With a legacy spanning four decades, the nation’s leading trailer and auto hauler manufacturer, Cottrell Trailers, expands and redefines what’s possible for the future of the manufacturing industry with its new production facility in Gainesville, Georgia. Featuring 522,000 SF of manufacturing and assembly space, 23,000 SF of office space, and a DOT bridge reaching 100 feet at its tallest point and stretching nearly 600 linear feet, this addition to Cottrell’s campus literally and figuratively bridges the brand’s past with its future growth. In each step of this multi-phase construction process, the Choate team guided the project forward with the goal of speed to market in mind, leveraging innovative site analysis, strategic planning, and creative design to optimize Cottrell Trailer’s production capabilities.

Moving Mountains

The first step in this monumental project was readying the ground for the development. Due to the client’s delivery goals, wetland permitting, and the location of the project atop a mountain, the team developed a phased approach to the extensive earthmoving and grading required to reshape the mountain terrain and ensure a schedule with no delays. Starting in 2022 – one of the wettest winters in Gainesville’s history – the team cut the mountain in half and began the massive grading needed for Cottrell’s new manufacturing facility. In the end, more than 1,800,000 CY of dirt and rock was moved, but not removed.

Rather than remove the graded earth from the site, the team chose an innovative approach and reused 35% of the blasted rock for soil stabilization, with the remainder repurposed across the site. This undertaking required 30 graders to work simultaneously for nearly 40 weeks, saving the project more than $2 million. Through a detailed site analysis, the Choate team guided trade partners in the cut-and-fill process (up to 60 feet for both) to adjust the final contours and create a balanced site for long-term stability.

Going Beyond Construction

Beyond serving as the general contracting partner for this project, the Choate team became the facilitator and guiding point at every facet of this new business venture for Cottrell, building a deep level of trust to execute a successful project and ultimately deliver a product that will alter the course of the manufacturer’s future and solidifying its industry-leading position for decades. Helping the client navigate uncharted waters, including introductions to the design community and process engineering experts, the project team’s innovation, thoughtful project management approach, transparent communication, and ingenuity ensured the client’s vision became a reality.