By Ruth Longoria

There was celebration at The Mercer construction site Thursday as a cement truck rolled into the lot bearing the final load necessary to complete the concrete footings for the project.

A footing is the foot-level concrete that creates the bottom of a wall, explained Grant Larsen, president of Express Construction, the company building developer James Cassan’s $48 million, 300,000 square-foot mixed-use, apartment and retail project on the corner of 77th Avenue S.E. and S.E. 27th Street.

A few workers cheered as Larsen raised his hands in triumph. “This is outstanding, we’re more than two weeks ahead of schedule!” Larsen exclaimed. “Everything will be coming up vertical from now on. It’s going to fly now!”

Less than five months into the construction project, the architect’s conception of The Mercer — formerly known as Gateway Commons — is materializing; and, a few blocks down, at a kitty-corner angle, the now-13-month-old Island Market Square project is moving into its final stretch of completion. With each swing of the cranes or slathering of the concrete, the buildings are materializing, the skyline is taking new form and the Island’s Town Center is rapidly becoming reality.

Although completion of The Mercer isn’t expected until late May 2006, Island Market Square should be completed this fall, according to Michael Christ, owner of SECO Development, developers for Island Market Square.

“It’s all moving right along,” Christ said.

The first phase of the project, Building C, which includes the leasing office, community room, theater and gym, should be open to the public by December. Three weeks later, the outdoor spa, formal garden and courtyard should be completed. The shops should open by April, Christ said.

Though most of the retail space is already rented, Christ isn’t talking about which new retail shops or food outlets will be part of Island Market Square. He is in negotiations with at least one fast food chain, and several previous tenants of the property will be returning, including a dry cleaners, a spa and two real estate offices.

The face of the project should take on a new look within the next few months. One of the two large cranes will be removed from the site this month and the second will be used to add a lot of what Christ calls the “jewelry” of the building. The building’s adornments will include high-grade trellis work, brick work and decorative railings, Christ said.

In September, about 60 days before the facility opens, the leasing agents will do a walk through of the apartments and prices for the units will be decided sometime after that. Apartment leasing could begin as early as November, he said.

At The Mercer, work is progressing a few giant steps behind its new neighbor. But, the cement pillars and cage-like rebar walls of the structure leave no doubt that Larsen is right that the project is on its way up, up, up. On Thursday afternoon, as project engineer Scott Jay pointed out where the two levels of parking will be beneath the podium courtyard level and 16-by-48-foot swimming pool area, dozens of construction workers in orange shirts and hard hats went about their independent jobs.

Some of the men stood on ladders or wooden platforms as a crane brought in containers of cement to complete the footings.

Scott Malone, a worker with sub-contractor, Casias Custom Concrete, moved between new walls, using a hammer to tap dollops of cement mix into holes where bolts held the forms together.

“They have to have 100 percent concrete in these holes,” Malone said of the hole plugging job he’s held for the past 15 years. He’s been working on The Mercer project for the past few weeks. “It’s a good, steady job,” he said.

Malone is one of about 60 people who currently make up the construction crew at The Mercer. There will be about three times that many at the height of construction, when the electricians and other types of workers are added, Larsen said.

With all of the workers and trucks going in and out of the work site, surrounding street traffic has been affected. A flagger has been on-hand the past few weeks directing commuters as they drive past the maze of orange cones, construction workers and vehicles.

That should change in the coming weeks, Jay said. All off-site utility work should be completed by the end of the month, which means residents and other travelers of the downtown area should notice that the streets around the site are less affected by construction and crews.

“Everything is moving along very quickly,” Jay said. “It seems like I go inside the office for a few hours, come back out and take a look and it’s all different. There should be a big difference in the next few months.”