(March 6, 2003) A final beam was lifted into place yesterday to complete the steel skeleton of what soon will be an 8-story luxury apartment building in Quincy Center.

Following an age-old custom, ironworkers who have worked at Munroe Place for months perched an American flag and an evergreen on the beam as part of the traditional "topping off" ceremony.

The evergreen and flag symbolize that construction has gone well. They also are intended to bring luck to the building's future occupants.

Those who attended, from workers to developers to city officials, signed their names on the beam before it was raised by a crane.

Members of Ironworkers Local 7 paused to remember a worker who was killed this week at a construction site at Massachusetts General Hospital. Ironworker Christopher MacInnis of New Hampshire was crushed by a falling steel beam.

Munroe Place, which will include 111 apartments and 10,000 square feet of ground-floor retail space, is expected to open in October.