The John Marshall Hotel opened its grand doors in 1929. It was the largest hotel in Virginia at the time and offered more luxuries and modern conveniences unseen in other hotels. When guests arrived at the 5^th Street entrance, they walked through the cathedral style doorway, up the stairs of St. Genevieve marble to the lavishly decorated lobby.  It is no wonder why the hotel was a favorite of celebrities such as Elvis Presley, Mary Tyler Moore, and Elizabeth Taylor, just to name a few.

Sadly, the John Marshall Hotel fell into serious disrepair and closed its doors in 1988. It was partially reopened in 1999 before closing for good in 2004. John C. Camper, the owner of Virginia Atlantic Development, INC., then bought the ruins of the grand hotel in 2005. After nearly five years of funding and planning problems, the renovation began in April of 2010, with EMC completing all the mechanical piping and HVAC work for each of the 238 apartments, grand lobby, retail spaces, and ballrooms. The building’s 17 floors were completely gutted and rebuilt using “Green,” environmentally friendly elements, including energy-efficient windows and mechanical systems.

The hotel now offers studio as well as one-and two-bedroom apartments. The Ballroom has been completely restored and is able to cater to wedding and corporate events and guests. The lobby has also added retail space to include the once famous John Marshall Barber Shop that was frequented by many a star before shutting down with the hotel.

The Hotel John Marshall sign now illuminates the skyline of Richmond once again. From the crystals on the chandeliers in the Ballroom to the smallest EMC-installed pipe. There is no doubt its presence will continue to be a fixture in our city for the years to come.

Granted, these simple things sometimes take time out of your day to do, but isn’t a few seconds of prevention worth saving someone from a potential lifetime of pain?

Store was vacant for a few years during which all the HVAC
units were vandalized.  We removed all units and installed new updated Lennox equipment with economizers which will save money in operating costs during cooler days.  Pictures show the new units installed and running.  Gas lines were painted to match the stores color theme.

EMC Mechanical Services assisted with the Smoking Lab by installing temperature and humidity control (we are one of the exclusive contractors in Richmond using ASI DDC controls).  Included are exhaust fans with their own control for each machine.  At night instead of still treating 100% outside air, control dampers allows the Lab to recirculate air from within helping in energy costs and eliminating  the Lab from being shut down or having longer than normal ramp up to Lab conditions for testing. We took it a step further, all other labs and conditioned spaces within the 33,000sq ft facility are also on the same DDC system that controls the Lab functions.  The ASI controls are start to finish, meaning we install all the hardware, pull the wire, and perform the programming for all the equipment along with the front end graphics.  We are confident that having better control of the facility and monitoring all changes will help Microbac in there day to day managing.  Great working with Richard and his Team to launch this endeavor.

Microbac Launches Center of Excellence for Tobacco Products

Wilson, NC – Microbac Laboratories,
Inc., in response to expanding regulatory actions, has announced the
establishment of the Center of Excellence for Tobacco Products at its
Wilson, North Carolina (USA) Division laboratory.

The Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act of 2009 (FSPTCA) was
enacted June 22, 2009 (H.R. 1256), amending the Federal Food, Drug, and
Cosmetic Act (FFDCA), and further regulating tobacco products by the Secretary
of Health and Human Services through the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
Among the law’s three sections, the manufacturing component sets rules to
reduce or eliminate harmful ingredients. The purpose of this regulation is to
create a standard for Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP), which can include
testing for pesticide residues and other potentially harmful compounds.

“Making the investment to establish controlled environments to further support
tobacco products testing is a natural extension of Microbac’s long history of
supplying analytical services for tobacco and other FDA-regulated products,”
said Robert Crookston, Microbac’s Vice President of Business
Development. “This addition enables the development of methodology for the full
list of smoke constituents for manufactured products.”

Construction of the Center has already begun with operational qualification
expected to occur in February 2012. The Center of Excellence for Tobacco
Products will be located within the Wilson Division’s 33,000 square foot
facility which is already FDA-registered and cGMP-compliant for the purpose of
testing FDA-regulated markets such as pharmaceuticals, dietary supplements,
cosmetics, and agrochemical residues.

“We are excited to have this opportunity as one of the very few truly
independent labs in the market,” said Dr. Richard Higby, Managing
Director of the Wilson Division.

This block masonry structure is one of the first religious buildings in the U.S.that was certified under the U.S. Green Building Council’s environmental program. This building was designed to use 30% less energy than a normal building of similar type; making this building Green and modern while still maintaining an eighth-century motif.

Neil Bhatt, one of the project’s architects, said that the energy efficient designs of the building relate to Hindu philosophy in that they “worship the Mother Earth just as we worship other deities.”

This building is LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) gold certified with the U.S. Green Building Council. One of the buildings distinguished LEED features is a 50,000 gallon rain water collection system that uses reclaimed rain water as flush water for the facilities toilets and urinals.