H.T. Lyons is a $160-million mechanical design, construction, maintenance and energy services firm with offices in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York and South Carolina.
For more than a century and up until the late 1990s, the Lehigh Valley region of Pennsylvania, home to headquarters of rust belt empires like Bethlehem Steel and Mack Trucks, was heavily industrialized much like many blue-collar based cities across the country with economies that relied on committed work ethic and skilled trades. Its county seat, Allentown, is where the American Liberty Bell was famously stashed away for nine months during the Revolutionary War. Its streets of historic homes are a nod to the city as one of the country’s first urban centers.
And, of course, most who are from town or out-of-town identify Allentown by the eponymous 1982 hit by Billy Joel. (He never lived there, by the way.)
Allentown is also home to H.T. Lyons, an Equans Co. and $160-million mechanical design, construction, maintenance and energy services firm with offices in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York and South Carolina. At any given time, more than 100 of its service trucks are on the road.
Its heart is in Allentown.
H.T. Lyons President Roeland Hoeke recounts the shift to offshore manufacturing Lehigh Valley faced and decline in industry. “That was tough for the economy here,” he relates, teeing up a comeback story that ultimately showcases Allentown and surrounding communities as an example of vision, progress and committed skilled trades that take a 21st Century approach to design-build in mechanical, electrical and plumbing (MEP) services.
H.T. Lyons has been behind the scenes — literally in the ductwork — and equally front and center of a renaissance of large-scale development projects that have reinvigorated Allentown. Its portfolio includes transformative projects like the 10,000-seat PPL Center indoor sports arena, home of the Lehigh Valley Phantoms of the American Hockey League, which is the primary development team for the Philadelphia Flyers.
The eight-story PPL Plaza.
H.T. Lyons also played an integral role in PPL Plaza, the first LEED Gold, 8-story office building in Eastern Pennsylvania when it was completed in 2003.
Meanwhile, PPL Plaza was designed with a target to earn the LEED Gold rating. “We immediately focused on pursuing integrated design solutions to reduce energy usage,” Hoeke says.
Incoming ventilation air is preconditioned by heat and humidity extracted from exhaust air by an enthalpy wheel. Sensors monitor carbon dioxide levels and control fresh airflow directly to each area of the building, as needed. Smart building controls help regulate systems for efficient operation.
Also, an ice thermal energy storage system employs load shifting and allows chillers to operate at peak efficiency. This technology also allows the building’s cooling system to operate off the grid, supported by a backup generator.
Hoeke has been a LEED AP credentialed professional since 2002, and H.T. Lyons was on the forefront of sustainable and LEED-certified design and construction. PPL Plaza is just one example of its energy efficient work.
One of H.T. Lyons’ first redefining projects was one of the City Center buildings, where the team practiced its industrialized, preassembly process in-house with modularized mechanical units. “We built the mechanical penthouse in our shop in four pieces,” Hoeke relates.
Proud of the positive footprint H.T. Lyons has made in the community and beyond, Hoeke says, “We like to think of ourselves as a premier contractor in the area, and we have our own very innovative engineering department. I know these projects bring a great sense of pride to our people in the shop and out in the field. They are excited about making a difference in their community.”
Groundbreaking Momentum
The mixed-use development City Center Lehigh Valley in downtown Allentown included an 11-story Two City Center building project by North Star Construction Management Inc., which named H. T. Lyons as its mechanical contractor. One of the team’s charges was to create energy efficiencies that ultimately resulted in the building earning a Green Energy Star rating from the U.S. Department of Energy.
“As a developer, your customers who are tenants appreciate this because you are lowing their energy costs,” Hoeke points out.
For the six-story Three City Center and fourteen-story Five City Center, H.T. Lyons deployed its turn-key fabrication process by designing and fabricating modules in its facility that were then installed on site. “This way, we can control the environment, it’s more productive, it’s safer and we can get to work first thing in the morning rather than in the field where you have to spread out your tools and set up before you can get started,” Hoeke explains. “We try to preassemble as much as possible.”
For the Three City Center and Five City Center projects, a mechanical penthouse consists of fans, compressors and boilers — all built in the shop. “When we installed it, we had to shut down the street and install it with a crane in a matter of a few days,” Hoeke says. “If you installed it on site, the process would have taken several months.”
The PPL Center takes up an entire city block.
Hoeke says this time and efficiency savings vastly increased productivity and saved cost while elevating quality craftsmanship and mitigating safety concerns. Some of the highlights of this project include high-efficiency compressors and boilers. “We used fan walls so there are a lot of features that make this energy-efficient,” he points out.
Reimagining City Center Allentown
The state-of-the-art PPL Center Arena is one of the region’s largest events venues, packed with amenities from concessions to executive suites. The public/private larger-picture PPL Center project that includes the arena consumes an entire city block, an eight-story office building, an eight-story Renaissance Allentown Hotel, multiple restaurants and a six-story parking garage.
H.T. Lyons built a central utility plant consisting of three 700-ton chillers and three hot water boilers that provide temperature control via various air handlers throughout the arena facility.
The 10,000-seat PPL Center indoor sports arena is home of the Lehigh Valley Phantoms of the American Hockey League.
We were involved in the design and deployed prefabrication modularization strategies for their buildings along with the mechanical infrastructure,” Hoeke relates.
“An 84-inch diameter duct runs through the building trusses and does a loop all the way around the arena with diffusers that blow down to the floor,” Hoeke explains.
All of the ductwork was fabricated in the shop. “We trucked it out and lifted it into place with long boom lifts and cranes,” Hoeke says of the complex logistics. “We were involved in all of the mechanical aspects of the building, from sheet metal to piping to plumbing.”
The PPL Center includes the arena, a 11-story office building, Renaissance Hotel, and an array of restaurants.
The sheer size of the ductwork made PPL Center Arena a landmark project for H.T. Lyons.
“We had to decide, do we install it before the roof goes on or after?” Hoeke says of snaking the ductwork through ceiling trusses. Turns out, the team installed the duct during and after the roof was completed. “That was probably one of the trickiest pieces of the project from a sheet metal perspective,” he says. “There was nothing straightforward about it. PPL Center is not your basic box building.”
As for the Renaissance hotel on campus, each guest room required an air conditioning fan coil system, and there were a number of large gathering spaces including ballrooms and conference areas that required mechanicals.
H.T. Lyons was involved in all of the mechanical aspects of these buildings — from sheet metal to piping to plumbing.
“We still provide the service work for these buildings,” he adds of the ongoing relationship, a common denominator in projects H.T. Lyons designs and builds.
H.T. Lyons fabricated all of the ductwork in its shop. The company trucked it out and lifted it into place with long boom lifts and cranes.
Equipping a ‘Place to Be’
Archer Music Hall on Hamilton Street in Allentown is a two-level, 31,000-square-foot live performance event center that hosts a range of musical acts, conferences and expositions. Developer and construction manager Alvin H. Butz Inc. partnered with H.T. Lyons yet again to design and install an exposed-duct system in the theater.
“You have to design it for a hot summer night in July when it’s 90 degrees at 3 p.m. and then two hours later, you fill the venue with 1,000 people,” Hoeke relates. “Your cooling system has to convert, just like that. It has to be controlled to take a big cooling load from hardly anything to a packed house.”
With exposed duct work and performance-minded design, the H. T. Lyons team also had to consider acoustics — big time. “The duct had to be designed with sound attenuation so you do not hear the HVAC system,” he says.
The key was correct sizing and a robust building automated control system.
Overall, Hoeke rewinds to the time before these projects broke ground and the committed hands-on stewardship of a dedicated team that realizes they are changing the face of a region and by every square foot of sheet metal, building opportunity.
The H.T. Lyons’ team is part of something so much bigger.
“There were empty storefronts,” Hoeke says. “Today, there is a great vibe, young residents, attractive restaurants, and people want to live in center city Allentown.”
