Project Profile: 217 East 2nd Street

Local Des Moines developer Jake Christensen purchased the 92-year-old building at 217 East 2nd Street in 2018 with a plan to renovate it into Class A office space. Following the pandemic, the renovation became what Christensen described as Des Moines’s first office project focused on COVID-19–related improvements. Christensen Development works to infuse the Greater Des Moines property market with forward-looking adaptive reuse, new functionality, and quality that make Des Moines a true twenty-first century city.

Authorized Dealer Building Management Systems (BMS) installed a Reliable Controls building automation system during the renovation of 217 East 2nd Street. With decades of experience, BMS was pleased to bring its dedication to integrity, honest communications, and innovation to this unique project.

The new automation system controls a 50-ton air-handling unit, 24 hot-water reheat variable air volume boxes, an energy recovery ventilator, 30 fin-tube radiation heaters, four cabinet-unit heaters, and a three-boiler hot-water system and is integrated with more than 20 variable refrigerant flow units over BACnet/IP.

The flexibility of RC-Studio software allowed BMS to write programs that control variable refrigerant flow coils in the air-handling units and reheat coils in the energy recover ventilator. Today facility tenants and operators use RC-WebView, a browser-based building management solution, to monitor and control the boilers and variable refrigerant flow system as well as all installed Reliable Controls devices. RC-WebView combines the power of enterprise tools with a simple interface that connects multiple independent control systems into a single Enterprise Website. Using RC-RemoteAccess software, BMS simplified IT management and improved data communications in the building in a way that is affordable, scalable, and secure.

BMS networked a MACH-ProCom controller and three MACH-ProSys controllers over BACnet/IP to control large mechanical equipment in the facility. With their extensive network routing abilities, highly scalable inputs and outputs, and small size, the MACH-ProCom and MACH-ProSys are fully programmable BACnet Building Controllers that achieve an optimum balance between function and form.

For VAV control, BMS installed 24 MACH-ProAir devices, each of which includes an airflow sensor and onboard damper motor, eliminating the need for separate sensors and actuators. A MACH-ProZone controller, ideal for midsize rooftop and heat-pump applications, provides highly scalable inputs and outputs in a small footprint. And a SMART-Space Controller and 25 SMART-Sensor EPD devices allow facility occupants to take control of their personal environment at a glance. The SMART-Sensor EPD delivers a modern networked-sensor solution with onboard temperature sensing and up to ten other configurable parameters related to space.

Reliable Controls and BMS are proud to be part of this historic renovation.

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