Salt Lake Odd Fellows Hall is getting ready to roll

The Salt Lake Odd Fellows Hall stands about 11 feet taller today than it did two months ago.

Using a latticework of steel beams and jacks, construction crews have lifted the 117-year-old, 5 million-pound building at 39 W. Market St. about 11 feet off its foundation in preparation for its move across the street.

Sandy-based Layton Construction Co. was hired by the U.S. General Services Administration to move the three-story brick building to make way for a new U.S. District Court building on the south side of Market Street.

"It's been a slow but steady process," said Alan Rindlisbacher, marketing director for Layton Construction. "It's a one-of-a-kind project."

The building has been slowly rising over the past two months, and its foundation has been removed. It now sits on five large, jack-equipped steel beams and a mat formed by stacks of lumber.

The next step is to wheel 56 transportation dollies onto the wooden mat. Each dolly, an invention of heavy-haul transportation and rigging company Emmert International, essentially is a remote-operated jack supported by eight mining tires.

By late next week, crews expect the building will be ready to roll — just very slowly.

The first move will shift the building onto a leveled section of the construction site 60 feet west of the building's longtime home over about a two-week period. The building then will be rotated 180 degrees so it faces south and moved back to its original location.

The actual move across Market Street will take about four to six days, though it likely won't happen until early December.

Emmert specializes in difficult moves, with a resume that includes the relocation of Howard Hughes' gigantic aircraft, the "Spruce Goose," as well as the Hubble telescope and the 3.2 million-pound Fairmont Hotel in San Antonio.

The Odd Fellows Hall will be the largest building the Clackamas, Ore., company has moved, according to Emmert officials.

GSA, an arm of the federal government that secures property for government uses, owns the Odd Fellows Hall and is picking up the $5.9 million tab for the move. It plans to sell the building after the move is complete.

The new U.S. District Court building is planned for construction directly adjacent to and west of the Frank E. Moss Federal Courthouse.

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