Location: 13751 Hamilton Avenue - Highland Park
Concrete Contractor: Fessler & Bowman
Concrete Supplier: Superior Materials
Prime Contractor: Oliver/Hatcher Construction
Design Engineer: Carnaghi Structural Consulting
Project Owner: Ashley Capital
Means Logistics Park is a 446,500 square foot warehouse and distribution facility located on a brownfield site developed by Ashley Capital and constructed by Oliver / Hatcher Construction. The property is situated at the corner of The Lodge/M-10 and Davidson/M-8 with visibility from both highways. The site is five miles from downtown Detroit, six miles from the GM-Detroit Hamtramck Assembly, and nine miles from the new FCA Mack Engine assembly location. The project moved forward speculatively, with a design for the slab-on-grade that allowed the developer to have a large market of prospective tenants.
The combination of speed of installation, multi-organizational coordination, extensive focus on quality control, and progressive design solutions makes the Means Logistics Park slab stand by itself as an example of success in commercial flatwork. The 421,790 square feet of warehouse space was placed in only 7 placements, which included what all parties involved believe to be the largest single placement of interior flatwork in state of Michigan history. The remarkable 120,000 square foot placement required 2,531 cubic yards of concrete and 22,800 pounds of Helix Steel fibers provided at over 300 cubic yards per hour by 68 trucks from 4 ready-mix plants.
The project was completed with values that exceed the specification for concrete design strength, floor flatness and levelness, and high-performance burnished finish. The slab tested out with an average floor flatness of 62 and floor levelness of 51. Helix Steel fibers were utilized for increased load capacity and flexural beam breaks averaged 825 pounds per square inch (PSI) on this project. It is a showpiece of what is possible in the concrete construction industry with top-notch coordination between concrete and general contractors, design partners, and ready-mix suppliers. The slab design consisted of 7-inch-thick concrete with 9 pounds per cubic yard of Helix Steel fiber, and diamond dowel reinforcement plates at all the joints. The total slab was approximately 9,700 cubic yards.
Large commercial flatwork carries significant quality risk and a placement of over 120,000 square feet without compromising quality can only be completed by experienced professionals. The pre-pour planning, testing, and communication throughout all placements mitigated these risks while pushing the boundaries. The project's location was not only serviceable by four Superior Materials ready-mix plants, but it also allowed for the same supplier to provide redundancy in material without variation in design. Coupled with the uniform mix and the speed of placement by the crew from Fessler & Bowman, this allowed for the work to be completed by a single crew in one day.
Slab-on-grade was placed through a direct discharge, truck placed method. The steel fiber design eliminated the need for rebar which would have dramatically slowed the installation. A combination of laser screed equipment, including Somero S-22 and S-28 screeds, was utilized.
The development is a total transformation of the 34-acre site from more than 270 residential parcels, many of which were abandoned, into a new industrial facility. The efforts by Ashley Capital and Oliver / Hatcher Construction to renew this property from blight into a new asset for the cities of Highland Park and Detroit is a welcomed economic boost to the region.
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