New Lowe’s Opens in Gowanus

Brooklyn, NY – May 12, 2004 – E.W. Howell has just completed the construction of Lowe’s Home Improvement Center in Gowanus, Brooklyn.  Completed in late March 2004, Lowe’s opened its doors to customers on Friday April 30, 2004. 

The project consisted of constructing a 157,382 sf. building, which borders the Gowanus Canal.  The 11 acre property includes a new parking lot with 465 parking spaces, three entrances and a portico.  There is also an esplanade with trees, bushes and benches along the Gowanus Canal. 

The building foundation is a combination of timber, concrete and steel pipe piles.  The floor is 8 1⁄2” structural concrete double mat slab with a passive venting system which vents potentially harmful gasses that may collect under the building to a safe place above the roof.  The building consisted of a structural steel frame with precast concrete exterior walls.  The floors are exposed concrete and the ceilings are exposed and painted white.  The lighting is fluorescent, instead of the usual HID fixtures.