Aerobic Granular Sludge (AGS) is an innovative wastewater treatment technology which enables process modernization, yielding capacity and/or performance improvements within a smaller biological basin volume. The AGS technology has expanded from primarily European applications to North America in 2016 where it has been implemented to address site constraints, energy savings, and cost savings. As implementation of the AGS technology continues to gain momentum, the list of installations grows, as does the proprietary offerings by alternate suppliers. Currently, the dominant vendor, has 78 operating processes worldwide, 5 of which are in the Southeast United States as well as 20 currently under design in the United States. As the AGS process emerges as an excellent BOD/TSS treatment process and an efficient nutrient reduction strategy, there are early lessons learned for implementation of this process as standalone, as a parallel process to existing biological treatment systems, and as a retrofit of existing wastewater treatment facilities. Needing capacity expansion and facing nutrient removal requirements to Florida’s advanced wastewater treatment (AWT) standard, AGS was selected as the best fit technology at the Southwest Water Reclamation Facility (SWWRF) in Manatee County due to site constraints and the future need for more efficient nutrient removal. The SWWRF in Manatee County currently operates as a Type I Modified Ludzack-Ettinger (MLE) plant with a permitted capacity of 15 MGD. The facility is being upgraded to a capacity of 18 MGD with preparation to meet AWT targets of < 3 mg/L total nitrogen and < 1 mg/L total phosphorus limits through addition of a parallel 3 MGD AGS system and optimization of the existing plant process. Combined with optimization of the existing MLE plant including ammonia-based aeration control, the process design achieves increased capacity and performance improvements with minimal footprint and increased opportunities for energy savings through reduced aeration. This presentation will follow the case study of AGS implementation in Manatee County to demonstrate an example of AGS implementation that is relevant to similar plants throughout the Southeast. The presentation will cover key design criteria considerations, plant site impacts, what efficiencies are gained, and configuration considerations when implementing AGS as a retrofit.