Terra-Petra Worked on Residential Component of Huntington Beach’s Pacific City

Colorado based UDR Inc, called upon Terra-Petra environment engineering in 2011 to work with the Bernards (a UDR contractor) in-house design team on Pacific Park, a $135-million shopping center and residential (mixed-use) development in Huntington Beach, California. At the onset, Bernards was faced with an unusual challenge; how to embrace the city’s proud identity as "Surf City" without descending into surfing kitsch. Terra-Petra was tasked to make sure that challenge was met, and it was.

Details about the status of this project has been reported on Terra-Petra's web and other media sites over the years, including the “a Terra-Petra photographic journal” of the Phase I Borrow Soils excavation for the Pacific City project in 2014 – courtesy of David L. Lucero. Terra-Petra is extremely proud of this project and what this development has become today. 

Read more below.

As reported on Urbanize.LA 

Residential Component of Huntington Beach's Pacific City Underway

The project – which was designed by MVE & Partners – is currently rising from a 17-acre site at 21002 Pacific Coast Highway.  Plans call for the construction of six low-rise structures arranged in a crescent shape.  Each building will consist of four levels of wood-frame construction above a concrete podium and an underground parking garage.  Bernards is targeting either LEED Gold or Silver certification for the project.

In total, the development will create 516 residential units, as well as a 12,000-square foot amenity center featuring a swimming pool, a gym and an entertainment center.  The amenity center will also abut a public park.

The residential community – which is being developed Colorado-based UDR, Inc. – is one component of the larger Pacific City complex, which spans 31 acres on a former oil field near the Huntington Beach Pier.  An official website states that Pacific City's retail center will include over 190,000 square feet of shops and restaurants, office space and a 400-key hotel.

For further details about our work with Bernards and the Pacific City project in Huntington Beach, California, please contact Justin Conaway 

Wilshire Grand Tower Topped Off March 2016 – Video Recap

Wilshire Grand Center is a 335-meter (1,099 ft) skyscraper under construction in the Financial District of Downtown Los Angeles, California. The tower will become the tallest building in Los Angeles, the tallest structure and the second tallest building west of the Mississippi River upon completion. The building will be part of a mixed-use hotel, retail, observation decks, shopping malls and office complex, expected to revitalize downtown Los Angeles and the area surrounding the building. The development of the complex is estimated to cost $1 billion. The plans currently include 67,000 square feet (6,225 m2) of retail, 677,000 square feet (62,895 m2) of Class A office space and 900 hotel rooms. InterContinental is the tower's hotel component, comprising 900 rooms and suites occupying the 38th to the 70th floors. Estimated date of completion March 8, 2017. Terra-Petra is proud to have been a part of this project during initial record concrete pour. 

Park Fifth development in DTLA will break ground in April

Based on its intimate knowledge of the City of Los Angeles plan checking requirements, Portland-based architects, Ankrom Moisan brought in Terra-Petra environment engineers to work with the firm's in-house design team to help with design as well as consult on code-complaint systems for the Park Fifth project. The mixed-use development will replace parking lot near Pershing Square in Downtown Los Angeles and is scheduled to break ground in April. 

Read more about this exciting project on Urbaniz.LA.

The project is being designed by Portland-based Ankrom Moisan Architects, and will be

Terra-Petra provides Deputy Inspection Services for DTLA Blossom Plaza

We are honored to have worked on Blossom Plaza with another Los Angeles area environmental engineering firm to provide our Deputy Inspection Services that ensure the integrity and health of this project's land development process in Downtown LA's Chinatown. 

Blossom Plaza Takes Form in Chinatown – Long awaited mixed-use development rises near Chinatown Station.

Read this Story via Urbanize.LA 

Blossom Plaza Takes Form in Chinatown
Blossom Plaza Takes Form in Chinatown

 

Oceanwide Plaza – now under construction in Downtown Los Angeles

"We've been involved with the Oceanwide Plaza project going back more than 11 years. It's good to see the project finally break ground and to see the team's vision becoming Oceanwide Plaza Downtown Los Angeles, Californiaa reality," says Justin Conaway, Terra-Petra Vice President and General Manager. 

DOWNTOWN'S $1B OCEANWIDE PLAZA
Patricia Kirk, Bisnow

Representing China’s Oceanwide Real Estate Group, local brokerage firm Kennedy Wilson has established a new website for Downtown LA’s $1B Oceanwide Plaza, which is under construction, and posted new renderings of the project.

Designed by the Los Angeles office of RTKL, the nearly 1.5M SF development on a 4.6-acre site at 1101 S Flower St includes three high-rise residential towers with 503 condos and 183 hotel rooms, 167k SF of retail space and 1,444 parking spaces.

Plans also call for a series of pedestrian paseos between Figueroa and Flower streets, a 37k SF open-air deck atop the retail space, and large public plaza for visitors to sit and enjoy the modern landscape, according to Urbanize LA. Additionally, a 32k SF LED ribbon, possibly the largest on the West Coast, will wrap the building's podium along Figueroa between 11th and 12th streets. [ULA

Oceanwide Plaza Downtown Los Angeles, California Oceanwide Plaza Downtown Los Angeles, California

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Terra-Petra contributes to new projects transforming Downtown LA

As one of the most well-known environmental engineering and building waterproofing companies in the Los Angeles basin, Terra-Petra is currently working on or has completed some very high-profile projects in the Downtown LA area. Some of the most notable projects, among many others, include:

The Wilshire Grand Tower – the Wilshire Grand skyscraper will one day be the tallest west of Chicago. (Terra-Petra photo of project start to the right.)

The Metropolis, a $1B development is one of the largest mixed-use projects under construction on the West Coast.

Oceanwide Plaza will break ground in spring 2015. This $1B project will have a total of three towers and an expansive above-ground outdoor space. A five star hotel and 200k SF of commercial space will be included. There will be 504 condos and 183 hotel rooms.

South Park Mega-Project (Chinese developer Shenzhen Hazens) is a three towers along Figueroa Street across from L.A. Live. A 30-story hotel tower would rise at the northwest corner of Flower and Eleventh streets. A 30-story condo tower would be at Figueroa and Eleventh streets, and a 42-story condo tower would be at Figueroa and Olympic.

According to the Los Angeles Department of Building and Safety (LADBS), the "flurry of activity" in the recent years is defiantly the biggest construction boom they have witnessed since the 1980s.

However, LADBS does say that it is yet to be seen if it's the biggest boom in history or not. 

Stay tuned.

4 DEVELOPMENTS THAT WILL TRANSFORM FIGUEROA
Los Angeles Mixed-Use Jan 14, 2016 Jerry Liu, Bisnow, LA

We already told you about some of the mega-projects that will reshape Sunset Boulevard, perhaps one of the most famous thoroughfares in the world. But if you're really following what's hot in LA, it's all about Downtown. So we decided to take a look at some of the developments that will reshape the future of one of Downtown's most notable streets:

1. Circa
Location: 1200 Figueroa Players: Hankey Investment, Jamison Services, Falcon California Investments, Highlands Capital, Harley Ellis Devereaux, LendLease. Completion date: Late 2017. The $500M project will build twin 35-story towers housing 648 luxury condos on top of a seven-story retail podium. There will also be 48k SF of retail and 1,770 parking spaces. This project broke ground in summer 2015 and features a curved glass look that offers a panoramic view of LA, and many other neighboring high-rises, including the Metropolis. Bisnow chatted with Hankey president Scott Dobbins this week to get the latest status update on the development.

2. Oceanwide Plaza
Location: Figueroa and 11th Players: Oceanwide Real Estate Group. Completion date: 2018, condos hit the market in 2017. Breaking ground in spring 2015, this $1B project will have a total of three towers and an expansive above-ground outdoor space. A five star hotel and 200k SF of commercial space will be included. There will be 504 condos and 183 hotel rooms total. Chinese firm Oceanwide had previously acquired the development from New York City-based Moinian Group. This will be the first real estate venture for Oceanwide outside China.

3. Shenzhen Hazens
Location: Entire block bounded by Figueroa, 11th Street, Flower Street and Olympic Boulevard Players: Shenzhen Hazens, Gensler Completion date: After 2020. It's no secret Chinese firms are transforming the LA landscape. Shenzhen Hazens will add to the mix with a $700M redevelopment in the Luxe Hotel area. The project plans to break ground in 2017 and will be split into two phases. Phase 1 would build two 30-story towers, one residential and one hotel. Phase 2 would completely replace the Luxe Hotel with a 42-story residential tower. Expect the finished mega-project to have 650 luxury condos, 250 hotel rooms and 80k SF of retail space. We caught up with Shenzhen Hazens Group executive project director Sonnet Hui recently to get more on the company's plans.

4. MyFigueroa
Location: Four miles of streets from Downtown LA to South LA. Players: LADOT, Troller Mayer Associates, Melendrez, GEHL Architects. Completion date: 2017. Promising to make it easier for transit and bicycle users, this project will start in late spring 2016 and complete in 2017 under a $20M budget. It will link USC and Exposition Park to Downtown LA with better signals, signage, crosswalks, transit platforms, bikeways and trees. There will be on-street, fully separated bike lanes on each side of Figueroa for 27 signalized intersections. There will also be a lot more accommodations for public transit, including for the Silver Line and the upcoming streetcar service.

Terra-Petra Sponsors the Environmental Law Conference at Yosemite® October 22-25, 2015

Terra-Petra Environmental Engineering will participate in the ENVIRONMENTAL LAW CONFERENCE AT YOSEMITE® this Thursday, October 22 through Sunday, October 25 at the Tenaya Lodge  (“The Gateway to Yosemite”). As a sponsor of this event, Terra-Petra will be giving away candy and stress balls to all who stop by to visit at the Terra-Petra team's table in between conference sessions. The Environmental Law Conference at Yosemite® is nationally recognized as the largest and most prestigious gathering in California of leaders in environmental, land use, and natural resources law. 

Yosemite National Park - Celebrating 150 YearsConference attendees will earn 11.25 Hours MCLE Credit, of which1.5 Hours Applies to Elimination of Bias in the Legal Profession.

Following a long tradition of outstanding conferences, the year's event will feature an exciting line-up of speakers including California Environmental Protection Agency Secretary Matthew Rodriquez, Mayor Ashley Swearengin, Professor Manual Pastor, Professor Jody Freeman, Professor Richard Lazarus, photographer James Balog, and many others.Conference Program Materials and Merchandise

Conference registrants will receive a USB storage device with an electronic version of all program materials complements of West, a Thomson Reuters business. Before the Conference attendees will receive a link with information on how to review and download the Yosemiteprogram materials from the Internet. It may be helpful to review a program’s reference materials before the class, so please take a moment to check the materials for classes you plan to attend. This website is not available to the public, and access is given only to Conference registrants. Late-breaking supplemental materials not available before the Conference will be added to this site at a later date. We are pleased to announce that wireless Internet service will be available in all education program rooms, compliments of Caldwell Leslie & Proctor PC.

Essential Information
Program Schedule
Sponsorships
Printable Brochure

 

 

Terra-Petra working on eleven of top fifty construction projects in Los Angeles

Environmental engineering firm, Terra-Petra, is currently working with close to 42% of the top 50 construction projects in the Los Angeles area—as listed by the Los Angeles Business Journal in the publication’s new (2015) Book of Lists.

Los Angeles, CA (September 22, 2015) — Terra-Petra, a national environmental engineering headquartered in Downtown Los Angeles has announced that the firm is currenly working with 24% of the top 50 major construction projects currently underway in Los Angeles County—as listed on the Los Angeles Business Journal’s 2015 Book of Lists. This complete collection of data on industry leaders in a variety of industries was researched by the LABJ editorial team of the past year. The top construction projects have been ranked by construction cost and excludes infrastructure projects

According to Justin Conaway, Vice President of Terra-Petra. “Terra-Petra has been fortunate enough to have the diverse service offerings which have allowed us the opportunity to bid on a wide array of these developments. Our customer intimacy strategy allows us to offer a great value to our clients, I truly believe that our close customer/client relationships have differentiated us from our competition and has permitted us to secure many of these contracts.”

Terra-Petra’s involvement with most of the construction projects listed on LABJ’s Top 50 list ranges from methane testing, mitigation design and inspection to building envelope waterproofing consulting and inspection. “Hopefully our recent contributions will help to ensure that each project we work on is safe and successful,” says Kevin Buchanan, Terra-Petra President.

Working with 11 of the top 50 , Terra-Petra is currently supporting three of the top four ranked projects (number 1, 2 and 4) as well as with numbers 14, 16, 21, 25, 27, 41 and 47 and 50. Justin Conaway is also currently working on a bid with one other project on the LABJ list. Read the Top 50 Construction Projects in Los Angeles list here: Page 1, Page 2, Page 3.

“More realistically there are only 28 projects listed that are probably in a methane/methane buffer zone. So to be more accurate we are working on 42% of all potential projects on this list that we could bid on. That is a pretty impressive market share considering all of the local competition,” says Conaway.

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About Terra-Petra

Terra Petra’s expertise includes soil gas characterization, remediation, and in the design and inspection of gas mitigation systems for buildings of all types – including commercial, multiple family, single family, industrial, institutional and retail. We are methane experts and methane gas specialists. Our services include: Methane, Brownfield, Vapor Intrusion, Landfill, Oil Field, Site Closure, Geology/Hydrogeology and Radon as well as full service waterproofing consulting and services. Terra-Petra takes charge of every specific challenge from the very beginning of every project to engineer sustainable system and design cost-effective systems. For more information, visit: www.terra-petra.com.

Update on Terra-Petra’s Pacific City Oil Well Abandonment Project

Joe Morelli, Fire Protection Analyst of the HBDF, and Terra-Petra's Larry Barnes consulting near an abandoned oil well trenchNearly two years after commencing environmental work on the Pacific City project in Huntington Beach, California, the site is prepared for further construction. After intensive environmental work to verify the integrity of the on-site oil and water well abandonments, all necessary permits are in place to start constructing the foundation of the approximately 190,000 sq. ft. property. Terra-Petra is proud to have taken part in such a notable development project while contributing to tremendous cost savings for the client.

In order to bring incredible value to the project, Terra-Petra came to a practical remediation plan contradictory to one which may have been reached by blindly conforming to re-abandonment codes and procedures. After a careful review of all information obtained from field explorations and well documents from the DOGGR, Larry Barnes – Terra-Petra’s Senior Petroleum Geologist – determined that a minimally intrusive remediation approach would be sufficient for the site. This approach involved shortening all wells to a depth between 6 and 10 feet below grade, recapping each well head with a circular metal plate, and installing a methane mitigation vent cone at each well head. Rather than disturbing the abandoned wells and replacing all cement plugs with costly drilling expenses, this much more non-intrusive approach was deemed more than adequate for preventing any future leaks and site contamination.

In convincing the governing agencies that is safer to leave the wells relatively undisturbed and proceeding with the aforementioned action plan, Terra-Petra was able to successfully save the client millions of dollars while simultaneously reducing their risks on this sizeable development project. With the combined expertise of the construction team Terra-Petra was able to meet the expedited construction schedule. The client is now in the process of grading the site in preparation for foundation construction. Terra-Petra will be on hand to proceed with the necessary methane gas mitigation measures on the foundation of the site for the safety of future site residents.

[PHOTO: Joe Morelli, Fire Protection Analyst of the HBDF, and  Terra-Petra's Larry Barnes consulting near an abandoned oil well trench.]

Terra-Petra helps deveolper save millions with oil well remediation plan

Excavation equipment unearthing an identified oil wellTerra-Petra’s construction division was recently contacted to prepare an Oil Well History Report of 20 oil wells located on an 18 acre site in Huntington Beach, California. In accordance with the requirements of the Huntington Beach Fire Department, Terra-Petra’s team performed a “sniff test” on the oil well heads, then followed up with appropriate necessary re-abandonment activities in order to stop any leakage and contamination. 

Photo on right: Excavation equipment unearthing an identified oil well.

See more photo highlights below.

The scope of work began with surveying and staking the location of all 20 oil wells and providing excavation equipment and labor to uncover 15 of the abandoned wells while making them safe for entry. Dave Lucero, Terra-Petra’s Senior Project Scientist, was responsible for managing all excavation/backfilling operations and overseeing the entirety of field activities.

Dave also monitored all soil stockpiles for V.O.C. emissions and dust control per the requirements of the South Coast Air Quality Management District's Rule 1166.1. With Dave's extensive field experience and expert project oversight all oil wells were located, excavated, and exposed for sniff testing.

Larry Barnes, Terra-Petra’s Senior Geologist, took charge of conducting the sniff testing of each of the 15 excavated oil wells, 5 vented oil wells, and monitoring for fugitive gas emissions at each well head per the requirements of Huntington Beach Fire Department City Spec. 422 and the California Division of Oil, Gas, and Geothermal Resources (DOGGR).

As a California Licensed Petroleum Geologist, Larry’s duties included documenting the wells’ history, the casing and liners of the wells, the type of cement used to complete the well abandonments, preparing well diagrams, and recording information on all oil/gas zones. With this comprehensive information Larry was able to provide the developer with an ongoing Oil Well History Report for the Huntington Beach site. His expert knowledge in the geological field and long-standing relationship with the DOGGR facilitate the process of determining the level of safety for structures to be built over or near the wells and the corresponding safety recommendations.

After a careful review of all information obtained from field explorations and well documents obtained from the DOGGR, Terra-Petra came to a practical remediation plan contradictory to one which may have been reached simply by conforming to re-abandonment codes and procedures. Rather than disturbing the abandoned wells and replacing all cement plugs with costly drilling expenses, it was determined that a much more non-intrusive approach would be more than adequate for preventing any future leaks and site contamination. This approach involved shortening all wells to a depth between 6 and 10 feet below grade, recapping each well head with a circular metal plate, and installing a methane mitigation vent cone at each well head. In convincing the governing agencies that is safer to leave the wells relatively undisturbed and proceeding with the aforementioned action plan, Terra-Petra has successfully saved the client millions of dollars on this notable development project.

With the combined expertise of the construction team Terra-Petra was able to meet the expedited construction schedule. The client is now prepared to proceed with the necessary gas mitigation measures for the safety of future site residents.

Photo highlights

An excavated trench revealing an abandoned oil well cap, 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

An excavated trench revealing an abandoned oil well cap.

 

 

 Terra-Petra excavation equipment compiling a soil stockpile near an abandoned oil well trench.

 

Terra-Petra excavation equipment compiling a soil stockpile near anabandoned oil well trench.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


Joe Morelli, Fire Protection Analyst of the HBDF, and Terra-Petra's Larry Barnes consulting near an abandoned oil well trench.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


 

A safe-to enter trench revealing the location of an oil well.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

An excavated cement well plug.

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