CONVENTION CENTERS:
MAKING HISTORY
The Columbus Georgia Convention & Trade Center evolution. By David Bevans, CFE
While the building that houses the Columbus Georgia Convention & Trade Center has been around since 1853, the Trade Center has knock all old buildings down and start over, the Mayor of Columbus foresight to make use of existing spaces that survived from the previous century and were ahead of the curve when it came to repurposing buildings of the past. The Trade Center is a building that is unique architecturally and
soon began manufacturing kettles, brass castings and steam engines to power grist, lumber mills, riverboats and cotton gins. and steam ship engines for the Confederate Navy. Known as the last battle of the war, the Battle of Columbus occurred on April 16, 1865. The Union Army burned many of the Columbus manufacturing plants, including the Iron Works. The Iron Works was quickly rebuilt and was operational by August
of 1866. By 1880 Columbus led the South in textile production, with many of the pulleys and drive shaft systems used in the mills were fab- Iron Works was a leading producer of ship engines and also became machines. was rebuilt. The reconstructed plant continued to manufacture a vari- ety of goods. In 1925, the W.C. Bradley Company acquired control of the Iron Works, manufacturing stoves, heaters and tractor-drawn im- plements. In 1953 the Iron Works began producing Charbroil Grills. Chances are if you have an old barbecue grill turn it over and you may W.C Bradley relocated their operations to new facilities in Colum-
bus and sold the Iron Works to the City of Columbus and the transfor- mation to the convention center began in 1977. The Columbus Geor- gia Convention & Trade Center opened in October 1979. Consistent with its long history, the Trade Center once again expanded in 2004
38 Facility Manager Magazine
(Abridged History by John Lupold, Professor of History, Columbus State University).
Trade Center management reached out to Hecht Burdeshaw, the ar- - gineering of Columbus, an inspection was performed of the wooden timbers that make up the roof truss. The initial inspection found issues it was decided that all of the wooden beams in the original building should undergo a structural analysis. Hecht Burdeshaw and Wright Engineering undertook the task of identifying, photographing and cataloging any abnormalities in all of the structural members in the Trade Center. They inspected all beams and connection points. A decision was made to identify those beams or connection points and stabilize those deemed to be in need of repair. Together Hecht-Burdeshaw and Wright Engineering developed a plan to stabilize the framework of the spaces, which was no small task given the 40-foot ceiling height of what is now the wood framed exhibit hall. It was decided that while the structural work was being performed, much needed roof repairs should be made as the metal clad roof had been in place for 35 years and continued water intrusion would con- tinue to cause structural issues over time. - ect would proceed with a Construction Manager at Risk. Holmes’ methods of the 19th century several factors worked against that goal. constructed soil testing for stability was not performed so buildings tended to settle. The exhibit hall is 30,000 square feet, which for that time was a large expanse for a heavy wood frame building and brick and foundation walls. Add to that, over time a second layer of asphalt shingles had been added to the roof adding more load to the frame
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