Rustic showpiece
Guntersville lodge restored with longer-lasting, more functional configuration

By Sandra Bearden

Each January bald eagles soar across the skies above north Alabama's Guntersville Lake, searching for fish in the water below.

Armies of eagle enthusiasts likewise flock to the Lake Guntersville State Park lodge to enjoy the airborne show from the mountaintop park. Although extensive renovations this year have made the lodge a shell of its former self, park officials are hoping for a return performance in early 2006 - by eagles and enthusiasts.

That will be cutting things pretty close, according to representatives from Wild Building Contractors Inc. of Morristown, Tenn. WBC is general contractor for the $22 million project that began last March and will be completed in December. A 1998 bond issue that provides $110 million for upgrades to all Alabama state parks is funding the Guntersville project.

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This major renovation is the first one on the 30-year-old lodge, which is the showpiece of the 6,000-acre wooded park that overlooks the scenic Tennessee River valley.

"We want to restore the lodge complex to a condition that will attract visitors from throughout Alabama and neighboring states," said Tracy Bassett, architect with project designer Goodwyn, Mills and Cawood of Montgomery, Ala. Nearly 365,000 people visited the park in 2003.

"The only thing left that was here before is the building's original shell of concrete, steel and wood framing," said Andy Sayyah, WBC's senior projects manager.

"We're demolishing, removing and replacing everything inside. We're adding totally new electrical, mechanical and plumbing systems, bringing them up to 21st Century standards. But we're also keeping the warmth and rustic appeal that's made the lodge so popular in the past."

Sayyah said that new cedar shakes on the exterior of the wood-framed upper level will give the lodge the same look it had before.

"But unlike the fire-accelerating cedar shakes of the past, the new ones carry a 50-year warranty against ignition," he added. "They're impregnated with a long-lasting, fire-retardant substance."

Major aspects of the renovation include:

• Complete replacement of infrastructure in both the 75,000-sq.-ft. main lodge and two adjacent hotel wings.
  
  

• Upgrades, such as flooring, exterior wall materials and roofing, chosen for safety and durability.

• Two additions to the existing lodge, designed to enhance its attractiveness as a conference/convention center.

WBC workers have completely replaced the old mechanical and electrical systems. The park's primary electrical source comes up a steep riverside bluff into a concrete bunker overhanging the bluff.

The contractor is installing new electrical lines underground in conduits encased in concrete, "to reduce the chances of cutting cable with backhoes or other equipment," Sayyah said.

A gas heating system replaces the former all-electric system.

"Gas heat will continue to keep the boilers going, and water will continue to flow through the chillers in case of ice or snow," Sayyah said. "With the lodge's emergency generator, the system can function with the minimum amount of power needed. An all-electric system would require a tremendous amount of power to fire boilers."

The complex has three major mechanical systems. The lodge building - the building that houses lobby, gift shop, restaurant, food preparation areas and meeting rooms - houses central heating and cooling systems. Each hotel wing will have its own domestic water system.

"Building codes have changed in the past 30 years, so much of the renovation cost goes toward complying with current standard codes," said Frank Chisholm, WBC jobsite superintendent. "Three-hour fire walls in the lodge start at the very bottom floor and extend all the way through the roof, separating the building into three divisions. And we're installing fire sprinklers, which weren't part of standard codes in the 1970s."

The contractor is installing four-ply roofing with a 30-year warranty on flat or low-pitched areas. A new lodge entrance will feature a standing-seam metal roof with a 50-year warranty.

Other safety-security improvements in the lodge include a centralized, computerized fire-detection system, a new elevator system and chair lift for wheel chairs. A shallow swimming pool will replace the deeper pool of the 1970s.

Structural changes in the lodge and two additions will help meet the objective of attracting more large groups and week-day business conferences to the lodge.

"Bringing in groups during the week and during the off-season will keep occupancy on an even keel," said Benny Bobo, assistant park superintendent.

The old lodge and hotels were constructed on several levels to give visitors maximum exposure to the scenic bluff side view of the river valley below. On the upper level, WBC is expanding the front entrance and reconfiguring the lobby to form a large meeting room.

The contractor is converting the upper level of what was a two-story dining room into a ballroom.

"We will add a self-supporting steel structure on the first floor to carry the new second floor," Chisholm said.

Another addition on the east side of the lodge building provides more seating space for the restaurant's dining room and a more user-friendly food preparation area.

The architect and builder are retaining some of the interior aesthetic features in the original structure, including five huge stone fireplaces in both the upper and lower levels of the lodge. Carrying out the rustic theme, interior walls in the lodge will be high mill-standard wood veneer. Flooring will be a combination of wood, carpet, vinyl and skid-resistant ceramic tile. A variety of wall coverings and floorings will give each hotel room a distinctive look.

"We're retaining much of the old look but picking up the color in many areas to make the overall effect less bland," Sayyah said.

Several challenges have cropped up during construction.

"The state hired a company to do a survey of existing asbestos, but the lodge was still open when the vendor did the examination," Chisholm said. "There's a limited amount of digging and poking you can do in an occupied building. So asbestos removal slowed us down some."

The contractor also faced a shortage of skilled tradesmen - carpenters, masons and concrete workers - in the local market.

"Wild is a company that likes to give back to a community by hiring local people when possible, but this area isn't noted for its commercial building industry," Sayyah said. "Luckily, we have a cadre of subcontractors who travel with us throughout the Southeast."

Sayyah said the Guntersville project provided an opportunity for Wild to perform some value engineering.

"We always try to find the best way to make the project satisfy the architectural needs, the structural needs and the end-users' needs," he said. "We like to take what we have and improve on that. Our name has to go on the project."

By slightly altering the planned demolition and installation work, Chisholm and fellow job superintendent Terry Hanners found money in the budget to also run new sewer trunk lines to the hotels.

Plans also called for replacing 11 exterior supporting columns at the back of the lodge. The 35-ft.-tall, laminated wood columns would have been expensive to replace. Instead, the contractor will embed steel supports in the present columns.