The Wellington Senior Living

Project Profile:

If a lot was easy to develop, it would already have been done.

Every engineer knows the expression, and the challenges that come after it.

Case in point: OWN, Inc. worked with SWD Architects of Kansas City, Missouri, on the construction of The Wellington, a Senior Living complex in Liberty, Missouri.

Easy, buildable sites are getting harder to find. The OWN team is accustomed to working on sites like this one, with numerous topography challenges that needed to be addressed to accommodate the sheer length of the building.

The primary challenge was to maximize buildable ground on the 10-acre lot for the construction of a single, 200,000-square-foot, 4-story building. The Wellington would be composed of three wings – one each for Independent Living, Assisted Living, and Memory Care.

The sheer length of the building offered many challenges. And any time a building is that long, there will be stormwater issues. The team also discovered swales running through the property, so flow would need to be directed around the building. To help flatten the grade and create buildable ground, the team engineered 20-foot retaining walls in some spots.

In addition, the team needed to address stormwater and related permitting concerns under Section 404 of the Clean Water Act (CWA). OWN’s answer? Move detention underground. To accommodate this, the team designed a series of underground stormwater retention basins to hold massive amounts of water.

Over the course of the project, OWN provided Civil Engineering including a preliminary development plan, the stormwater management plan with on- and offsite improvements, an offsite sewer extension, Land Surveying and Platting, and Permitting. The team also coordinated with the local power company to work around a nearby high voltage line, and Buckeye Partners to accommodate a natural gas pipeline running beneath the property.