Through a creative partnership of city planners, nearby communities and consulting engineers, a onetime riverside slag dump is being transformed into Pittsburgh’s largest and most noteworthy residential development since World War II. When Summerset at Frick Park is completed, this award-winning, $269 million, multiphase project will include 732 housing units on 238 acres of a former Brownfield site. Remediation of the site will benefit the City through tax revenues and elimination of a potential liability. It will benefit the environment through restoration of Nine Mile Run, and benefit the community through aesthetic improvements, new housing and recreational opportunities.

Innovative Thinking with an Enviromental Focus

Numerous innovative techniques were applied to the project’s infrastructure design and treatment of environmental issues helped the project win several awards for the City of Pittsburgh. The use of architecturally treated form liner for construction of concrete retaining walls resulted in an aesthetically pleasing structure that offers the appearance of stone, but at less cost. Nine Mile Run, the last remaining free-flowing stream in the City of Pittsburgh, was severely degraded by high alkaline seeps from the slag dump. By partnering with the Army Corps of Engineers it is undergoing a total stream restoration and revitalization to a natural habitat for fish, vegetation, and wildlife. Reduction of storm water into the sanitary system was a significant environmental issue that was resolved by separating storm and sanitary sewers and applying pollution-control, water-quality manholes to decrease the amount of sewage entering the stream. Another environmental benefit was the reuse of on-site soils as a planting medium. This not only saved thousands of dollars in importing clean fill, but the soil mixture actually decreased waste while nourishing vegetation growth to stabilize and enhance the slopes.

Revitalizing the Community 

Summerset at Frick Park is an outstanding example of a project that is responsive to public and private entities that revitalized the existing community. A task force comprised of the URA, Summerset Land Development Associates, the City of Pittsburgh, private developers, GAI Consultants, several subconsultants, and the surrounding community groups was formed a the start of the project to facilitate open discussion and impart a sense of ownership to the community. The task force continues to meets quarterly to address environmental issues and questions regarding the status of the future phases of development. By engaging citizens in the engineering and permitting process, communication was enhanced and public support maximized.

GAI Consultants is proud to be part of this collaborative effort, which reduced land and resource consumption by reusing abandoned land, is expected to generate $3.4 million annually in property and wage taxes to the City. As a result of the innovative applications and community commitments, Summerset at Frick Park has won the 2002 Awards of Distinction Project of the Year by the Engineers Society of Western Pennsylvania, the 2003 Governor’s Award for Environmental Excellence and the 2003 Pennsylvania ACEC Diamond Award for Engineering Excellence.