Milton Avenue Parking Deck
Tindall

Involved Companies

Background

Due to the increased population in a downtown city area, the 260-space parking deck was developed and designed to complement its surroundings and provide more space for drivers to park. Featuring first-floor retail space, the garage includes a total precast concrete structural framing system and loadbearing, brick-faced architectural wall panels that disguise the space’s function, allowing it to seamlessly blend the buildings around it as a modeled industrial brick building with architectural features.

The 72,000-square-foot structure features brick-faced panels with cornices that mimic area architecture. The Christman Company was the general contractor, WGI was the prime consultant, parking designer, and structural engineer, TreanorHL was the architect, and Eberly & Associates was the civil engineer and landscape architect. The project was completed in April 2019.

The precast producer fabricated and erected the 317 precast concrete components, including factory-topped double tees, 8- and 12-inch architectural panels with inset brick, columns, beams, shear walls, wall panels, stairs, cornices and caps. Precast was selected for this project its versatility and ability to incorporate all of the architectural features required and for the accelerated delivery schedule.

Challenges

There were three major challenges with the parking garage at this site. First, siting and configuring the garage on the property, which is very compact and irregular in shape with significant topography, required an innovative approach. The southwest side is blocked out and tapered to accommodate the adjacent historic cemetery property. A curved express ramp from grade in this area enables the 15-foot height over the retail space. Second, geotechnical report initially required deep foundations due to the poor subsurface conditions. Rammed aggregate piers were used to improve the site and accommodate precast system, providing significant savings to the project. Third, program criteria required a design that matched the brick exteriors and architectural aesthetic features of the existing historic downtown buildings. Tindall and its partners ensured the deck seamlessly integrated with the surrounding area’s aesthetic by using load-bearing brick-faced panels with cornices. To look less like a parking deck and more like a commercial building, they included uniformly spaced openings on the deck, mimicking windows and breezeways. Tindall was also on a shorter construction timeline while incorporating the complex architectural criteria.

Innovations/accomplishments

The precast concrete producer was able to match the exterior of the building with the surrounding historic architecture of Alpharetta using brick wall panels while also being efficient in cost and time. Featuring first-floor retail space of its own, the deck is a total precast concrete structure, including brick-faced architectural wall panels which cleverly disguise its function and complement the neighboring old town architecture. Tindall saved time and money on this project by using embedded brick instead of field-laid brick.