COVER STORY, JULY 2006

BUILDING ADDITIONS
Southeastern contractors discuss their projects.
Daniel Beaird

Batson-Cook is building Phase I of Aflac’s office addition in Columbus, Georgia.

West Point, Georgia-based Batson-Cook is a jack-of-all-trades contractor. The West Point office, responsible for west Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi and Northwest Florida, alone handles many different property types in construction including Class A office buildings, multifamily projects, hospital and medical offices, and mixed-use developments. “We don’t have a particular specialty right now,” says Randy Hall, senior vice president of Batson-Cook’s West Point office. “The office works in many different markets.”

Batson-Cook has recently been involved with the new addition to Aflac’s Columbus, Georgia campus. The contracting company was awarded Phase I of a $100 million expansion to the Paul S. Amos campus. The 95,000-square-foot project will house customer service facilities as well as a connector building between the existing building and the addition. Batson-Cook will also provide an expansion to the existing cafeteria. When completed, the facility will increase its capacity to 2,500 employees.

The two-story facility will be composed of a structural steel frame with a curtainwall and pre-cast concrete exterior. A multi-purpose room for 500 people, two training rooms, conference rooms and a break room will be constructed while the existing structure remains fully operational. The project also calls for an expanded parking lot to more than 2,350 spaces. “It is a fast-track project,” Hall says. “We are working, almost simultaneously, with Aflac and the architect through the pre-construction and design phase.” This is Batson-Cook’s first project for Aflac and it is important for any contractor to maintain a good reputation. 

According to Hall, the industry is beginning turn away from the traditional low-bid approach. “We are seeing more owners take the delivery method of construction management, in which selection is based on past performance, financial strength and staff qualifications,” Hall says. “That’s probably the largest trend I’ve seen during the past couple of years.”

Although Aflac’s office addition is a fast-track project, the fast-tracking demands are the highest on the multifamily side for Batson-Cook. “The rush to the market is higher in that category than any other and that is simply so they can close the units and the developers can begin to make their money,” Hall says. “But, we are seeing more of a team approach, fast track in every market that we work in.” Batson-Cook, along with other contractors, architects and engineers, has become more of a part of the pre-construction process. “That allows us to take advantage of our past experiences that we’ve had in certain construction types,” Hall says.

As projects are put on the fast-track scale, the most difficult job for firms like Batson-Cook is finding the labor force and assembling the best team of qualified sub-contractors to meet the rising expectations of the owners. “The market is strong today and well-qualified and qualified sub-contractors are very busy,” Hall says.

WindMark Beach, a 2,020-acre residential and resort community developed by St. Joe Company, is the largest project for the Batson-Cook’s West Point office. Located 2 miles north of Port St. Joe, Florida, in Northwest Florida, WindMark Beach will include 1,662 homes. The mixed-use project will be anchored by Village Center, which will include shops, a courtyard, a small market, a spa and fitness center, an ice cream and coffee shop, and the School of Fish restaurant. A 28-room boutique inn called The Little Inn will be centrally located in the Village Center. WindMark Beach is master planned to emphasize a pedestrian lifestyle.

For Batson-Cook’s West Point office, the most opportunity for work is in Northwest Florida, but it also brings the most opportunity for risk. “The work there is primarily condominiums,” Hall says. “The nature of dealing with multiple owners is, in itself, a risk, and the labor and sub-contractor pools are much smaller in Northwest Florida.” The weather is another risk in Northwest Florida. However, with the past two hurricane seasons, the building codes have become more stringent.

Margate, Florida-based Procacci Development Corporation, a developer and contractor, is going above and beyond the new Florida building codes. Procacci is building two office buildings, Emerald View at Vista Center in West Palm Beach, Florida, and Crossroads at Dolphin Commerce Center in Miami, that will meet the hurricane-resistant standards of public shelters. Florida’s public shelters must be able to resist 185 mile-per-hour winds, while Florida’s office buildings are only required to resist 140 mile-per-hour winds.

The hurricane classification system has a range of wind speeds assigned to each category of storm. A hurricane rating of C5, the most severe rating, consists of wind speeds from 155 miles per hour or more for 1 minute and 189 miles per hour or more for 3 seconds.

Procacci Development Corporation has followed the criteria, building components and safety features that meet the objectives of the engineering and construction design for certifying Florida hurricane shelter standards. The criteria follows: solid concrete; steel reinforced tilt-up wall panel exterior; concrete columns, beams and floor composite support systems for second, third, fourth floors and roof deck; floor capacity consists of 100-pound average live load; high impact exterior glazing system at all floor levels; and emergency back-up diesel engine-driven generator with 20,000 gallon diesel underground fuel tanks allowing for 100 percent back-up electrical service for a 14-day period. The finished floor is set 1.4 times higher than standard set criteria relative to the flood zone levels based on a 100-year, 3-day storm event. 

Emerald View at Vista Center began construction last December at 2054 and 2056 Vista Parkway in West Palm Beach. It includes two Class A office buildings totaling 147,000 square feet. Both buildings are being built simultaneously and occupancy is expected this December. Each building contains four stories with 18,375-square-foot floor plates.

With these office buildings being built under higher restrictions, the rental rate is higher than average for the area at $24 per square foot. “The added value of doing business in these hurricane-resistant buildings more than covers the higher rental rates,” says Phil Procacci, president of Procacci Development. “These companies can be back in business the next day.” That offers a significant assurance to businesses because currently Proccaci says 25 percent of businesses that are hit by a hurricane never return to business.

While the state of Florida might offer more opportunity to build for Southeast contractors, it also offers more risk. The hurricane seasons will continue to affect the way contractors do business in the region. However, the Southeast’s population is booming and construction projects, whether its office, multifamily, retail or mixed-use developments, are helping the region rise to new heights.

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