C.W. Matthews Molds Atlanta’s $2B Atlantic Station

Wed February 20, 2002
G.W. Hall

The $2-billion Atlantic Station project continues to take shape north of 14th Street in Atlanta, at the site of the old Atlantic Steel mill. When completed in three years, the 140-acre (57 ha) mixed-use enclave will include hotels, condos, apartments, restaurants, retail establishments, office space and entertainment venues.

“I have worked on many cutting-edge, mixed-use projects and communities all over the world,” said John B. Clark, president of Development Design Group Inc., which will design Atlantic Station’s street-oriented retail and entertainment destination. “But I can honestly say that designing the retail component at Atlantic Station promises to be the greatest opportunity of my career.”

The project’s developers, Atlantic Steel Redevelopment LLC, decided on the name Atlantic Station for a variety or reasons.

“First and foremost, the inclusion of the word ’Atlantic’ pays tribute to the great history of Atlantic Steel and the role it played in the evolution of Atlanta,” said Jim Jacoby of Jacoby Development Inc., which purchased the site in 1998. “The use of the word ’station’ suggests not only our design focused on transit, but our intent to provide a station in life for businesses, families and consumers who will enjoy the community of services offered at the site.”

The joint business partners in the Atlantic Station development are Jacoby Development Inc. and AIG Global Real Estate. Representatives of these organizations stated that the project continues to progress according to their expectations. In fact, C.W. Matthews, the Marietta, GA, firm which serves as general contractor for the site preparation work at Atlantic Station, has substantially completed the initial infrastructure for the new enclave.

Crews from C.W. Matthews began moving onto the site in May 2000, as the contractors for the site’s previous owners began winding down the demolition of various structures that previously occupied the property. Atlantic Steel had to remove those structures and hazardous materials left over from its steel-making operations as a condition of the property’s sale.

“At that time, Atlantic Steel had finished removing about half of the hazardous materials from the site and had removed about 60 percent of the above-ground structures,” said Frank Crumbley, construction manager of C.W. Matthews. “The developers had originally hired C.W. Matthews as consultants on the project, but eventually selected us as general contractor for the project’s site preparation.”

C.W. Matthews began by excavating soil to expose concrete foundations that remained on the site. To assist in the demolition and removal of these foundations, the company called on Penhall Company of Atlanta, and Dykes Recycling Co. of Norcross, GA.

“Penhall utilized Caterpillar 350s and 355s with heavy hammers to demolish the concrete foundations,” said Crumbley. “We then used Caterpillar 345 excavators to put the demolished concrete onto Caterpillar D350E rear dumps and hauled the material to on-site crushers set up by Dykes. Their crew then utilized two Caterpillar 980G rubber tire loaders to feed concrete debris into the crushers. C.W Matthews then used two Caterpillar 973 track loaders and one 980G loader to reload the crushed material to be used on the site as needed.”

In all, C.W. Matthews and Penhall had to deal with more than 150,000 cu. yds. (114,683 cu m) of concrete demolition. The Dykes crushers recycled the old foundations and provided C.W. Matthews with 300,000 tons (272,155 t) of reusable material.

The next major task involved replacing the combined sewer system, which previously meandered through the site and included an old sediment pond, with a state-of-the-art bypass system. The new system consists of more than 5,100 linear ft. (1,554 m) of 36-in. (91 cm) sanitary sewer lines and 8- by 8-ft. (2.4 by 2.4 m) precast box culverts. C.W. Matthews had to place some of these culverts as far as 35 ft. (10.7 m) underground.

While installing the new sanitary sewer lines, C.W. Matthews utilized a fleet of eight Caterpillar 345 backhoes, 10 Caterpillar D350E rear dumps, three Caterpillar D6 dozers, five Caterpillar D8 dozers, four Caterpillar CP563C compactors, and two Caterpillar 825 compactor dozers. This equipment proved instrumental in removing more than 200,000 cu. yds. (152,911 cu m) of rock that workers had to blast and moving more than 1 million cu. yds. (764,555 cu m) of earth during the excavation and backfill activities associated with the installation. C.W. Matthews also utilized two Caterpillar 246 skid steers to help remove debris and steel from the excavated materials.

Workers utilized much of the same equipment to muck out 75,000 cu. yds. (57,342 cu m) of silt from the old sediment pond. To assist in the mucking process, the company also brought in a Caterpillar 322 long stick backhoe with a 60-ft. (18.3 m) reach to pull material within reach of a 345 for loading. The company then hauled the material to another portion of the site and treated it with large quantities of lime, utilizing a Caterpillar Challenger 95E to pull a deep dish harrow through the material to help mix in the lime and assist in drying.

To hoist the precast concrete structures into place for the sanitary sewer and storm drain lines, the company also utilized a variety of cranes. These included two American 5300 models, a 75-ton (68 t) Link-Belt, a 70-ton (63.5 t) mobile Grove, a 30-ton (27 t) rough-terrain Grove, and a 200-ton (181 t) Link-Belt friction rig.

In addition, the C.W. Matthews structural team headed by Marty Bingham leased the 200-ton (181 t) hydraulic Link-Belt from All Crane of Atlanta to put the largest storm drain junction box into position. By the time they finished, workers had installed more than 22,000 linear ft. (6,706 m) of storm drain lines ranging from 15 to 66 in. (38 to 168 cm) in diameter.

C.W. Matthews then began grading and installing the infrastructure for the utility network required by the enclave. During the grading process, the company moved more than 1.5 million cu. yds. (1.15 million cu m) of earth with the previously mentioned equipment fleet, plus four Caterpillar 621 scrapers. C.W. Matthews will prepare more than 16,000 linear ft. (4,877 m) of roadways ranging from two to seven lanes wide, as well as six signalized intersections and a matching interconnect system. In addition, the company is currently installing more than 19,000 linear ft. (5,791 m) of water lines, which ranged from 6 to 16 in. (15 to 41 cm) in diameter.

As the grading proceeded, C.W. Matthews called in MC Inc. of Peachtree City, GA, to assist in the construction of retaining walls for the site. The walls consist of approximately 9,000 cu. yds. (6,880 cu m) of concrete, more than 46,000 sq. ft. (4,273 sq m) of panel wall surface, and 71,000 tons (64,410 t) of select wall backfill. To complete its portion of work, MC Inc. utilized equipment such as a Caterpillar IT28G rubber tire loader and a Caterpillar D4C bulldozer.

Crumbley said the quality and durability of Caterpillar equipment helped make it possible for C.W. Matthews and most of its subcontractors to accomplish this enormous volume of work in such a relatively short time. C.W. Matthews has one of the largest Caterpillar fleets in the nation.

“C.W. Matthews went almost exclusively to Caterpillar several years ago because of its performance,” Crumbley said. “We also appreciate the excellent service we receive from Yancey Brothers in Atlanta, where we purchase all of our Caterpillar equipment. Bob Peck and Bud Wilford are our primary contacts there.”

He also praised the C.W. Matthews fleet maintenance crew, headed by Joe Gilliam, for its efforts to maximize uptime for the equipment. The company also kept one of its service trucks on site at all times to help maintain the equipment in use at the Atlantic Station site.

As a result, the company succeeded in maintaining a rapid pace and delivering the high level of quality demanded by the project’s developers.

“We have always said we are not going to compromise the quality of this important project,” Jacoby said. “We will do it right. We are pleased that we are moving along according to our plan.”

“C.W. Matthews Contracting and Caterpillar have helped Atlantic Station achieve those goals,” Crumbley added.

This story also appears on Construction Equipment Guide.