Getting power to the people // Big generator puts tenants in business

The tenants returned Monday to an 18-story office building at 211W. Wacker where the Chicago River had deposited 22 feet of water aweek earlier.

With no small amount of pride, the building's owners called it amiracle.

Indeed, while attention has focused on resurrecting Chicagolandmarks like the Board of Trade and Marshall Field's, thousands ofworkers are engaged in herculean efforts to revive other buildings.

The building at 211 W. Wacker was one of the first with heavyflood damage to reopen, thanks to a quick-thinking crisis teamassembled by Orix Real Estate Equities, owners of the 65-year-oldbuilding.

Within the first few hours of the disaster, Orix personneldecided to forget about the city's efforts to plug the hole in thetunnel system and devise its own strategy.

By cutting off all the major building systems in thewater-filled basement, they figured they could start over on theground floor with auxiliary power.

Within 36 hours of the water rising, a two-megawatt powerstation, housed in a 42-foot tractor trailer, had arrived fromLafayette, Ind.

The power station, which costs $10,000 a week to rent and needs1,000 gallons of fuel per day to operate, is now providing thebuilding with electricity.

The entire effort, which included 12 electricians working aroundthe clock to install a new electrical switchboard, has cost hundredsof thousands of dollars already, said Mark Sullivan, investmentmanager for Orix.

Sullivan said 211 W. Wacker, at 150,000 square feet, is justsmall enough to make auxiliary power feasible. Most larger buildingscould not attempt the same feat, he conceded.

But that didn't make the building's tenants any lessappreciative.

"The people in the building did a fantastic job," said tenantMichael Gedney, vice president of Tricom Shipping Agency, aninternational company that found it impossible to relocate to anotherbuilding because of its reliance on computers.

"Our business would have been seriously impacted" if 211 W.Wacker had remained closed even another week, Gedney said.

As the water receded Monday from the basement, leaving a coatingof mud in its place, Orix vice president Ron Clarkson said thecompany had made the right decision.

"You can't wait. You have to resolve the problem immediately orelse it compounds itself," he said.