Commercial
Case Study: Riverfront Village Multi-Use Development
TTL was contracted by Chance Partners to provide Civil Engineering services for the 7.5-acre Riverfront Village Multi-Use Development that includes multistory, multifamily residential, ground floor commercial/retail space, wrapped parking deck, and hotel overlooking the Black Warrior River. The project consists of 4 separate buildings and is located at the northeast corner of Greensboro Avenue and Jack Warner Parkway, adjacent to the Tuscaloosa Amphitheater and downtown Tuscaloosa.
An unusual, but anticipated, challenge presented itself in that the project was to be constructed on property located almost entirely in a floodplain. The existing ground where 3 of the 4 buildings were to be constructed was below the 100 Year Floodplain Elevation as defined by Federal Emergency Management Association (FEMA) mapping. Additionally, the primary residential structure included a multistory parking deck that extended several stories above and below finished floor grade. The parking deck is wrapped by the residential units of the main building disguising it from all exterior views of the building.
This elimination of direct views of the parking deck structure was a City of Tuscaloosa requirement as part of the Riverfront Development zoning. Because all 4 buildings utilized a compact, urban development layout maximizing on-street parking, narrow streets, sidewalks, etc. to encourage pedestrian usage, the entire 7.5-acre development was raised above the 100 Year Floodplain Elevation. All City of Tuscaloosa maintained streets must meet this criteria for right-of-way dedication and maintenance. The subsurface parking structure was designed to be water-tight due to the proximity of the Black Warrior River with entrance/exits entering from elevations above the 100 Year Floodplain Elevation.
Multiple governmental approvals were required to allow for the filling of the flood plain and construction of a subsurface parking deck below the 100 Year Floodplain. The City of Tuscaloosa, as local floodplain manager, had to approve of the floodplain filling and construction of the parking deck as previously described. This required site elevations for all streets, building pads, parking deck entrance/exits to be a minimum of one foot above the 100 Year Flood Elevation demonstrated by the design plans and verified at 3 different stages by certified survey elevation certificates for site and buildings during construction. After City approval, FEMA had to approve of the same to grant a Letter of Map Revision based on Fill (LOMR-F).
Another challenge to design and construction of this type of development in a flood plain is TTL Civil Design personnel had to coordinate private utility installations and conduit designs on behalf of the developer for Alabama Power, AT&T, Comcast and Spire in addition to municipal utilities to ensure their equipment was placed at elevations above the 100 Floodplain Elevation. One unique aspect of this type of project was working within the City’s stringent requirements of its Riverfront Development process that included conditional zoning and specific regulation. TTL professionals created compact 10-foot travel ways and 8-foot parking spaces to calm traffic and encourage pedestrian usage of the entire site, landscape amenities, multimodal access including a City of Tuscaloosa bus stop, etc.
Shielding the parking structure with residential construction while maintaining access that met floodplain requirements was particularly challenging especially during construction of such a compact site mixing both public and private rights-of-ways. In addition, a zero entry pool is positioned within the envelope of the parking deck and residential wrap of the main building. The concrete pool construction occurred as the parking deck and residential wrap were nearing completion allowing for access from only one side for the construction equipment and material deliveries. All pool infrastructure was designed to not be a affected by a 100 year flood event.
TTL was ultimately successful in removing the 7.5-acre property from the floodplain and seeing the development’s total construction come to an end with the completion of the 4th and final hotel building. The final completed development consists of a Multifamily residential/parking deck building, 2 – multifamily residential/commercial retail buildings, and Hotel Indigo (a LEED-certified project).
Services completed for this project include:
- Sanitary Sewer Design
- Storm Drainage Design
- Site Utility Design
- Water Distribution Design
- Erosion Control Plan
- Construction Phase Observation
- Construction Staking Services
- Surveyed Elevation Certificates
- Land Development Permit and Subdivision Requirements Performed
- Condominium Subdivision of Residential/Commercial Building Units
- Preparation of all watermain easements and descriptions
- Preparation and Approval of Letter of Map Revision Based on Fill to FEMA
- Preparation of Required Permit Application to ADEM for an NPDES Storm Water Permit
- Preparation of Downtown/Riverfront Overlay District (DROD) Submittal