The Speculative 9/IG Design Group project is located in the Global Gateway Logistics (GGLC) campus. GGLC is an industrial park on a 1,500-acre site that straddles the Mississippi-Tennessee border. The initial plan was to develop a 554,000 square foot distribution facility for Panattoni Development and CBRE. We broke ground in September 2019.
The Alston team encountered its first obstacle at the start of the slab pour and wall installation. The facility was sold to the gift wrapping and packaging giant, IG Design Group. The transaction took place in only one and half months since IG Design Group had big plans and lot of changes for this project to meet their operations’ needs. Once the dotted line was signed, they contracted Alston to build a 338,286 square foot expansion to the facility.
Starting as a speculative building and empty distribution warehouse, the Speculative 9/IG Design Group Building project quickly transformed into what will be one of the world’s largest supplier of gift wrapping supplies flagship facilities. When we received the plans for this expansion, they were napkin sketches, and with our extensive design-build experience, we easily collaborated with the operations and facility leaders to plan and design a facility that would meet their needs. Not only did they need the expansion for future needs, they needed to move into the facility as soon as possible to meet the holiday gift wrapping demand. Their distribution remained operational the span of the expansion/tenant improvement project, and during the holidays, the Alston team worked with their operations to ensure 100-150 trucks could safely move in and out of the facility per day. Since most of their product is paper and other highly flammable products, our team created a plan to install the electric scope and other fire hazard scope with a temporary fire wall that expanded the entirety of the building’s width to separate the construction indoors from their operations.
To overcome the challenges that came from the transaction, we practiced constant communication with IG Design Group and all project stakeholders. No matter how thought-out or planned a project may be, things that couldn’t be foreseen may still occur. That is why for a construction firm to be successful, it must know how to both plan and adapt. The Alston team adapted and collaborated to meet these new circumstances and help us deliver the facility on time and within budget.