Cote Village Development, Mattapan, Massachusetts
GZA was hired by a confidential client to perform environmental and geotechnical investigations for the redevelopment of an abandoned and distressed property in the Mattapan Neighborhood of Boston. GZA’s engineering challenge was assisting our client in converting an abandoned and distressed site that had been used for automobile sales and services for nearly half a century and then was vacant for more than 20 years into an award-winning affordable housing development. GZA utilized, integrated, and combined; environmental, remediation, demolition, and geotechnical engineering services to address the numerous site development challenges. The proposed redevelopment consisted of four townhome buildings and a mid-rise residential apartment building featuring 76 residential units, an above-grade parking garage, approximately 2,000 square feet of commercial and 1,980 square feet of community spaces. To facilitate this work, GZA provided geotechnical, demolition, and environmental services including the design of a sub-slab depressurization system below the proposed townhome buildings to prevent contaminated soil vapors from entering the buildings. Additionally, GZA provided onsite environmental and geotechnical engineering services during construction and facilitated the management of multiple unforeseen subsurface conditions that became apparent mid-construction.
The site challenges included identification and abatement of hazardous materials prior to demolition, management and disposal of contaminated soils during construction, soil vapor mitigation in the residential building footprint, loose urban fills not suitable for building support and shallow bedrock. GZA assisted the project team from initial design through construction to address the many issues and needs for the very complex and ever-changing site conditions. GZA is proud of our contributions to this project and believes the results exemplify our commitment to providing comprehensive and innovative engineering services. As a result of the efforts of GZA, the project team, and the general contractor; the owner was able to redevelop an abandoned, former automobile dealership and services property into an impactful and award-winning affordable housing development with a complimentary setting for the growing neighborhood of Mattapan (Boston). Despite stringent environmental regulations related to building residential communities on former commercial and industrial sites, GZA, with the help of the project team and several specialty contractors, was able to guide the owner in navigating the applicable environmental regulations, perform the necessary remediation, and address the Site geotechnical challenges seamlessly.