Wall by wall, a building progresses

The walls are going up on the Flagstone Building at the corner of Scott Boulevard and Flagstone. But they aren’t going up piece by piece. They are going up wall by wall.

It’s called site casting, Terry Winter said. The site manager for Meyer Brothers Building Co., Winter said the walls are actually cast in concrete on the floor slab of the building, then raised.

Winter said the process isn’t new for the Lee’s Summit-based company.

“We have done it for about 20 years now,” he said. “At times it’s challenging, but generally it’s just a walk in the park.”

Winter said that during the colder months, the process changes and becomes more labor intensive. Blankets must be put down to cover the floor slab and a different concrete mix must be used.

Concrete is used as a building material as opposed to wood because of its longevity.

“We don’t know how long they’ll last,” Winter said about the concrete walls. “Nobody has lived long enough to see when they rot.”

Blue Investments, the Columbia-based company that owns what will become a two-story building, develops across Missouri and other parts of the Midwest.

“We develop all over and maybe 10 percent of our development is in Columbia,” company co-owner Mark Robb said. He said the company also has developments in West Plains and Iowa.

Robb said the building is set to open the first of February and will house a Movie Gallery and K.T. Diamond Jewelers. Offices on the second floor will house a law office and Blue Investments. Other tenants are still under discussion.