Lincoln Commerce Center West

Summarize the project's program, features and achievements?

This expansive 534,000+ SF project is thoughtfully designed as a speculative industrial building, intended to seamlessly accommodate a diverse array of occupancy scenarios to ensure maximum suite flexibility for potential tenants. The building boasts a combination of materials – concrete tilt-up wall panels, bold and modern accent colors, two colors of aluminum composite material canopies and protruding concrete tilt fin panels, and ceramic tile overlay and recessed LED strip lights around the main entries. The contemporary design highlights the latest technology capable of the concrete tilt-up methodology through these varying materials, varying depths of panel overlaps, parapets, and reveal design all aiding in achieving a sense of comfort and human scale amongst its vast size, which sets a new standard for industrial speculative warehouse design.

What obstacles were overcome related to the schedule, budget, program, specification, site, etc. on this project?

The site proved to be a huge obstacle due to a creek crossing that needed to be diverted, a gas line right of way that went through the middle of the site that needed to be relocated, severe grade changes that required six retaining walls, a sewer lift station, and an area of protected sunflowers that had to remain undisturbed. Permitting challenges delayed the project by 42 days, as well as public water causing a delay of 136 days. While these permitting delays continued, the building design went through a series of value engineering exercises, while still maintaining the integrity of the design, to bring the total cost of the project down as the budget was tight. Despite these hardships and the 41 lost days due to weather, this project, along with buildings 2 and 3, and the extensive sitework was all completed on schedule in 16.5 months.

Please communicate any engineering complexities or unique features of the panel design for this project?

With the common goal of creating a cutting-edge building, the engineering team was able to accommodate multiple panel overlaps, varying panel heights, and multiple panel thicknesses to achieve the design vision. The layering of the ceramic tile and ACM materials and lighting features is flawlessly integrated into the design to emphasize the base building concrete-tilt up design. In total, this building included 12,156 SF of openings, 24,640 LF of 2" reveal, 20,100 LF of chamfer, 4,724 CY concrete, 354 tons rebar, and the heaviest panel boasts at 235,943 lbs.

What is the potential for this project's impact on the community and/or environment?

This building is the first of six buildings in the industrial park, which is in a small town outside Charlotte, NC. Not only has it created buzz and excitement around new development in this small town, but it also has created opportunities for new work opportunities among locals and commuters. Prior to completed construction, the building design already attracted two high profile potential tenants, as well as multiple smaller tenants for the smaller buildings with similar design before they even broke ground. Moreover, this concrete tilt-up building is constructed with sustainability at the forefront, ensuring longevity that surpasses other building materials with questionable durability.