Hank Aaron BMW

Hank’s Latest Home Run

Baseball legend Hank Aaron and BMW of North America have teamed up to turn heads in Greater Atlanta.

Living Up To The Brand: The building exudes quality.

Adaptable Floor Plan: The Landmark^™2000 structural system minimizes interior columns.

Future Proof: The building is designed to grow along with the business.

The Right Building For The Business

Above and Beyond Design

As the first new United States franchise awarded in 10 years, Hank Aaron BMW in Union City, Georgia, sets a standard for BMW’s corporate identity program. With its contemporary design and European flair, the dealership commands attention while offering clients a professional, relaxed car-buying atmosphere.

“It’s magnificent,” Aaron says of his first automobile dealership. “It goes above and beyond BMW requirements with its very clean, classic lines.”

The building embodies BMW’s persona with its inimitable look, feel and philosophy.

“The way this building is built, you can see it’s a BMW dealership without ever seeing a BMW sign.”
Sid Barron, Hank Aaron BMW

In fact, the dealership is held up as a corporate prototype and has been visited by BMW dealers from across the country.

Randy E. Pimsler, AIA, of Pimsler Hoss Architects, Inc. in Atlanta, was the architect, in partnership with Miller Zell Inc., an Atlanta-based firm specializing in integrated store design and development. Pimsler and Miller Zell worked with Rainwater Construction Co., a Butler Builder^reg; in Atlanta, to create the modified design/build project.

Located one mile off Interstate 85 adjacent to Fayette Co.—the highest per capita income county in the state—Hank Aaron BMW enjoys high visibility. With an inventory of nearly 50 new vehicles and another 40 pre-owned BMWs displayed around the sleek building, it quickly attracts buyers’ attention.

BMW advocates key concepts for a successful sales image, Pimsler says. Central to the design is a three-point customer contact area where the showroom, service area and retail parts section are easily visible. “Clean lines of sight, an open environment and minimizing the number of walls to allow spaces to flow together are essential,” he explains.

Surprising Flexibility

Pimsler found the building’s Landmark^™ 2000 structural framing system, which provides wide bays, very adaptable to this open floor plan. “Initially, I would not have expected a pre-engineered building to be this flexible,” he says.

The building also features weathertight, long-lasting CMR-24^® and MR-24^® standing seam roof systems. The exterior walls were built with the factory-insulated StylWall^® II flat wall system.

Pimsler liked the attractive and utilitarian finished interior surfaces of both the StylWall wall panels and the CMR-24 roof system, and he left the interior finish of the wall panels unpainted in the back and the ceiling of the service department exposed. The building’s liberal use of white walls, white furniture and the brushed aluminum frame of the glazing system used in the showroom also enhance its clean, 21st-century image.

Outside, the dealership’s distinctive appearance is enhanced by large white display canopies that create exterior showrooms for demonstrator vehicles. Resembling white high-tech umbrellas, the canopies protect the vehicles, as well as customers, from the elements.

Ready To Grow

When it came to choosing the best type of construction, several factors were considered, recalls Sid Barron. Meeting BMW’s criteria was the primary concern. “BMW’s look is very clean with no obstructions, and the Butler^® building gave us that,” he says. “We also needed to build quickly and cost-effectively, with the ability to add on. It was the simplest and easiest [kind of] building to expand.”

Six weeks after builder Ben Rainwater Jr. shook hands on the project, the steel systems were on site and being erected. And the easy expandability of the Landmark 2000 system has proven to be especially important.

Barron says numbers tell the story when it comes to measuring the success of the dealership’s new corporate image: In the first 12 months of operation, Hank Aaron BMW exceeded corporate sales projections by 27 percent, and its parts department beat sales projections by 118 percent. The market share for the luxury automobile dealership has risen from 13.1 percent on opening day to 21 percent.

Since Hank Aaron also is a numbers man with a fondness for setting records, he is positioning his dealership for another winning career. As he says, “It’s my latest home run!”

Butler Builder^®

Rainwater Construction Company
rainwaterconstruction.com

Architect

Pimsler Hoss Architects