Brasfield & Gorrie Completes Columbus City Services Center

The city of Columbus, Ga., has recently opened the doors to a new city services complex. The complex, completed by Brasfield & Gorrie, showcases several state-of-the-art amenities and represents a sharp economic growth in the local area. The 249,000-square-foot, $31-million facility includes three components:

• A 135,000-square-foot parking deck to accommodate 396 vehicles
• A two-story, 63,000-square-foot office building
• A 51,000-square-foot natatorium, including a 50-meter competition pool and a separate four-lane, 25-yard warm-up pool

The nine-acre property was vacant for several years before officials developed a plan to unite businesses, community partners and residents to highlight and strengthen the city. The project broke ground in November 2011 and was designed by architect 2WR.

“We have enjoyed working with a great team of local subcontractors and vendors on this successful project for the city of Columbus and are confident the community will take advantage of the many benefits this facility has to offer for years to come,” said Keith Johnson, regional vice president, Brasfield & Gorrie.

Site challenges
Wes Kelley, Brasfield & Gorrie project manager, said because the site was previously home to Columbus Square Mall, throughout construction, even as late as landscaping, several unanticipated underground structures were discovered. Most were old footings (15 by 15 by 3), but an old fallout shelter was also discovered (15 by 10, buried 20 feet underground).

“Through working with the architect, civil engineer and testing company, each occurrence was treated individually in order to minimize cost and schedule impact for the owner,” Kelley said.

Site logistics
Kelley added that site logistics were also a challenge because of construction of three separate, sizeable structures on the campus: an office building, natatorium and parking deck. Because of the building types — steel building, brick and cast stone skin, precast parking deck — significant laydown areas were required, as well as internal roads to access building pads. The owner, understanding the challenges this created, received permission to use the school board’s property next door, for additional parking and storage.

“While this seems like a small detail, it allowed us the room we needed to get the project complete,” Kelley said.