Pottstown Shopping Center
Thursday, July 2, 2009 at 4:41PM Pottstown, PA
CLIENT/OWNER: 422 Development, Inc.
The land on which this shopping center now stands was once a clay mine and pipe manufacturing facility. BIA was called in by the owner to assess its development potential. When Robinson Clay shut down in 1970 and the pipe works was abandoned, the parcel became an eyesore, pocked with mines and a clay pit that filled with water. The site was also laced with underground pipes and buried barrels of unknown substances (which analysis revealed to be a harmless epoxy used in pipe manufacturing). Over time, water from the clay pit backed up and pooled to cover eight acres, a land feature ultimately listed on the National Wetlands Inventory Map. BIA's environmental department concluded that the area was not a naturally occurring pond, but the result of improper quarry maintenance. BIA's preliminary studies for this project incorporated a regional wet detention basin into the plans (satisfying the DEP concerns), which allowed development to proceed. BIA also provided surveying and civil services on the project: the site required extensive balanced cut and fill work, and 20 feet of earth and rock had to be cut away for the area that a Wal-Mart now occupies.
Design Dates: 1992 - 1993
Construction Dates: 1993 - 1994
Service Dates: 1995