It was a daunting task. The complex and showy Charlotte, N.C., mixed-use development would be a $125 million project with 417,000 square feet of office buildings, two seven-story precast concrete parking decks, 180 condominium units and nearly 100,000 square feet of retail space, with various other roads, additional on-street parking and utilities. It would be a premier fixture in an emerging urban area. The catch? As the design team was awarded the contract for what would become the Piedmont Town Center, it had only 18 months until the move-in date.
It became a mission where people and planning were critical to meet the fast-track deadline, especially as pieces of that time period began to disappear.
First, the team had to acknowledge that this project was not a typical example of rezoning. The design specified a very urban development in an emerging market, but the special review process for Charlotte’s “mixed use development district — optional” (MUDDO) designation would eat up a full three months by itself. With so many components to build and so many populations to satisfy, obtaining permits and approvals became a major portion of the job.
The development’s components fit together like large pieces of a jigsaw puzzle that had to be assembled in a particular order. Part of the answer was to break the job down so that subcontractors could begin their work. Building types included steel-frame, precast concrete and cast-in-place concrete. From August 2004 to November 2005, the 11-acre site swarmed with workers. About 200 subcontractors, 1,000 workers, eight managers and 11 project supervisors coordinated the activities. At one time, 13 cranes operated simultaneously at the site. As a result, special attention to safety became crucial as the cranes hoisted heavy components in close proximity to workers busy on other aspects of the development.
It worked. In more than 120,000 man-hours, only 504 hours — four-hundredths of a percent of the total — were claimed by accidents. Working hand-in-hand with the City of Charlotte was a critical aspect of this success. Permits were proposed and approved as a series of packages for the different functional areas and types of construction — foundations, cores and shells of buildings, interiors and so on.
Teamwork also tamed what could have been mass chaos. The design-build team had a history of working together and was able to bring its significant level of trust to weekly meetings with the owners. The meetings included on-site job breakdowns, which fostered a “just-in-time” approach that placed materials and workers on individual project portions when they were needed — but not before.
Even after they successfully coordinated construction efforts, team members had to negotiate many unforeseen trouble spots. One example was the project’s focal point: a multi-lane traffic circle with a water jet fountain in the center, elaborate landscaping and medians that would direct drivers unfamiliar with traffic circles into and out of the proper circulation pattern. Even a valet drop-off would be included. The design would have been both beautiful and functional.
After consultations, the Charlotte Department of Transportation approved the traffic circle. However, the local fire department noted that the same medians drivers would find helpful would slow or block emergency equipment. Additionally, the built-up banks of shrubbery and other landscaping would keep fire engines from efficient response times. The impasse resulted in two governmental approval agencies at loggerheads. Eventually the design team convened all parties to reach a compromise. The medians and curbs in the roundabout would have rolled edges so fire trucks could drive across them. The elaborate landscaping was discarded in favor of easily navigable brick pavers — not as attractive, but better for driving. But negotiating these changes stole a few more weeks from the schedule. After all permits were obtained, constituencies satisfied, re-zoning accomplished and designs altered, construction time was three months less than the time originally planned.
In fact, nearly every aspect of the development had some such sticking point. An urban boulevard required new trees, but conservation groups insisted on maintaining existing older trees. In addition, office tenants and condo residents had quite different ideas about parking requirements and building heights. Finally, the need to preserve existing wetlands conflicted with the city’s requirement for a storm water retention facility to make the urban area safe from flooding.
But innovative solutions solved many of these dilemmas both quickly and equitably. For example, a buffer zone — a park setting with a lake — between the housing and commercial/retail areas provided a neighborhood “feel” for the residents and made those older trees functional as well as scenic and historic. The wetlands became part of the buffer-zone park, so the storm-water retention facility fit in nicely nearby.
The challenges, obstacles and delays for the Piedmont Town Center, combined with the iron-clad move-in date, could have spelled disaster. But planning, cooperation, just-in-time practices and a willingness to listen and compromise meant avoiding those potential disasters and beating the deadline squeeze.
INFO: www.ls3p.com jimwilliams@ls3p.com