“Aaron, this is Ken Watson with the City of Inglewood Public Works Department. I was just calling to congratulate you on a job well done on the Warehouse Shoe Store. I wanted to let you know that your design is one of the best designs I have seen come through here in quite some time, and you have hit every beat, met every challenge, and once again, job well done.”
– Ken Watson, City of Inglewood Public Works Department
CDR was contracted to help design a 14,000 ft2 building on a one-acre site that was previously used as a gas station. With several hurdles to overcome before and during the design process, the success of this project relied heavily on the civil engineering land development expertise of the Commercial Development Resources team.
The project site had approximately 35 feet of fall across the property. The driveway off of Crenshaw had to use the maximum 15% slope and a 15’ tall extended footing on the building. The building also had a corner entry flush with the sidewalk at the intersection of Crenshaw and Century which created huge ADA challenges. The adjacent Smart and Final building were also retaining approximately 20’ at the property line which created several site limitations as not to load the existing structure.
The site has a known fault line running through the northeast corner of the property. To keep the building within code, CDR had to study the fault line and offset the building 10 feet from the fault line. The result is why the east end of the building is chamfered and not square.
CDR implemented new street improvements on three sides of the property – on Crenshaw Avenue, Century, and 8th Avenue, including a new right turn lane on Crenshaw Avenue and a bus stop on Century.
Fun fact: this project required the largest extended footing that CDR had ever done on the southwest corner of the building. The finished floor is elevated about 15 feet above the sidewalk with a corner entry on the corner of Crenshaw and Century.
Despite the numerous obstacles that were presented throughout the construction of this project, with CDR’s foresight, experience, and expertise they were able to clear the hurdles with ease and deliver a smooth and successful completion for the client.
