The NECA Project Excellence Awards are given to NECA members across the country that display extraordinary project work every day.
2020 Project Excellence Awards
J & M Brown Company Inc. won the 2020 NECA Project Excellence Award in the Commercial/Institutional > Under $1 Million category
J&M Brown’s low-voltage division in progress with security project for Boston Beer Co.’s breweries and tap rooms nationwide
Boston, MA – Spectrum Integrated Technologies (IT), the low-voltage division of J&M Brown Company, Inc., is in the final stage of large-scale video security and card access system enhancements for the Samuel Adams/The Boston Beer Co. brewery and corporate headquarters, located at 17 – 25 Drydock Ave. in Boston.
Spectrum also has completed security installations at the new Sam Adams Brew Pub at 60 State Street in Boston. Concurrently, the NECA Boston contractor is underway with security projects at the Boston Beer Co. breweries in Walden, NY, Cincinnati, OH, and Breinigsville, PA. The project will tie in all Samuel Adams breweries and tap rooms nationally – in Delaware, NY, PA, Florida, Ohio, and California.
The scope entails Spectrum IT’s design, engineering, configuration, installation and commissioning of all security systems, as well as integration back into the Sam Adams headquarters security system. Local installations are handled by Spectrum IT; in projects outside of Massachusetts, the contractor teams with security subcontractor partners for system installation, and Spectrum oversees the project and commissions the systems.
In addressing COVID-19 safety protocol for the breweries, the project includes the integration of elevated body temperature scanning into all facilities’ security systems.
The project is headed by Sr. Project Manager Terry Kilduff; Boston project installations are being provided by Spectrum’s crew of IBEW Local 103 technicians. Lead technician, George Camia, is tasked with loading all software, programming, and testing all systems in Spectrum’s prefab shop. He also is working in tandem with Boston Beer’s IT department in building a web server that enables all regional managers from throughout the U.S. to log into the AMAG Symmetry system in order to view the card access and video transactions of their breweries, cidery, and tap rooms.
“We are proud to partner with Boston Beer in expanding their company’s state-of-the-art security systems. The project is a cooperative effort between Spectrum and the Sam Adams team, coupled with our vendor and subcontractor partners throughout the country,” said Kilduff.
The project commenced in November 2019 and is targeting completion in December 2020.
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Cambridge, MA – J&M Brown Company, Inc. (JMB), headquartered in Jamaica Plain, MA, has completed the ground-up electrical construction of the first phase, six-story, wood-framed residential building of the Market Central project (formerly Mass + Main), in the heart of Central Square, Cambridge. Market Central is a transit-oriented development comprised of three new buildings on Mass Ave. near the intersection of Main Street.
The NECA Boston contractor’s scope entails installation of primary and emergency power, electrical distribution, interior and exterior lighting and lighting control, and the fire alarm system for all three buildings.
The first building includes 60 residential units with ground floor retail and residential entry on the first level. It connects to a rebuilt 4-story building (the Apollo Building), which also features ground floor retail and has residential units on the second and third floors. Market Central’s owner, Watermark Central / Twining Properties took occupancy of the building in August.
JMB is also nearing completion of the comprehensive core and shell electrical construction of the project’s second phase, a 19-story residential tower with two levels of below-grade parking, 18 residential levels with 225 residential units, and a mechanical penthouse. The first ten (10) floors of the tower will be completed in December with turnover at that time to the owner, Watermark Central/Twining Properties. The final phase of the Market Central residential tower is on schedule for completion in late January 2020 with opening anticipated in February.
JMB’s low-voltage division, Spectrum Integrated Technologies is providing tel/data, security and AV system installations for both buildings.
The Market Square complex amenities and features include a clubhouse, fitness center and green roof. It is being built to LEED Gold sustainability standards.
J&M Brown project manager (PM) Michael Booker and foreman Wayne Lucas are heading the contractor’s electrical project team. Spectrum IT’s project is being supervised by PM Randy Silva (tel/data); PM Terry Kilduff (security); and PM Mike Anderson (AV). At peak construction in the two-plus year project, J&M Brown has managed a crew ranging upwards of 45 IBEW Local 103 electricians and technicians.
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See article in New England Real Estate Journal, December 20, 2019
The BEAT, 135 Morrissey Boulevard, Dorchester – Rendering: Stantec (Add Inc) and Nordblom Company
J&M Brown Company is underway with the core and shell electrical construction of The BEAT, the former headquarters of the Boston Globe at 135 Morissey Boulevard in Dorchester.
The Nordblom Company’s redevelopment project will transform the 695,000 square-foot building into an “urban innovation campus,” as the existing three-story office and industrial building will be retrofit to incorporate 360,000 square-feet of office space and 300,000 square-feet of state-of-the-art flex/light industrial space, customized to accommodate, and spur innovation in such fields as robotics, life science, and high tech manufacturing. The project will also include a 10,000 square-foot fitness center, a brewery and a 100-seat restaurant. Integral to the building’s design is a new multi-story atrium that will be constructed at The BEAT’s entrance, creating a central gathering area, complete with a food hall and collaborative meeting and gathering spaces.
The comprehensive electrical scope includes demolition of the building’s normal and emergency electrical distribution system and the installation of new primary and emergency power. JMB will also furnish and install a new 15kV electrical service, a 480 Volt normal electrical distribution system and a 480 Volt emergency distribution system. The NECA Boston contractor will also install The BEAT’s state-of-the-art lighting and lighting control systems as well as the building’s new Autocall fire alarm system.
J&M Brown Vice President Bryan Greene, Project Manager Mike Booker and General Foreman Phil Talbot are heading the project team, supervising a field crew expected to range upwards of 40 IBEW Local 103 electricians at peak construction. The project is targeting completion in the summer of 2020.
JMB is on a project team that headed by general contractor, Moriarty, of Winchester, MA. Stantec (Add Inc.). of Boston, was the project architect. Nordblom Company, based in Boston, is the developer.
The project name, “The BEAT,” an acronym for The Boston Exchange for Accelerated Technology, also pays tribute to the reporters that worked at the Globe headquarters location for more than 60 years.
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J&M Brown Company, Inc. completed the 250,000 square-foot, 10-floor fit-out of Putnam Investments new headquarters at 100 Federal Street in the heart of Boston’s financial district.
The scope entailed comprehensive electrical distribution and lighting installations for the offices which house approximately 1,000 Putnam staff members. The project scope included eight floors of state-of-the-art offices, a 150-plus seat auditorium, conference centers, a network of meeting rooms, a new data center, a commercial kitchen, and a mezzanine roof deck.
Data center and electrical distribution installations included two UPS systems, three standby electrical risers and internal communications risers that are tied to the standby emergency generator. Six automatic transfer switches that tie into the generator were also installed.
The J&M Brown team was headed by Vice President and Project Manager Dennis Nigro and Foremen Bill Marchant, Dave Marchand, and Mike Sawyer.
Putnam moved from into its new 100 Federal headquarters from its former offices at One Post Office Square in October 2018.
Project Challenges
J&M Brown coordinated multiple power shutdowns during the project to meet building owner and tenant requirements and also to ensure critical data was maintained throughout the project.
JMB met the fast-track, nine-month project schedule managing a crew of 50 IBEW Local 103 electricians at peak construction. To meet Putnam’s move-in schedule, the power distribution scope was completed in four months and 8 floors of elaborate office fit-out requirements were completed in only seven months.
