Forget the fancy suites and luxurious clubs. It’s the bones, muscle and veins of the Atlanta Braves’ new SunTrust Park that cost the most.
The steel, concrete, electrical and plumbing systems — or the “bricks and sticks” construction costs — amount to 44 percent of the stadium’s $462 million guaranteed maximum price.
Concrete is the big-daddy line item at $92.8 million, or 20 percent of the budget, a copy of which The Atlanta Journal-Constitution obtained under the state’s open records law.
Chris Britton, project director for American Builders 2017, said his team has put in place a lot of that muscle and guts.
“Based on cost, we are approximately 20 percent complete” through the end of June, Britton said. “The underground mechanical, electrical and plumbing is nearly complete with the (concrete) slab on grade following closely behind.
“We are currently working on the elevated concrete structure and have started … work beneath the elevated concrete structure” in the outfield, he said.
The guaranteed maximum price, or GMP, was negotiated between the Braves and their construction manager. It doesn’t impact Cobb County’s promise of $368 million toward construction and $35 million for 30 years of maintenance.
The budget for the overall stadium project is $672 million — a figure that includes things such as soft costs for attorneys and architects, and parking outside of the stadium’s footprint.
Included in the GMP is everything inside the stadium — from $24 million for scoreboards, sound and video to $29 million for drywall and masonry. The playing field will cost $3.6 million; the seats, $5.2 million; the elevators, $6.1 million.
There will be $230,000 worth of caulk.
The project also has $18 million dedicated to contingency, including $2.3 million for project “acceleration.”Britton said that type of specialized contingency is used in many kinds of projects, not just stadiums.
“It is a safety net … due to the critical nature of making sure projects are completed on time,” Britton said. “It can be used for a variety of unforeseen or uncontrollable reasons.”
Overtime often causes budgets to expand when projects fall behind schedule. The stadium, along with a large portion of the private, mixed-use development, is scheduled to open in April 2017.
Cobb County Manager David Hankerson recently told commissioners that there are about 250 workers on the site daily, and about 68 percent of the $375 million in contracts awarded so far have gone to Cobb firms. Hankerson also said there has been no lost work days at the site due to injuries.
Other big ticket items at the stadium include $29.5 million for the construction management staff salaries and reimbursable expenses; $23 million for the HVAC system; and $16.6 million to clear the site.
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