55 Sheridan Street

Ken and Dan Malpas have been a constant presence on site almost since the beginning filling in the gaps where there’s no sub assigned for a particular task. Their easy smile, (apparent) joy of life and hard work have made a huge positive influence on the over all site esprit de corps; infecting all who work with them. Stopped by the site this morning and caught Dan performing a fit check for the flashing to 45 Sheridan. Was hoping to snap a picture of Ken too, but someone mumbled something to the effect the dog ate his retainer . Catch you later, Ken Father and GC Bill suggested the reason they’d not been caught on film before was because they’re working so fast. While struggling to apply a particularly nasty metal bonding paint, in difficult locations, and becoming rather messy himself, I witnessed Dan give responsible architect Michelle the finger. A testament to Dan’s ultimate affability: everyone just laughed.

On the other side of our garden wall resides one of our celebrity neighbors: the Lone Star Saloon. When we first talked to Kevin, the owner, about our plans to develop the property, he humbly bear-clawed the air asking us to keep the brick wall from which hangs the world-famous Lone Star logo sign. New to the neighborhood and appreciating Lone Star’s long heritage we agreed. The city had other ideas. With a history of earthquakes and damage, the city has strict laws about brick structures. To save the wall for the Lone Star, and satisfy the city, we basically had to attached a new rebar-reinforced concrete wall to the original brick structure. Here’s how it looked through Kevin’s lens.