Brownfield Remediation Project Wins ACEC New York Platinum Award
The Moyer Carriage Lofts Historic Rehabilitation and Brownfield Cleanup project recently was awarded an American Council of Engineering Companies (ACEC) New York Platinum Award for Engineering Excellence. C&S managed the environmental portion of this project, located in Syracuse, New York, and was the engineer of record for the execution of the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC) Brownfield Cleanup Program (BCP). The awards are announced annually to honor firms for design achievements of superior skill and ingenuity.
The project involved the historic rehabilitation of the former Moyer Carriage and Car Companies. Located in a Brownfield Opportunity Area, designated by New York State for cleanup and reinvestment, Moyer was built circa 1900 and occupied the entire block. The company built automobiles until 1915, when they were pushed out of the market by Henry Ford. After Moyer closed, the site was occupied by businesses such as Porter Cable Tools and Penfield Manufacturing. When the project began, the buildings were in very poor condition, and the north building required a total reconstruction.
The site investigation and remediation were managed within the NYSDEC BCP. This included a remedial investigation to characterize the nature and extent of contamination, followed by site remediation. Significant chlorinated solvent impacts were identified in the courtyard, and the NYSDEC required that the soil be removed for offsite disposal. However, the material was present at depths that made excavation impractical. Therefore, a plan was formulated in coordination with the project stakeholders to address the remaining contamination in-place. A proprietary injectate was injected into the impacted area, as deep as the water table. Post-injection groundwater testing shows a greater than 90% contaminant reduction.
The project provided a high level of technical expertise, coordination with numerous stakeholders, and created cost and time savings. The finished apartment building created 128 affordable housing units, six of which are fully accessible, and 50 are for supportive housing.