Self-erector aids apartment project from the ground-up

Quasius Construction deployed a Potain Igo T 85 A self-erecting tower crane to build the 7 Penn Apartments complex on the corner of 7^th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue in Sheboygan, WI.

“Pennsylvania Avenue is a significant road for residents who want to access the lake or riverfront area, so it was essential to minimize public disruption as well as the additional project cost and downtime that road closures would entail,” said Matt Noordyk, director of field operations, Quasius Construction. “The Igo T 85 A gave us the small footprint, easy setup and long reach necessary for job site efficiency.”

Quasius used the 6.6-ton maximum capacity crane to build the apartment building from the ground-up, including prefabricated walls, ceiling trusses, flooring, roofing materials and f-frame steel decks. The five-story, multi-family apartment complex will provide 66 homes, along with 92 underground parking spaces and 8,100 square feet of commercial space, helping to address the area’s housing needs.

The small size and constrained location of the job site — with a parking lot to the north, streets to the west and south, and a residential property to the east — would have required partial street shutdowns for a crawler or mobile crane to build the property. However, the Igo T 85 A was the perfect solution by its capability to reach the entire job site from a single location while only needing a 14.8 square foot base footprint, the company said.

Operating fully from electric motors, the Igo T 85 A self-erecting crane’s quiet operation also proved advantageous for the residential project.

Quasius Construction positioned the Igo T 85 A on the west side of the building from where its 147.6-foot maximum jib radius covered the entire job site. The crane operates by radio remote control, enabling improved job site communication and visibility across the site by the operator.

The Igo T 85 A is quickly becoming popular among contractors as a new way of building more cost-effectively on a job site, and reducing the need for additional equipment. For one example, at the Sheboygan apartment complex project, the self-erecting crane eliminated the need for an additional forklift on site to move framing materials, as the operator was able to quickly pick and place all materials with the crane.

“Overall, we are extremely pleased with the Igo T 85 A. It’s a versatile tool that does everything we need it to and more, helping to drive efficiency on site,” Noordyk concluded.