Residents and visitors of the Midtown city block in Atlanta, Georgia, have seen dirt moving since early last December on 131 Ponce Midtown Apartments, a luxury apartment complex located adjacent to the historic Georgian Terrace Hotel and St. Paul’s Presbyterian Church. Balfour Beatty Construction, the general contractor for the $31.5 million project, celebrated the official groundbreaking this morning with project partners and guests.
The project is a four-story, wood-frame building with 280 luxury apartment units over two levels of concrete podium parking. A majority of the 280 units will be studios or one bedroom apartments. Amenities including three private, elevated courtyards connected by a series of stair towers will offer residents a tranquil retreat from urban life, while a rooftop pool will showcase stunning views of the city skyline.
131 Ponce Midtown Apartments is being developed by Faison, a Charlotte-based developer. This is Balfour Beatty Construction’s fourth project with Faison. Construction on mixed-use, multifamily housing developments in Nashville, Tennessee; Durham, North Carolina; and Charlotte, North Carolina will run concurrently with 131 Ponce Midtown Apartments.
“Today’s groundbreaking celebrates the beginning of a great asset to the city of Atlanta and the Midtown community,” said Christopher Herman, national Multifamily Housing project executive for Balfour Beatty Construction. “As we commemorate the groundbreaking for this inspiring and critically important new building, we recognise the many friends and partners whose leadership, vision and careful planning have made this day possible.”
The project site once included the first office building designed by well-known, modernist architect, I.M. Pei, in 1949. Although the two-story glass, marbled brick building was demolished in February, Balfour Beatty Construction will maintain the area’s historical integrity by resurrecting a portion of the Pei building’s façade and incorporating it into the new development.
Balfour Beatty Construction is working in collaboration with Atlanta-based design firm, Davis Architects, to create a post-modern development that pays homage to Pei’s original, clean design. Engineering services are provided by local, Alpharetta firm, Southern Civil Engineers, Inc. The development team also includes Sereo Group, M2 Structural, Bilson Landscaping and Design and Phillips Gradick Engineering.
The first units at 131 Ponce Midtown Apartments will be turned over for tenant occupancy in May of 2014, and the project is expected to be complete three months later in August.
Balfour Beatty Construction’s national Multifamily Housing team specialises in the value-based delivery of wood-frame and high density projects for multifamily and student housing customers. They enable clients to develop more viable projects, test proformas and accelerate time-to-market by applying a proprietary Trusted Advisor Process (TAP) to enhance project approach, validate feasibility, optimise schedules and achieve financial goals. In 2012, Building Design + Construction ranked Balfour Beatty Construction as the nation’s third largest multifamily contractor.
Media enquiries:
Beth Hernandez
Balfour Beatty Construction
Tel. +1 (704) 319 4122
bhernandez@balfourbeattyus.com
Notes to editors:
1. An industry leader for more than 80 years, Balfour Beatty Construction provides general contracting, at-risk construction management and design-build services for a wide variety of markets, serving clients in both the public and private sector. With more than 2,400 employees across the U.S., the company has been cited as a Top 10 Green Builder by Engineering
News-Record, and as one of the 100 Best Companies to Work For® by FORTUNE magazine, four years in a row. The company is part of London-based Balfour Beatty plc, a global infrastructure services business operating in more than 80 countries, with a worldwide commitment to providing assets that help societies function, develop, and thrive. To learn more about the company, visitwww.balfourbeattyus.com or look for BalfourBeattyUS on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.
2. Balfour Beatty (www.balfourbeatty.com) is a global infrastructure group that delivers world class services essential to the development, creation and care of infrastructure assets; from finance and development, through design and project management to construction and maintenance.
Our businesses draw on more than 100 years of experience to deliver the highest levels of quality, safety and technical expertise to our clients principally in the UK, the US, Southeast Asia, and the Middle East. We continue to develop our business in key growth markets in South Africa, Australia, Canada, Brazil and India.
With proven expertise in delivering infrastructure critical to support communities and society today and in the future, our key market sectors include transportation (roads, rail and aviation), power and energy, mining, water and social infrastructure such as hospitals and schools.
Balfour Beatty employs 50,000 people around the world.
