Trane Co. and several local subcontractors recently completed lighting and HVAC retrofit at the historic Missouri Athletic Club (MAC) Downtown Clubhouse in St. Louis. Built in 1915, the MAC is believed to be the first building west of the Mississippi River with an air conditioning system, which was installed between 1934 and 1941.
“The total cost of the project is about $2.3, million but the savings generated from this new, efficient system will pay for the project plus create positive cash flow moving forward,” said Wally Smith, general manager of the MAC. The landmark building in downtown St. Louis is listed on the National Register of Historical Places.
Trane spent over a year developing the project with the MAC, said Ron Haley, Trane project manager. “We did an energy audit and brought a list of items to the club and the energy savings that would be associated with each one. Then we negotiated with them how much work to do,” he said. Trane guarantees the savings and pays the difference if the savings fall short.
Trane provided the system design and components.
Much of the original HVAC equipment for the 220,000-square-foot MAC Downtown clubhouse building was still in place prior to this project. Trane designed the new system and provided the component.
The project proceeded in two phases covering different parts of the building, Haley said. Corrigan Company handled the heat, ventilating, and air-conditioning (HVAC) retrofit and Kaemmerlen Electric the lighting retrofit in Phase 1. Integrated Facility Services (IFS) and performed the HVAC retrofit and Aschinger Electric performed the electrical and lighting retrofit in Phase 2.
IFS replaced the original antiquated air-handling units with new variable air volume (VAV) units and retrofit an existing chiller.
American Boiler reconfigured an unused boiler that had been installed in 1980 but taken offline three years later when the MAC decided to purchase steam from the City of St. Louis. The boiler was reconfigured to operate as a low-pressure system for most of the building. Now fueled by natural gas, the boiler is much more cost-efficient than the previous high-pressure steam-fueled system, due to the rising cost of steam and the 24/7 manpower needed to operate it. IFS installed control components provided by Trane. EMI and TCS installed the control wiring.
Trane then programmed and sequenced the new Building Automation System (BAS) for optimum performance, remote monitoring and control changes. IFS also installed two new water softeners to condition water for the facility’s laundry, dishwashing, showers and sauna.
Trane helped the MAC get financing from the City of St. Louis Set the PACE cleaning-energy financing program and get rebates from Ameren and Laclede Gas.
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