Towson Square Redevelopment – Outdoor Shopping Center

McLaren Engineering Group provided structural, geotechnical and site/civil engineering services for the development of Towson Square, an outdoor shopping center in Towson, MD. The dining and entertainment plaza, is one part of this new four-acre redevelopment infill. The 320,000 square feet plaza opened in 2014, and features a 15-screen movie theater, a restaurant, 35,000 square feet of retail space and a three-level parking garage.

Parking Garage

The McLaren team was tasked with creating an 850-car garage on a site constrained on five out of six sides – including the property lines, adjacent cemetery, and below grade rock. McLaren’s innovative plan eliminated a level of parking and extended the garage under the theater lobby and adjacent retail site – creating more parking spaces per level while maintaining the stall count. The pre-cast garage was engineered with 2-story retaining walls to accommodate grade changes across the site and greatly reduce the quantity of soldier piles and lagging that were required. McLaren also engineered the steel transfer floor to support the theater structure on top of the garage, as well as stairs, elevator and tunnel access.

Geotechnical Improvements

McLaren was able to improve the site’s soil bearing pressure by performing in-place soil testing that allowed for use of ground improvement techniques to change from 6/2 ksf soil to 10 ksf soil across the site. McLaren’s project managers worked with the client to permit the reduction of SoE across the 22-foot grade difference on the site, resulting in a quarter of a million dollars in savings for the Towson Square Redevelopment.

Civil Engineering

McLaren engineered an interface plan for the square that connected all of the civil features including hardscape, landscape, and utility connections on three pad sites, on the four-acre shopping, dining and entertainment square.