Chicago, IL
GSG was retained by Rosenwald Courts, LP to perform environmental engineering services for the redevelopment of the Rosenwald Courts building, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Rosenwald Courts Apartments was designed by the architect of the Adler Planetarium, Ernest Grunsfeld, Jr. in 1929 and has been the address of such towering figures such as Joe Louis, Gwendolyn Brooks, Nat King Cole and other professionals in the Chicago’s African American Community. After a long decline, Rosenwald Courts closed in 1999.
The project converted the existing dilapidated 454-unit vacant building covering an entire city block between 46th and 47th, Wabash and Michigan into a renovated Rosenwald Courts, with 239 one and two- bedroom units of senior and family housing with a two-acre professionally landscaped interior courtyard. There are also approximately 40,000 gross square feet of retail and office space along 47th street / Wabash Avenue and three parking lots on Wabash and Michigan offering residents and retail tenants 150 parking spaces. Funding for this $132 Million restoration project is provided by the City of Chicago, Chicago Housing Authority, and private organizations.
GSG’s services included performing multiple Phase I ESAs, Phase II ESAs, SRP-related investigations, geotechnical investigations, preparation of project design plans (including soil remediation, hazardous materials abatement and Underground Storage Tank (UST) removal, Hazardous Building Materials survey including asbestos and lead, UST removal for each parcel and remediation oversight for each parcel in order to obtain No Further Remediation (NFR) letters for each of the three related parcels associated with the development. GSG completed Comprehensive Site Investigations (CSI) for each parcel which included subsurface soil and groundwater investigations and geophysical surveys. CSI/ROR/RAP reports were generated detailing the investigations performed.
During the construction activities, GSG performed oversight of the remedial activities which included the excavation and removal of on-site soils from the individual parcels and multiple USTs including two 45,000-gallon heating oil USTs, one 300-gallon gasoline UST, one 1,000-gallon heating oil UST, and four 4,000-gallon gasoline USTs. Additionally, GSG provided design and oversight services for the abatement of lead and asbestos containing materials from the existing buildings. Upon completion of the remedial and construction activities, multiple Remedial Action Comprehensive Reports (RACR) were authored for the individual parcels and GSG secured NFR Letters for residential use of the property.
