“Heartwood is a vision of those who dared to see the forest through the trees. A place with a purpose—to engage people and the landscape together in an inspired way of living that enhances the lifestyle that organically exists. Heartwood emerged naturally from the old soul that is Richmond Hill, Georgia.”
And The Greenery’s Construction Team was honored to play a role in helping to make the vision of Heartwood into reality for the community. Our team was recently involved in the beautiful landscape construction transformation that took place at Heartwood Outfitter’s Center and Ogeechee Park.
Phase 1 of the project was completed in about a year with our team installing a one-of-a-kind park space anchored in the heart of Richmond Hill’s growing Exit 82 and Belfast Keller area. The Outfitter’s Center and Park spaces will anchor one of the most diverse footprints in the Coastal Georgia area.
Over the duration of the project, The Greenery team worked diligently on the landscape development and planting, stormwater reallocation irrigation systems, pond aquatic plantings as well as the landscape lighting.
According to Rick Sotiropoulos LIC, The Greenery’s Director of Landscape Construction, he saw The Greenery’s construction team shine in several ways. Their collaboration with the owner/developer, general contractor, site contractor and landscape architect was second to none allowing the project to run smoothly and with very little setbacks. The team’s operational capacity and ability to modify and extend scope from the original contract was exceptional. In the landscape construction, you always have to be flexible!
In addition, the construction team took extra care to consider long term implications to the development and the landscape as well as the sustainable impacts on the environment.
Some of the key project elements included:
- The Outfitter’s Center: the anchor of the development and the event lawn will host a wide variety of activities for the entire community.
- Stormwater pond reallocation: a six-acre stormwater pond was turned into an active reallocation of irrigation water source for the development area.
- “The Hill”: a waste soil area turned into an integral recreation area to the community trail systems including trees, grass trails and a vista look-out over the community.
- Community trail systems: integrated into this phase of development, they connect the active and passive spaces of the community.
Site and construction schedule as well as weather impacts on the development were a challenge during the project. However, our team overcame these hurdles by being flexible and nimble to adjust our implementation to finish even when we had impacts beyond our control. Using “outside the box” and creative methods, we were able to adjust in real time and reduce long delays.
“We were honored to work with such a great group of talented people including: Bill Cunningham of Raydient Places (owner/developer); Eric Pohlmann, PLA, and Lauren Cline of LandDesign (Landscape Architects); Todd Mayo of Omega Construction of Savannah (General Contractor); and Matt Hilton of Preferred Site Construction. Without our combined efforts, the project would not have been so successful” said Rick Sotiropoulos.
In addition to Rick, who oversaw the client relationship and project coordination, The Greenery team was led by Nathan Hexamer (Construction Branch Manager) and Michael Ackerman (Project Manager) who both did an outstanding job overseeing this project to fruition. We are thankful to be a part of the Team at Heartwood!
This initial project was just the first phase of the vision of Heartwood with several other phases to come in the future and some very exciting plans. The Greenery hopes to continue to work with Heartwood to see the completion of this amazing community and the dream of Heartwood come true! More to come at Heartwood…