High-Profile : Glaziers Are Resetting Nearly 8,000 Panes of Glass to Plug Leaks That Have Plagued L.A. Skyscraper

Despite heat, wind and chill, the gang up at Beaudry Center plans to hang in there.

They are a group of 50 glass installers who are spending eight months suspended from the side of the 29-story office building in one of the most unusual repair jobs that Downtown Los Angeles has ever seen.

Dangling on 22 platforms, workers are plugging leaks that have plagued the building since it opened 10 years ago. That means resetting and resealing each of the 7,960 panes of glass that form its sleek, black skin.

At the same time they are checking for hidden earthquake damage and for any potential problems with the building’s insulation and fireproofing. And they are installing new light-colored vertical window frames--called mullions--to give the building a taller and more modern look.

Of course, the place is already plenty tall for some of the installers--known as glaziers in the construction trade.

Worker Fred Rivero’s attitude about altitude was as transparent as the six-foot piece of glass he was pulling from a 15th-floor window frame at the high-rise the other day. He has been at it for two months already.

“I still have a phobia about it,” Rivero admitted, glancing nervously toward Harbor Freeway traffic roaring below. “There’s no getting used to heights.”

He will have plenty of time to try, though. At the rate the project is going, it may take until the first of next year to finish the undertaking that began May 11.

The job has attracted glaziers from San Diego to Victorville who are happy to be working anywhere during the current recession.

“Between Window E down at the unemployment office and this window here, I’ll take this one,” said Rivero, 43, who drives to work each morning from Riverside.

But the repairs are also attracting plenty of attention from passersby. The hanging platforms have caused some to wonder whether a school for window-washers is being run at the high-rise.

Actually, the building primarily houses bankers and data processors, said John J. O’Brien, development manager for the company that owns the structure. Bank of America workers are moving in, replacing employees of Security Pacific Bank who formerly occupied most of it. A group of East Coast investors that owns the building will not divulge how much the repairs are costing, he said.

Because of the 3,000 office workers inside, glass installers have to do most of their work from the outside, said project coordinator Charles W. French of Dallas-based Curtain Wall Design & Consulting Inc.

Guards are assigned to stand inside in front of office windows when glass is removed by workers on the platforms, French said. Down below, tunnel-like safety scaffolding covers sidewalks that ring the triangular building bordered by Beaudry Avenue and 3rd and 4th streets.

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Nonetheless, “spotters” with walkie-talkies are stationed on the ground. They keep pedestrians away if workers above warn by radio that they have encountered cracked windows that may be at risk of shattering when removed.

Each 4-by-6-foot tinted pane weighs about 75 pounds. It takes two men using suction-cup handles to lift it out once window frames have been disassembled.

Makeshift leak-patching in past years has glued some windows tightly to their frames, however. It takes an additional two men inside to help muscle them loose.

Each of the platform workers wears a safety harness attached to a line that is independent of the cables suspending them from the high-rise roof.

Most glaziers quickly learn the ropes, said Tom Toth, superintendent for Model Glass Inc. of Anaheim, the project’s contractor. After a while, the majority of them stop worrying about falling.

“They realize if you’re going to be out there four floors up, you may as well be 40 floors up,” Toth said.