Towering at 13-and-half-stories, the McKinney Place Garage in Houston, Texas, provides 1,214 parking spaces. The $15.8 million structure spans 449,143-square-feet and was encapsulated entirely at 50 mils, using $462,000 of post-tensioned concrete.

1. McKinney Place Garage
Houston, Texas, USA
Project Abstract:
Towering at 13-and-half-stories, the
McKinney Place Garage in Houston,
Texas, provides 1,214 parking spaces.
The $15.8 million structure spans
449,143-square-feet and was
encapsulated entirely at 50 mils, using
$462,000 of post-tensioned concrete.
With an existing building and three
adjacent streets to work around,
contractors chose post-tensioning as it
allowed for light and flexible slabs and
beams. Additionally, post-tensioning
slabs and beams met the challenge of
providing a three-hour-rated separation
between the retail and parking spaces.
At the grand-opening in April 2001,
parking tenants were able to enjoy the
luxury of using the superstructure
parking garage.

2. Project Overview:
Located in downtown Houston, Texas, the
McKinney Place Garage is a 13-and-a-half-story
parking structure that provides 1,214 parking
spaces. The 449,143-square-foot structure also
includes 64,130-square-feet of retail space at
the basement and ground levels. Contractors
began work on the $15.8 million project in
2000. Post-tension systems, totaling $462,000,
were used for the parking structure because of
the long-term durability afforded by the
method. Constrained by an existing building
and three adjacent streets, contractors could
not implement an alternate structural system or
additional columns.
McKinney Place Garage
Houston, Texas, USA

3. Project Overview:
Using the conventional garage beam
forming system, post-tensioning
allowed for the long spans required to
complete the structure. The structure
was encapsulated entirely at 50 mils.
One-way post-tensioned slabs and
beams were used for the floor
structural system.
With a light and flexible average slab
thickness of five-inches and an average
beam size of 18-by-34-inches, the
post-tensioned system allowed
contractors to reduce the cost of
concrete. It also resulted in a beam
depth of 29-inches below the slab
soffit, which was maintained
throughout the structure at varied
levels.
McKinney Place Garage
Houston, Texas, USA

4. McKinney Place Garage
Houston, Texas, USA
Project Overview:
Post-tensioning slabs and beams
met the challenge of providing a
three-hour-rated separation
between the retail and parking
areas. Another challenge was
constructing variable pounds per
square-foot at certain areas of the
garage, including the truck dock. A
seven-inch mild reinforced slab with
18-by-36-inch post-tensioned
beams were used to achieve long
spans on the column grid for
parking levels above. At the grand-
opening in April 2001, parking
tenants were able to enjoy the luxury of using the superstructure parking garage.
The owner of the McKinney Place Garage was
impressed with the cast-in-place post-tensioned
system, as opposed to building a traditional precast
parking structure.