Balfour Beatty lands contract for 39-story Related Group Atlanta high-rise

Dive Brief:

Miami-based developer Related Group has awarded Balfour Beatty Construction the contract to build a luxury, 39-story mixed-use tower in Midtown Atlanta, Balfour Beatty announced in a press release.
The new high-rise will include a pool terrace, fire pit terrace, 6,500 square feet of retail space and 390 luxury residential units, all with access to business, shopping and entertainment districts nearby, including a Whole Foods Market complex that will anchor the development, according to the Atlanta Business Journal.
Balfour Beatty said it would build the structure — which will be the tallest residential tower built in Atlanta since 2009 — with an emphasis on efficiency by utilizing Lean building methods, offsite construction to speed up the schedule and building information modeling (BIM) to maximize coordination between the trades.

Dive Insight:

This is the first Atlanta project for Related, but the developer has a major presence in other major cities such as New York — where it is one of the companies behind the massive Hudson Yards project — and Chicago, where it recently signed a deal to build 62 acres to build a multibillion dollar mixed-use development.

Atlanta has several major construction projects currently underway. Construction is reportedly 50%-60% complete on the $1.4 billion, 75,000-seat Mercedes-Benz stadium for the Atlanta Falcons, and team officials said the "camera lens-style" retractable roof, which is being manufactured in pieces in plants all around the country, will be ready for the opening of the 2017-2018 NFL season. The stadium is expected to be the only LEED Platinum-certified sports facility in the U.S.

In addition, Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport officials announced in March that they would begin construction on a $393 million terminal and a $943 million runway, expected to be complete by 2018 and 2034 respectively. The two projects are part of a $6 billion, 20-year renovation project at the airport, which is the busiest in the world, with 101.5 million passengers in 2015.

Another recently announced Atlanta project — which is a little out of the ordinary — is a "19th century-style" amusement park planned for the rooftop of a 100-year-old, 2-million-square-foot former Sears distribution center. Skyline Park is the most recent development along Atlanta’s historic 22-mile railroad corridor that developers say will one day include parks, trails and transit all along a former railway that circles the city.