$86.7 Million Green Renovation for McCoy Building

Adam Lynch

Jackson Mayor Harvey Johnson Jr. stands with members of the local and state delegation to celebrate $86.7 million in renovations to the McCoy building in downtown Jackson.

By Adam Lynch
August 24, 2009

Mayor Harvey Johnson Jr. met with members of the Hinds County legislative delegation, representatives of the U.S. congressional delegation and local business advocates to celebrate $86.7 million in renovations for the Dr. A. H. McCoy Federal Building, at the corner of Farish and West Capitol streets.

The U.S. General Services Administration announced the renovations as a result of the American Recovery and Investment Act, signed this year by President Barack Obama as a means to jumpstart the economy with local construction.

Johnson explained that the renovation, which will have limited effect on the actual structure of the building, will amount to a structural upgrade that encompasses improvements in energy efficiency, conservation and safety. The project also will lift the building to the silver standard of the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design rating system, a green building score devised by the U.S. Green Building Council.

Upgrades—planned by Boston architects Schwartz/Silver Architects, and local architects and engineers including Crown Engineering, and Cook, Douglas, Farr & Lemons—will include 3,000 square feet for a security pavilion and green space, and affect 420,000 square feet of interior space. The renovations will also allow expansions to the federal daycare facility and renovations to the adjoining playground.

David Lemons, of Cook, Douglas Farr & Lemons, said his company welcomed the work "in these hard economic times," and was happy to describe the reconstruction. The green space near the Capitol Street entrance, for example, would be almost "totally green" and contain little concrete or hard space, Lemons said.

"Rainwater will be collected off this building and used to restore the landscape," Lemons said. "The building will have to be 30 percent more energy efficient than it is now, with a new and more efficient HVAC system and energy saving features in its lighting and water systems throughout the building."

The building will most likely make heavy use of motion sensors to shut off unused lights and water faucets, and Lemons points out that some interior lighting will automatically shut off if enough daylight enters the building.

Johnson added that the city won the upgrade through a competitive process, being one of only 120 buildings across the U.S. to have been chosen for this particular grant: "It's testament to the faith that so many people have in our town and the Renaissance that it is experiencing right now," Johnson said.

Gary Mote, a General Services Agency spokesman from Atlanta, pointed out that the 120 cities across the country taking advantage of the upgrades amounts to about $1 billion in federal investments.

Johnson said he looked forward to seeing Jackson residents working on the project, though Johnson could not say this early how much of that work would include minority participation. The Federal government uses a different system arranging for minority participation, unlike other developers in the city, who sign a deal with the mayor's office to stretch for up to 20 percent inclusion of minority subcontractors.

"The federal government has their own system for that kind of thing," Johnson said.

The building was named for Dr. A.H. McCoy was an African American dentist, businessman and a leader in the Civil Rights Movement, and is the only federal building named for an African American in the U.S.

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