Mass Timber Gains Ground in the Southeastern United States

Mass timber construction has gained remarkable momentum across the United States over the past decade, but the southeastern region holds particular promise given its abundant forest resources and expanding manufacturing infrastructure. While many high profile mass timber projects such as the Ascent in Milwaukee and Bowdoin College buildings in Maine have relied on imported European spruce, a deliberate shift toward locally sourced materials is now emerging. The recent completion of 619 Ponce in Atlanta demonstrates that developers can successfully combine regional timber resources with nearby processing plants to produce competitive mass timber buildings without relying on transatlantic supply chains. This project represents a tangible step forward for structural timber engineering using sawn lumber, glulam, and cross laminated timber sourced entirely from within the state of Georgia.

The Rise of Regional Mass Timber Manufacturing

The number of mass timber production plants in North America has grown exponentially from only four facilities to nearly 40 within the last decade. This rapid expansion reflects growing demand for engineered wood products in commercial, institutional, and residential construction. Much of the early growth concentrated in the Pacific Northwest, which benefits from established forestry industries and proximity to western timber markets. The Southeast, however, is beginning to close that gap as new production capacity comes online. A pivotal development was the opening of SmartLam’s mass timber plant in Dothan, Alabama, in 2020, which has the capacity to produce several million board feet of cross laminated timber and glulam annually. This investment in advanced construction materials including fiber reinforced polymers and mass timber engineering has made it feasible for Southeastern projects to source materials regionally rather than importing from established European manufacturers.

The Dothan plant was SmartLam’s second facility in North America, and Maine was initially a contender to host it. However, Dothan won out due to lower labor and lumber costs, as well as ample room for on site expansion. This decision underscores the economic advantages that the Southeast offers for mass timber manufacturing. The region’s combination of accessible timberlands, favorable business climate, and improving transportation infrastructure creates a strong foundation for a self sustaining mass timber supply chain.

The 619 Ponce Project as a Regional Benchmark

619 Ponce is a four story mixed use building located in Atlanta’s Old Fourth Ward neighborhood. Designed by Handel Architects for developer Jamestown, the building comprises 115,000 square feet of combined office and retail space, on site daycare facilities, medical services, and direct access to the city’s BeltLine trail system. What distinguishes this project from earlier mass timber developments is its supply chain. Every component of the timber structure, nearly 1,750 cubic meters or 741,184 board feet of CLT panels and glulam beams, was sourced from Georgia grown southern yellow pine. This makes 619 Ponce the first mass timber project in the state built entirely with local timber and a regional manufacturing supply chain.

The project is targeting net zero carbon operations alongside LEED v4 Core and Shell certification and Fitwel accreditation. These ambitious environmental goals would still be achievable with timber imported from Canada or Europe, but the local sourcing strategy amplifies the sustainability benefits substantially. Jamestown estimates that the building’s overall emissions are reduced by 60 percent compared to an equivalent structure built with European wood. The growing appetite for such large scale sustainable developments is evident in other sectors as well, as demonstrated by Walmart’s largest mass timber corporate campus, signaling that institutional investors and major corporations are embracing the material for their flagship projects.

The project features several notable design and construction elements that showcase the versatility of mass timber:

• Exposed CLT ceilings and glulam columns create warm, biophilic interior spaces that research links to improved occupant wellbeing
• Prefabricated timber components reduced construction site disruption and shortened the overall build schedule compared to conventional steel or concrete methods
• The building integrates seamlessly with Atlanta’s BeltLine, providing ground floor retail that activates the pedestrian corridor
• On site daycare and medical facilities reduce the need for building occupants to commute for routine services

Navigating Supply Chain and Cost Challenges

One of the central obstacles to mass timber adoption in the Southeast has been the cost disparity between locally sourced and imported timber. Despite having some of the most productive forests in the country, the region historically lacked the processing infrastructure needed to convert raw timber into engineered mass timber products. European plants have been operating for 20 to 30 years and have refined their processes to achieve high levels of efficiency and reliability. As a result, it was often cheaper for U.S. developers to import CLT and glulam from Austria or Germany than to source from domestic suppliers. Lauren Piepho, a structural engineer with HGA who worked on the Bowdoin College mass timber buildings, noted that her team incorporated the carbon impact of transatlantic shipping into their life cycle analysis precisely because the European supply chain was the most viable option at the time.

Jamestown’s president Michael Phillips highlighted the fundamental challenge: putting aside the carbon impacts of transatlantic shipping, it was cheaper to source timber from over 3,000 miles away than from local forests. To change this equation, Jamestown worked closely with Georgia Pacific to develop an end to end solution that could compete on price. The Georgia sourced sawtimber was transported about 90 miles southeast to Georgia Pacific’s sawmill in Albany, where it was converted to lumber. From there, the lumber traveled 85 miles west to the SmartLam plant in Dothan, Alabama, where it was manufactured into CLT panels and glulam beams and columns. This tightly integrated supply chain kept transportation distances relatively short and avoided the emissions associated with overseas shipping. Research into cross laminated timber in tall buildings continues to validate that the material properties make mass timber a structurally viable system even for larger projects beyond the four story typology.

The cost dynamics of mass timber construction involve several interrelated factors:

1. Material costs: CLT and glulam carry a premium over conventional steel or concrete, though this gap is narrowing as domestic production scales up
2. Labor costs: Prefabricated timber components require fewer workers on site and reduce construction timelines, offsetting some of the material premium
3. Transportation costs: Domestic supply chains eliminate the substantial shipping costs and carbon tariffs associated with European imports
4. Rental premiums: Tenants consistently pay higher rents for mass timber spaces, improving project economics for developers who invest in local supply chains
5. Investor appeal: International investors showed strong interest in 619 Ponce, with all project investors being non U.S. based entities drawn to the environmental and social governance credentials

Sustainability and Carbon Accounting in Mass Timber

The environmental credentials of mass timber construction are not automatic. They depend heavily on sourcing decisions, manufacturing methods, and the full life cycle accounting of carbon emissions. Importing European timber for U.S. projects results in significantly higher upfront transportation emissions that diminish the carbon benefits of using wood instead of steel or concrete. The 619 Ponce project demonstrates what is possible when supply chains are optimized for regional sourcing, achieving a 60 percent reduction in overall emissions compared to a building constructed with European timber. The key advantages of local sourcing extend beyond transportation savings to encompass broader sustainability metrics.

Beyond the project specific benefits, the available timber supply in the United States provides a strong foundation for expanded mass timber construction. A 2022 peer reviewed study published in the journal Sustainability analyzed sustainable timber supply for mass timber applications and concluded that forest growth rates in the U.S. far exceed harvest rates. Even under the most optimistic projections for mass timber growth combined with the lowest estimates of harvestable coniferous inventory, forest growth would still exceed harvest rates by 18 percent. This margin provides ample room for the industry to scale without compromising forest health. Developers and designers interested in scalable timber engineering using LVL and CLT systems can draw confidence from these data when planning mixed use building projects that incorporate mass timber elements.

Building Regional Capacity and Future Prospects

For mass timber to achieve widespread adoption across the Southeast, several interconnected factors must align. Manufacturing capacity must continue expanding to reduce the cost premium over imported alternatives. Developers must demonstrate willingness to invest in regional supply chains rather than defaulting to established European sources. Building codes and fire rating approvals need to accommodate the growing body of evidence supporting heavy timber assemblies in taller structures. Cathy Pfeiffenberger, head of development and construction at Jamestown, emphasized that European plants have decades of operational experience and proven reliability, which makes them the low risk choice for many developers. Changing this procurement pattern requires proving that regional solutions can match that reliability while delivering superior environmental and economic outcomes.

Michael Phillips characterized the 619 Ponce project as a test, but not of the building itself. The real test was the pipeline: the network of forests, sawmills, manufacturers, and logistics providers that must work together to deliver a mass timber building using entirely regional resources. He expressed confidence that this pipeline model can be replicated for projects throughout the Southeast, potentially becoming a branded outcome with a specific product identifier. The timberlands that Jamestown manages across Georgia, Alabama, New York, Pennsylvania, and Indiana provide a existing resource base for scaling this approach. All of these lands are managed under the latest SFI Forest Management Standard, ensuring that increased timber harvesting for mass timber production aligns with responsible forestry practices. Recent cross laminated timber structural innovations continue to expand the design possibilities for modern mass timber construction, giving architects and engineers more tools to work with.

Key milestones for the continued growth of mass timber in the Southeast include:

• Expansion of CLT and glulam production capacity at existing plants such as SmartLam’s Dothan facility
• Development of new manufacturing plants in other Southeastern states to reduce transportation distances further
• Workforce training programs for mass timber design, engineering, and installation to build regional expertise
• Continued research into the structural performance of southern yellow pine CLT for taller and more complex buildings
• Integration of mass timber with other sustainable building technologies such as passive house design and on site renewable energy

Conclusion

The 619 Ponce project serves as a compelling proof of concept for regional mass timber supply chains in the southeastern United States. By demonstrating that local timber, regional processing infrastructure, and developer commitment can produce a commercially successful building with superior environmental performance, it opens the door for similar projects throughout the region. The building’s achievement of the highest rental rates in Atlanta proves that sustainable construction does not require compromising financial returns. As Phillips noted, the pipeline itself was the test, and the results indicate that a scalable model exists for future developments. With abundant forest resources, expanding manufacturing capacity, and growing market demand for sustainable buildings, the Southeast is well positioned to become a significant hub for mass timber construction in the coming years. The combination of favorable timber economics, improving production technology, and strong tenant demand for healthy, low carbon spaces creates a virtuous cycle that benefits developers, occupants, and the environment alike.