Grand Rapids Press & Fleet Maintenance Facility
The Grand Rapids Press newspaper facility is comprised of a production plant, warehouse and office located in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
Speight Marshall Francis served as Structural Engineer of Record for this new 166,564 square foot newspaper production/warehouse/office facility located in Grand Rapids, Michigan. The First-floor area is 123,934 square feet; the 2nd-floor area is 30,630 square feet, and the mechanical penthouse area is 12,000 square feet. We also designed the newspaper press concrete table and a fleet building which is a single-story 56,000 square foot pre-engineered metal building. This building is used for fleet vehicle maintenance and as a parking facility for Grand Rapids Press delivery trucks & cars.
The major piece of equipment housed in a newspaper facility is the printing press(es). For this project, a new $40 Million dollar press designed and manufactured by ManRoland was chosen by the owner. We worked hand-in-hand with the German engineers for ManRoland during the design process to ensure the building and foundations for the press equipment were designed and detailed to their very strict standards and tolerances. Collaboration for this equipment is the linchpin for a project of this magnitude. The press hall, designed for heavy floor loadings, is high-bay with 50-60’ clear spans. Included in the scope was the design for 5 and 50-ton bridge cranes. Construction cost was $20,059,000.
Images courtesy of Dario Designs.