The Cleveland, Ohio skyline will soon be changing for the first time since 1991. Over the next year, residents of the Cleveland area will watch the second tallest building in the city be constructed, and Atwell completed the surveying work to bring this project to life. Standing 40 stories tall, the Sherwin Williams global headquarters will be a transformational glass building, reflecting the beauty of the downtown area off its exterior. The new building falls second to the Key Tower, which rises 57 stories to the top of its spire in the Cleveland skyline.

This new development will reach one million square feet, with three buildings in total, including the tower, the pavilion, and a multi-level parking garage. The tower will soon be abuzz with the movement of more than 3,000 employees working from the headquarters. Atwell has been involved in the project since late 2021 and will be until major construction comes to a close in early 2024.

The project partnership began largely due to a decades-long relationship between Rocky Porterfield, Senior Surveyor at Atwell, and the team at Welty-Gilbane; a 20-year relationship, to be exact. That strong relationship coupled with a well-written bid led to Atwell’s opportunity to work on this incredible project as well as increase Atwell’s presence within the construction community in the Cleveland area.

“Our Party Chief, Brett Spangler, and I were there from the beginning,” said Porterfield. “We set all the control and benchmarks before any of the construction started. They were still demoing the parking lots that were there. We went around to the other skyscrapers to climb up on their roofs and set survey prisms.”

It went from doing the control and being the “Master Surveyor” to now doing almost everybody’s layout, from laying out and as-builting drilled shafts to bedrock in the beginning, to laying out sleeves and hangers for the trades on each floor going up. Office support for the layout and as-builts, project management, and contracting for the project is provided by Marc Trotter, Associate Director, Michael Shelestovich, Project Surveyor, and Petar Erak, Associate Director.

“In addition to the tower site, there’s also a five-story garage going up to the north of the tower, as well as a two-story pavilion going in to the east,” Porterfield added. “We’re doing surveying work on all of it.”

Not only is the project an exciting undertaking for Atwell, it’s also an exciting time for the city itself. The Sherwin Williams global headquarters construction is the first major construction the city has seen in 32 years. The building is history in the making, and Rocky Porterfield is grateful to be part of it. His ultimate goal? To make an even larger impact in the city of Cleveland.