• After 150 years of industrial history, the historic William C. Ellis & Sons Ironworks and Machine Shop was rejuvenated into a modern special event center for the adjacent new Hyatt Centric Beale Street Hotel.
• Originally constructed between 1879 and 1925, the Ellis building facility originally contained ironworks, machine shops, welding shops, and a foundry that once made parts for steamboats, carriages, and cotton-farming equipment.
• The grand existing Howe trusses are this event venue’s focal point. Field measurements and assessment of the timber trusses were completed to document the existing member sizes and truss geometry.
• To provide much needed lateral upgrades, new tension-only rod X-braces were added throughout the welding shop between existing wood columns which were reinforced with steel and concrete to support the seismic loads.
• New large door and window openings were added to existing masonry walls which ranged from four to six wythes thick.  Custom steel lintels and jambs were designed for and post-installed at each new opening.

Excellence in Structural Engineering – Retrofit/Alteration, 2021
Structural Engineers Association of North Carolina (SEA of NC)