City: Atlanta
State: Georgia
Owner: New City, LLC
General Contractor: Brasfield & Gorrie
Design/Build Specialty Contractor:Schnabel Geostructural Design & Construction
Project Description:
An idea originally conceived by Georgia Tech student Ryan Gravel in his 1999 master’s thesis, the Atlanta Beltline has evolved into a large-scale transportation and economic development effort currently being undertaken in the City of Atlanta. The redevelopment efforts along former railway corridors will ultimately connect 45 in-town neighborhoods through a 22-mile loop of multi-use trails, streetcars, and parks. Adding to the list of new construction along the Beltline, New City, is the 725 Ponce project. The development is adjacent to the old Ford Factory (circa 1915) and Ponce City Market which is one of the largest adaptive reuse projects in the US where the old Sears and Roebuck building (circa 1929) was converted into retail shops and restaurants below offices and apartments. Constructed by Brasfield & Gorrie, the 725 Ponce project is a 12 story, 395,000 sf office building with 3 levels of below-grade parking and a hip new 87,000 sf Kroger grocery store.
To facilitate excavation depths of up to 50 ft. in height, Schnabel designed and constructed wall-line permanent and temporary earth retention systems to support the Beltline pathway, adjacent city streets, and residential structures. The earth retention systems consisted of 50,000 sf of soil nail walls and an additional 7,500 sf wall utilizing drilled-in soldier beams, wood lagging, and tiebacks. After the earth retention systems were installed to subgrade, Schnabel’s crews installed 46,000 sf of permanent basement walls for the proposed structure utilizing reinforced wet-mix shotcrete. The basement walls varied between 12 and 18 inches thick and were up to 45 ft. in height. Close coordination between the construction teams of Schnabel, Brasfield & Gorrie and Plateau Excavation was vital to maintaining the project schedule during the critical excavation, foundation, and earth retention work.
