Materials management
Hills leveled to make way for Tennessee retail development

By Candy McCampbell

When a retail site south of Nashville was too hilly and in need of flat spaces, Jeremy Hammerton found the answer in materials management.

Hammerton, development team project manager for the 49-acre Parkway Commons retail development in Franklin, Tenn., said 80,000 cu. yds. of rock and another 80,000 cu. yds. of dirt had to be removed from the $30 million center being co-developed by Warren Commercial Real Estate of Franklin and Batson Cook Development of Atlanta.

Most of the dirt and rock were reused on the same job, and the developers gave away 70,000 cu. yds. of excess topsoil to the city of Franklin and area residents, Hammerton added.

Some of the rock came from a hillside - 32 ft. high in some spots - that sitework contractor Stewart & Richey of Bowling Green, Ky., removed to make room for a 165,000-sq.-ft. Target store.

advertisement

"We cleared approximately 15 acres of trees," said Justin Heck, project superintendent for Stewart & Richey. "We also moved a lot of rock for Target," which helped create a building pad for the 65,000-sq.ft. Kroger store.

All the rock on the site helped construction teams during wetter-than-normal weather in the project's early months, Heck said.

"We had so much rock we were able to continue working," he added. "(Otherwise) we would be substantially behind schedule. We were able to coordinate, and put down rock on compacted soil. It really worked well."

A small, unnamed creek that flows across the site determined the location of roads and even the building. Because the creek cuts across the land out front, the Target and Kroger stores are farther back from the highway.

The developers got permits from the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers "to relocate and encapsulate the creek," Warren said. The creek now divides the retail stores from the restaurants that face U.S. Highway 31 and is crossed by two large culvert bridges on-site.

Drainage for the sloped site called for 5,216 ft. of 15- to 60-in.-diameter reinforced concrete pipe to transport the water.

The uneven Parkway Commons site is sloped for drainage in the parking lots, which are covered with 83,400 sq. yds. of asphalt to provide spaces for 1,227 vehicles. The paving job starts with 6 in. of dense-grade aggregate, then 2 in. of asphalt base and 1.5 in of asphalt surface, Heck said.

Parkway Commons is one of the first major shopping centers developed under the City of Franklin's new design standards, which call for buildings to "blend" with historic downtown buildings. The new standards also mandate more brick on exteriors, breaking up large facades, a 20-ft. limit on lighting heights and heavy landscaping.

The Target store is a prototype of the retailer's new design, but the exterior is mostly brick, with four large columns at the entrance, said Al Austin, project manager with MCDR of Memphis, general contractor for Target. The front of the building is broken up by tan and red brick and arbors to simulate multiple buildings.

Typical Targets are made of split-faced masonry block over steel, which costs $450,000 to $500,000 per store, Austin added. The change to brick bumps the price up to about $800,000.

The building's skeleton consists of about 120 tons of structural steel and sits on a traditional 3,000- to 4,000-psi concrete foundation with spread footings.

The Target and Kroger are close neighbors - a mere 2 in. separates the buildings - but two timetables help keep workers from competing for space on the job.

"They laid their wall first and then we laid ours," said Gary L. Doebler, senior project manager with J.E. Crain & Sons of Nashville. Crain & Sons is general contractor for the Kroger building.

The Kroger store also has a structural steel frame with reinforced masonry block and a brick veneer with a stone-like wainscoting, Doebler said. Built on a continuous footing, it has a 4-in.-thick floor that will have color mixed in the concrete as it is poured, he said.

The new design standards also apply to a Kroger Fuel Center that will look like an old train station at one corner of the site. The same train depot design is being used for a trolley stop in the main parking lot.

Landscaping at the Parkway Commons site required that Greathouse Landscape of Nashville plant 600 trees on the site and Patriot Irrigation & Lighting of Nashville install 20,000 ft. of pipe to feed an irrigation system. The height limit and abundance of trees necessitated the installation of 136 light poles - twice the usual number, Hammerton said.

Site improvements include $1 million in roadwork, with turning lanes, sidewalks, curbs and gutters, storm drains, street signs and traffic signals at the entrance and an intersection at the corner of the property.

Hammerton said there are several general contractors at the site because most tenants are self-developing.

Other significant contractors include Knestrick Contractor Inc. of Nashville, which is building 43,000 sq. ft. of small shop space, and Venture Construction of Atlanta, which is building a Chili's restaurant.

All the "bosses" have not been a problem, Hammerton said.

"I'm a conduit for communication between the different parties at the project level," he added.

Austin agreed that "we all work together. We're professionals. We have laydown areas cordoned off (in the parking lot) and try to stay in our own area."

The Target, Kroger and the small shops will open in the spring and the Chili's will open in mid-June. The bank had not set a date, Hammerton said.

Useful Source:

For more information and a map of Parkway Commons, click here>>