Concrete conversion

Adapted Ark. ready-mix plant regains landmark status

By Chip Taulbee

Once at the forefront of concrete manufacturing technology, the 35-year-old F & F Concrete plant in Conway, Ark., has reclaimed its landmark status, this time as a mixed-use office and residential development.

City leaders hope the project's futuristic look will provide a welcome contrast to the city's traditional architecture.

T.J. Johnston, director of the Conway Downtown Partnership, called the development proof that the city is "beginning to embrace nontraditional ways of doing things."

If nothing else, the extensive concrete work the seven-month project required could be dubbed nontraditional, although the plant's modern concrete architecture, including its unmistakable butterfly roofs, remains.

The original plant was built in 1971 by F & F Concrete Products Co. of Conway as a testament to its own products.

Two years after its completion, F & F President Felton O'Kelley told a local newspaper, "I don't think it's very smart to put up a bunch of metal buildings and then go out and try to convince people that they ought to construct concrete buildings."

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So F & F built the five-structure facility out of concrete products. At the time, it was considered one of the most advanced, if not most attractive, concrete plants in the business

After decades of operation, F & F sold the facility to Martin Marietta Materials of Raleigh, N.C., which shuttered the plant about two years ago.

Local developer George Covington Sr., though Covington Properties, bought the property and quickly converted three of the five buildings into office, industrial and warehouse space and even a daycare center.

The latest renovation includes the four-story controller's tower, which is being converted into a 2,500-sq.-ft. apartment building, and the sand and gravel bins, whose five compartments will each be turned into 1,450-sq.-ft. apartments.

The bins, which are 30 by 20 ft., were each capable of holding 700 tons of aggregate when in use. Built of exposed gray granite precast panels, they are 18 in. thick at the bottom and taper to 12 in. at the top. The 32-ft.-long and 4-ft.-wide panels are supported by 46-ft.-high and 1-ft.-thick precast buttresses that are 4 ft. wide at base and 1 ft. tick at the top.

Covering the connected bins are the noticeable butterfly-shaped roof panels, which are 35 ft. long, 23 ft. wide and 4 to 8 in. thick.

The bins are being remade into three-story apartments, each with its own indoor stairs, with office or living area on the first floor, along with a half bath; a full kitchen on the second floor; and a bedroom on the third floor, which includes a spiral staircase leading out to a shared porch.

The 120-ft.-long and 12-ft.-wide porch was the biggest concrete addition to the structure.

The most difficult part of the job has been concrete removal. To put in windows on each of the floors required removing some of the 32- by 4-ft. panels.

"They were tongue-and-grooved together," Covington said of the removed panels, which he estimated weighed about 36,000 lbs. each. "We cut one of the grooves off and then they took a really big crane. We had people in those concrete tanks with concrete saws and air hammers and they chiseled that lip off. Then you have all this rebar hanging out and you have to take torches and cut that off."

Covington Construction did most of the contract work, although Nabholz Industrial Services of Conway was contracted for the panel removal.

Demolition proved challenging on the other structure as well. The control tower building was filled with steel funnels that were previously used for sand and different gravels to mix the concrete.

Covington expected his eight-man crew would remove the 35-ft.-wide funnels in about a week. Instead it took 3.5 weeks.

"When one of these big half-inch steel plate funnels would wear out, they would go buy some steel plate and put another layer on that, so when you went to cut it with a torch, it was all layered together," Covington said. "It's just mind boggling that you would have these great big pieces of steel plate; you would have to get clamps on them and cables and get the crane to hold them while someone else is cutting them."

Covington said his crew hauled off about 48,000 lbs. of scrap steel.

Though the project is nearly finished, he said he was not sure of its cost.

"If you've got to have an upfront cost and you know exactly what it's going to cost, you're probably not going to do it," he said. "I'm at the point where I probably don't really want to look at it and know."