Southeast City Scoop: Atlanta Construction Starts

Healthcare projects, such as these support buildings for Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, continue to boost the city’s construction market.

*IMAGE COURTESY JE DUNN CONSTRUCTION*

The Emory Proton Therapy Center, a project seven years in the making, became operational in late 2018 and is now delivering treatment to cancer patients.

*IMAGE COURTESY STANTEC*

City Grill

Mike Bartlett
Executive Vice President
JE Dunn Construction

Though some Atlanta contractors have been bracing for a slowdown, there still appears to be only increasing business opportunity ahead. As Dodge Data & Analytics’ 2019 forecast shows in the chart included here, the value of new contracts in the year ahead should reach a five-year high.

Indeed, Atlanta’s 2019 construction market “still looks quite robust,” says Bartlett. “It appears the momentum will continue in 2019, though maybe not as frenetic.” The contractor’s own internal data predicts that the pace of new work will slow in 2020 and then flatten out in 2021, Bartlett adds.

Throughout 2018, the pace of new awards was “consistently very busy,” he says, adding that “2019 looks to continue the trend. Overall, it feels like it’s increasing.”

Multifamily remains an active market, Bartlett says, as does the health care market. For example, Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta hired JE Dunn as construction manager for two support buildings totaling nearly 600,000 sq ft., pictured at left.

Bartlett sees similar opportunity throughout the Southeast region.

“Overall, it’s the best construction market I have ever seen in terms of the number of projects and the diversity in project types.”

Firm in Focus

Stantec
229 Peachtree St. N.E., Ste. 100, Atlanta,
Executive Vice President: Mike Kennedy
Founded: 1954
What’s New: The Emory Proton Therapy Center, a project seven years in the making, became operational in late 2018 and is now delivering treatment to cancer patients. Stantec, recognized as a specialist in the field of particle therapy centers, provided the architectural design for the facility, which features five treatment rooms capable of providing proton-beam therapy to up to 1,700 patients, including children, annually, the firm says. Stantec worked with the Winship Cancer Institute of Emory University and the center’s owner, Provident Resources Group, along with engineering partners Bard, Rao + Athanas Consulting Engineers and Goldstein-Milano Structural Engineers. Located in Midtown Atlanta, the three-story, 115,000-sq-ft facility also features 20,000 sq ft of retail space surrounding a 200-space parking garage.