Today marks the first of many days where you will see what looks like a large white box being hoisted by a tower crane through the sky on Wilshire Boulevard. The first SurePods was craned into what will be the tallest building west of the Mississippi, the Grand Wilshire Hotel. The flying object is not an empty box, instead it is a fully finished 5-star bathroom including all the plumbing fixtures, lighting, and even the TP holder. SurePods will manufacture over 750 bathroom pods in all for the project. Working with Turner Construction, the general contractor for the landmark project, the logistics for delivery and installation of the pods will be handled by SurePods.
Here are some staggering facts about the Grand Wilshire project from an interesting article found on Los Angeles Magazine, Meet the New Tallest Building in Los Angeles.
1,100 feet – The tallest point will rise 82’ higher than the U.S. Bank Tower
900 four-star hotel rooms – More than the Standard, Ace, Luxe, and Checkers combined.
70th floor – an upper-level lobby will include a public observation deck and rooftop pool
20,000 tons of steel – that’s as much as 258 space shuttles
11,500 construction jobs – more workers than Wal-Mart, Costco, and Albertsons combined
$1.1 billion – the construction budget of the hotel is more than the Gross National Product of 24 countries
640,000,000 pounds of concrete – 941 of the big LACMA rocks
75 miles of fire sprinkler pipe – a drinking straw from San Bernardino to Santa Monica
400,000 square feet of new office space – more space than 450 of those 1950s tract homes in Lakewood
61,139,790 pounds of rebar – equal to the amount of garbage L.A. generates in 1-½ days