Post Finishes Townhome Construction in Atlanta

Wed February 06, 2002
G.W. Hall

Efforts to revitalize the community along Glenwood Avenue near I-20 received a major boost in October 2001, when the first residents moved into the elegant new Glenwood Green Townhomes. The $17-million development, which Post Construction Services of Atlanta built for 951 Glenwood Associates LLC, features 188 residences with prices ranging from the $140,000s to the $190,000s.

“We broke ground on the project in January 2001 and, even though we ran into a few interesting challenges along the way, we have managed to keep the project slightly ahead of schedule,” said Bill Schoettelkotte, project manager of Post Construction Services.

The responsibility of dealing with many of these challenges fell to Ayers Enterprises Inc., which Post Construction Services hired to prepare the 11-acre (4.5 ha) site before construction got under way. The Ayers team has worked with Post Construction Services on numerous projects since Jay Ayers’ father, John Ayers, founded the family grading business in 1969.

For the Glenwood Green project, Ayers Enterprises began by demolishing an old ice cream cone production facility that occupied the property. The company also had to remove an existing parking lot, clear 5 wooded acres (2 ha), remove unsuitable materials, grade the property, and put in water, storm drain and sanitary sewer lines for the new community.

“We had to move 40,000 yds. of earth during the course of the project,” said Jay Ayers, vice president of Ayers Enterprises. “When we started the excavation and grading work, we also discovered another 10,000 yds. of unsuitable materials buried on the site. These materials included concrete debris, an old parking lot surface that had been covered with dirt and had weeds growing on top, and even a track from an old railroad spur that ran onto the property from an adjacent rail yard.”

When the company finally completed these unexpected chores, workers from Ayers Enterprises began the process of bringing the site to grade and installing the new community’s pipeline infrastructure. The company put in 4,500 linear ft. (1,372 m) of storm drain, several drainage structures, a retention pond, and 3,000 ft. (914 m) of sanitary sewer line.

“We utilized stamped concrete pipe for the storm drain, as required by the City of Atlanta,” Ayers said. “The project also required a 500-ft. sewer outfall, which turned out to be one of the toughest parts of the project.

“We had to tie into an existing sewer line in an older neighborhood just south of the property,” he explained. “The neighborhood had very narrow streets and the residents didn’t want us to block traffic by digging up the main street leading into the community. In addition, the neighborhood has a lot of old trees, which the city wanted to preserve. For those reasons, we had to bore the final 300 ft., at a depth of 20 ft., from the back of the Glenwood Green property to an existing manhole to create the outfall.”

To assist with this endeavor, Post Construction Services and Ayers Enterprises called on Atlanta Boring. The crew from Atlanta Boring utilized an American Auger 36600 to tunnel beneath the neighboring community and complete the sewer outfall for Glenwood Green.

In addition, Ayers Enterprises brought in a great deal of machinery from its own equipment fleet to tackle the grading and pipe-laying work at Glenwood Green. These included a Caterpillar D5H dozer, a Caterpillar 621F scraper, a Caterpillar 963 LPG loader, a Caterpillar D8M dozer, a Samsung 350 excavator, a John Deere 330LC excavator, a Super Pac 8410 compactor and a Fiatallis 160.2 rubber tire loader.

The company has obtained its equipment from a variety of sources through the years. Ayers Enterprises obtained its new Caterpillar equipment from Yancey Brothers in Atlanta, and purchased its Fiatallis loader and Samsung excavator from the Atlanta branch of Alabama-based Joe Money Machinery. For its John Deere machinery, the company has relied on Metrac.

The firm also has purchased used equipment from many different sources through the years. For example, Ayers Enterprises purchased its Caterpillar 621F scraper from NASCAR racing legend Bill Elliott, who once used it to build an air strip on his property near Dawsonville.

Post Construction Services and other trade contractors also brought many other pieces of equipment on site to assist with other aspects of the project. For example, Post Construction Services utilized a John Deere 310 SE backhoe obtained from Metrac, and a Takeuchi TB035 from Yancey Rental, to assist with miscellaneous fill and leveling chores.

Mastec, the project’s electrical contractor, utilized a Ford 555D backhoe and a Yanmar B37 excavator to assist in establishing the electrical infrastructure for Glenwood Green. Framing crews utilized a Terex lifting turbo SS-842 square shooter from United Rentals to assist in transporting building materials. The concrete contractor, Maynard Eason, brought in its own concrete pump truck and a variety of concrete finishing equipment.

Other trade contractors at the site relied on equipment such as a Daewoo MEGA 200 wheel loader, a Hamm 2420 vibratory roller, a Fiatallis FD80 hydrostatic dozer, a Caterpillar 963 loader and a Bobcat 774 loader to assist with various tasks.

Officials with Post Construction Services said this impressive fleet of equipment did a great deal to help Post Construction Services meet the project’s demanding schedule.

“We expect to complete the final build out in May 2002,” Schoettelkotte said. “Glenwood Green began marketing townhomes in June and, so far, sales have gone well. When it’s fully occupied, we expect the surrounding community will be thrilled by this impressive new addition to the neighborhood.

This story also appears on Construction Equipment Guide.