CRST building progress means end to constant banging

Noisy part of downtowns CRST project will fade away soon

February 6, 2015 | 10:58 pm

CEDAR RAPIDS The piercing construction noise is coming to an end.

Since early October, a constant banging has been coming from the building site for the CRST Center, an 11-story office tower thats still about a year away from opening up for tenants.

Thats the sounds of progress is what weve been saying, but that echoes all over downtown, said Geoff Eastburn, vice president of operations for the Midwest division for Ryan Companies US Inc., the contractor on the project.

The incessant hammering about every 1.5 seconds when the crews are working is a byproduct of needing to drive 197 steel pilings into the bedrock for the CRST building and 189 more for the 12-foot flood wall between the building and the river.

While thousands of downtown office workers have tolerated it for months, one nearby violin teacher noticed how it affected his work.

Mike Hall offers private lessons through Orchestra Iowa, one block southeast of the building site. Hall broke out a metronome to demonstrate the pacing of the hammering.

If you turn (the metronome) on, itll give you the beat and you can pick whatever beat you like to use, he said. Unfortunately, with the construction going on, weve had to go with the beat outside.

The good news is that the noise will fade away. Eastburn said the last of the steel pilings are being installed, and that the shift soon will move to more visible above-ground construction.

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CRST building progress means end to constant banging