As soon as you enter the lobby—where clean lines are punctuated by prismatic glass panels that reach for the sky—you feel like you’ve stepped into a very special place, one where high-quality craftsmanship has risen to a whole new level.

Twenty-three levels, to be exact.

The colorful artglass display is only one of countless lofty aspirations envisioned for the The Regent—and nearly three years later, they have all been fulfilled by a dedicated, hard-working Jacobsen team.

The project, formerly known as “Tower 5,” achieved substantial completion Sept. 9, and residents are beginning to move in while Jacobsen puts the finishing touches on a few remaining units. And when it comes to finishes, The Regent redefines luxury: The residences, ranging from 800 to 2,100 square feet, feature high-end wood cabinetry, natural stone tile and wood floors, and gourmet kitchens with glass backsplash tile, Caesar Stone counter tops and Bosch appliances. “The quality of finishes in The Regent are beyond compare,” said JCC Executive Vice President John Fortuna. “The owner has remarked more than once that, of all the City Creek projects, The Regent boasts the highest quality workmanship.”

All residences have floor-to-ceiling windows, allowing residences to enjoy one of The Regent’s most impressive amenities: Breathtaking views of the city, as well as the Wasatch and Oquirrh mountains. Other impressive amenities include: Controlled, underground parking with radiant-heated ramps; three-lane, 20-yard indoor lap pool with large skylight; large whirpool spa; locker and changing rooms; fitness room with cardio and weight-training equipment; individual storage units; and two large event rooms available to the tenants for entertaining, complete with fireplaces, dining spaces and catering kitchens.

“Projects like The Regent are massive endeavors—but more importantly, they’re perfect opportunities to showcase the depth and breadth of ingenuity and creativity we have here at Jacobsen,” said JCC President Doug Welling. “From day one, we had to think outside the box on this project—and there are many talented, dedicated people on the Tower 5 team who deserve a lot of credit for their innovative efforts. Ultimately, those efforts have led this project to an impressive completion.”

Highlights of The Regent’s impressive completion include:

Pouring It On: A total of 22,634 cubic yards of concrete was poured on this project. Also, the concrete had to defy everything from winter to gravity, so it was clear that a run-of-the-mill process wasn’t going to cut it. Enter JCC’s exceptional concrete crews, led by Superintendent Dan Henrie. Using specially-designed forming systems and a self-climbing “power tower,” our crews were able to cast an entire floor every six days.

Push & Pulley: After the cranes were taken down, there were still items and materials that needed to be transported up to the higher floors, but were too bulky to fit inside the standard elevators. Project Manager Dan Turney and members of his team devised a pulley system to hoist these items up to the balconies,  where they could be taken in through the sliding glass doors.

Mocking It Up: Countless mock-ups, both big and small, were created to establish quality expectations; to move through or fine-tune a process; to ensure that certain materials and/or methods would work. Under the direction of QA Superintendent Dennis Godwin, the team designed and built a mock-up of an entire concrete floor—including placements marked for reinforcements, embeds, MEP installation and penetrations—so the entire team could familiarize themselves with the sequence of work before the first concrete floor was poured. A curtain wall mock-up was created to solidify the quality and process of installing the system. An entire residence was finished early in the project, so subcontractors understood the quality expectations. “We left nothing to chance,” explained General Superintendent Steve Bennett. “We mocked-up as much of the building as we could, as detailed and as close to scale as possible, to make sure we did it right on the real thing. That’s definitely been one of our keys to success.”

GOLDen Opportunity: The Regent was originally slated for LEED Silver certification. Late in the project, it was determined that the building had obtained the highest level of credits for Silver—and, in fact, was only a few credits shy of Gold certification. When the owner decided to go for the Gold, our team went right to work with the architects to devise ways to obtain the last few credits needed.

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