Located at the corner of Mason Street and MLK Way in James Madison University’s North Campus area, the precast Mason Street Parking Deck marks the northern gateway to campus. It is used for the daily parking of permit holders and for visitors. The five-story structure (ground level plus four elevated levels) accommodates 1,025 vehicles. The parking deck’s collegiate Georgian style of architecture references the character and detailing of nearby historic campus buildings.

The project site was surrounded on two sides by high traffic volume streets and on the other two sides by construction sites. This, coupled with a very tight site footprint, required extensive planning by the project team to ensure that obstructions and delays were not felt by the public or the other construction projects. This planning was vital during the precast phase, as the team coordinated the need to keep the crane productive on a quickly shrinking footprint in a congested area.

Donley’s rented a space near the site where the precast could be stored and built up over time. This separate space allowed the project team and its subcontractors to coordinate deliveries of the precast between busy class schedules and times of heavy congestion, as well as coordinate with the other construction sites so that we did not block each other with our deliveries. This staging planning was key in completing precast construction two weeks ahead of schedule.