The Aquarium Hilton Garden Inn in downtown Atlanta is a 13-story, 242-room cast-in-place hotel and 12-story, 633-space cast-in-place parking structure. Hotel amenities include an elevated exterior pool and spa as well as an indoor pool, two restaurants, approximately 14,000 square feet of retail space, meeting and conference rooms, and a “Sky Bar” located on the 14th and 15th floors overlooking Downtown. The “Sky Bar” is topped by a unique helipad, the first public helicopter landing zone in downtown Atlanta.
The project began in June of 2006 with the demolition of an existing four-level parking structure that was the original site of "Nike Town" during the 1996 Olympics. The 446,725-square-foot development was delivered in 21 months using a CM-at-Risk approach. This approach was of particular benefit to the Client, Legacy Property Group, because it allowed construction to begin while the Construction Documents were only 50% complete. The project required a high level of communication, coordination, and collaboration but ultimately achieved the Client’s goals.
The project was constructed on a zero lot line covering one city block and bordered by four of the busiest surface roads in downtown Atlanta. The daily challenges posed by the location were numerous. As safety for the visitors of the surrounding attractions was paramount, safety and logistics initiatives were put in place to protect the community and avoid disruptions to Downtown activities.
The building structure was unique in that it combined the hotel and parking deck without the use of expansion joints. Varying floor-to-floor heights (nine feet for the hotel and ten feet for the parking deck) combined with the sloped parking deck slabs resulted in a different structure configuration at each level of the building. Additionally, the structure design combined three different slab systems including conventionally-reinforced concrete, post-tensioned concrete, and concrete on metal deck. The eight-foot-deep post-tensioned beams integrated within a conventional slab supporting the elevated pool is only one example of many instances in which various structure systems were combined. Managing these challenges required a focused effort on coordination early in the project. Holder’s internal shop drawing review process, extensive coordination meetings, and detailed coordination via Building Information Modeling were all critically important to achieving success.
Holder’s innovative use of BIM on the project has garnered several awards at the national level. AGC of America presented Holder with the 2007 Grand Prize BITS (Best Information Technology Solutions) Award, and Holder was also awarded the 2008 Constructech Vision Award for their implementation of Building Information Modeling on this Project.
In June of 2009, the AGC named the Aquarium Hilton Garden Inn project a recipient of the 2009 Build Georgia Award. The Build Georgia General Contractor Award competition seeks to honor outstanding construction projects throughout the state based on criteria including exceptional safety performance, challenges overcome, innovation, excellence in project management and scheduling, and excellence in client service.