of deterioration around multiple sides of the columns, it wasn’t possible to demolish the concrete around the columns to do post-tensioning repair work due to the undue force that the columns would be carrying. An in-depth design of column bracing and sequencing was initiated to carry out the repairs around the columns. This strategy alleviated the owner’s concerns for life safety and limited customer parking in this occupied design-build project, allowing patrons to continue utilizing the parking garage during construction.

The team was challenged with a limited budget that would still meet the cost of required repairs. Post-tension de-tensioning and re-stressing were completed in phases to not disrupt traffic flow. A large amount of shoring was needed due to the length of damage and repair needs. This in turn required sequencing of work for all post-tensioning repairs. STRUCTURAL TECHNOLOGIES identified necessary modifications to the existing post-tensioning system around the expansion joint and throughout the garage.

STRUCTURAL was able to catch all stability concerns before the building was impacted, preserving safety for all. It was completed under budget while utilizing all repair work needed to strengthen the load capacity. STRUCTURAL was awarded a second-place award for ICRI’s Tradesman of the Year for the work completed on this challenging project. Three additional team members were awarded branch safety champion and promoter awards as well. Overall, STRUCTURAL was able to deliver a successful outcome for all that will extend the service life of the parking garage for years to come.