Being located in the urban core of the City of Atlanta within the Georgia State University campus, the 200 Edgewood project was challenged from the start with the project logistics. The building itself is set within a series of existing buildings requiring special consideration. The proximity of the existing structures impacted construction in several ways. The first was the partial demolition of portions of the existing buildings. Some sections of the existing historic buildings required removal to allow for the construction of the new student housing structure. Due to the proximity to occupied businesses and the age and deterioration of the existing structures, seismic and displacement monitoring were utilized to ensure this work was executed without incident.
The proximity to existing structures was further complicated by the need to excavate the site sixteen feet below grade to allow for the construction of the parking deck. Careful planning and execution was required. Another impact of the location of the existing buildings was the lack of lay down area for the project. All deliveries and staging had to be executed to perfection to support the construction schedule and to not impact the very busy Edgewood Avenue.
200 Edgewood was the first private development delivered on the Atlanta Street Car line and by default, became the learning curve on how to work alongside the street car operations. The Shell McElroy team spent many hours coordinating with the City of Atlanta to ensure our construction operations did not impact the street car schedule. We also understood no construction debris could interfere with the tracks as that had the potential to cause a derailment. Because of the tracks, we were unable to close lanes of traffic to allow for staging and deliveries. Further complicating this was the bike lane on our side of the street which the City of Atlanta required to remain operational throughout the project.
We were given the opportunity to utilize portions of a lane of traffic during certain periods of the day, but all barricades and fencing had to be moved by 4:00 PM daily. Adding to the requirement to keep the street free of traffic impacts, Edgewood Avenue is an emergency ambulance route to Grady Memorial Hospital located just blocks from the project.
The challenges required careful and diligent planning throughout the project to ensure a successful completion.
