Celebration Pointe

Celebration Pointe is a large mixed-use development that contains space for retail, restaurants, offices, residential, hotel, and entertainment facilities. It is located adjacent to the I-75 corridor in Gainesville, Florida on a 225 acre site. In addition to the commercial and residential construction, the project includes massive site work preparation and the construction of a new bridge spanning I-75 to connect the development with surrounding communities.

Developed and constructed in multiple phases, this mixed-use development contains outlet retail, restaurants, commercial office buildings, multifamily residential and assisted living units, a hotel, entertainment venues including a 10-screen theater, and a large town center with open green space. The walkable urban-style environment attracts residents and tourists alike. We started with the massive site work portion of the project which was needed prior to construction of the 1.3 million square foot first phase of the development.

Part of the initial development also included building a bridge over I-75 to give shoppers an alternative entrance to the development. The design for the bridge required two structural piers to support the concrete bridge beams. The piers are cast in place on top of a series of concrete piles, which are made off-site, delivered to the project, and then driven into the ground. Our team recognized a challenge that could potentially threaten the schedule. Due to the geology in the Gainesville area, there was a high probability the concrete piles would not achieve their proper bearing strength and would require splices to be attached in the field. This method is often done on a case-by-case basis, and splices are ordered only for the piles that need them. Our team recognized this process would not allow us to maintain the schedule as we would spend valuable time waiting on each splice to be cast, delivered to the site, and set into the existing piles.

We held multiple meetings and work sessions and developed cost-benefit analyses. As a result, the team found a way to pre-cast one end of the splice on top of each pile. Although costlier on the front end, the investment quickly paid for itself in the time it saved during construction. Ultimately, 23 of the 24 piles required splices and because of our team’s efforts to find a quicker method, we were able to complete the project on time and within budget.