Turner Construction to Build Botanical Garden Guest Welcome Center

Turner Construction’s Huntsville office has been selected to build the new guest welcome center at the iconic Huntsville Botanical Garden. The $13 million, 30,000-sq-ft building will include a great hall entrance, three event facilities, a larger gift shop and café, storage and office space. Turner, a member of multiple AGC chapters, broke ground on the project in January.

"We have been part of the Huntsville community for 60 years. The Botanical Garden guest welcome center marks the latest on a long list of significant projects we’ve been fortunate to build in Northern Alabama," said Turner project executive Lee Holland. "Others on that list include the Davidson Center for Space Exploration and its freestanding Saturn V rocket, the Von Braun Center, ADTRAN, the Huntsville Chamber of Commerce, Raytheon and the Huntsville Public Library, to name a few."

The welcome center will resemble a traditional Southern-style home that resonates with the region’s heritage and charm. With the space to accommodate up to 350 guests, the Grand Hall is the largest of the welcome center’s three rental facilities – and one of the largest private event rental venues in the area. The Carriage House can hold more than 150 guests and provides an informal setting with an outdoor feeling. For more intimate events, the Glass Conservatory can accommodate around 50 guests. Starting in March 2016, the Botanical Garden will begin taking 2017 reservations for these venues.

"This project is a game changer for the Garden," said Paula Steigerwald, CEO of Huntsville Botanical Garden. "The welcome center will serve as an area for visitors to gather together and enjoy the world-class botanical gardens we have. Our goal is to give the absolute best to the Huntsville community – and with Turner’s history and success in the community, we know its team will deliver."

The design team includes Matheny Goldmon Architecture + Interior, 4Site Incorporated, PEC Structural Engineering and SSOE Group.

The new welcome center is expected to be complete in early 2017. Key to Turner’s ability to deliver the highest quality result in the shortest amount of time is its expertise in using Building Information Modeling (BIM) technology, which allows Turner to plan down to the centimeter exactly how the building will go together.

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Associated General Contractors of America
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