Site Development for Tallahassee Chipotle

Challenge

The site started as raw land with a sharp grade decline that couldn’t support a building as-is. Before anything vertical could go up, the parcel needed full infrastructure, including roads, drainage, water, and sewer. Plus, significant earthwork was needed to balance the elevation. The site also contained protected tree zones that couldn’t be disturbed during clearing.

Approach

We began with a digital terrain model comparing existing grade against the engineered plans, which generated a cut-and-fill sheet telling us exactly how much material was needed and where. This site called for roughly 2,000 yards of fill, which was about 100 dump truck loads spread across three to four weeks. From there, the work moved through its natural sequence: land clearing with tree protection, storm drainage (installed early, since it’s one of the first things the municipality inspects), earthwork, underground utilities including water, sewer, and a lift station, then subgrade, base, curbing, sidewalk, and paving. Inspections and erosion control ran continuously at every stage.

Result

The project ran smoothly from start to finish with no surprises. The curb and building pad are in, and the location is on track to open in September. Throughout the job, we maintained constant communication with the GC’s superintendents, adjusting to look-aheads and field changes as they came up.