Rising Above: Supporting Southern New Hampshire University (SNHU)’s New Millyard Parking Garage

Few things are as impressive and exciting as watching long-undeveloped land undergo construction. The new Southern New Hampshire University (SNHU) parking garage in the historic Millyard of Manchester, New Hampshire, is no exception. Verdantas is proud to help our client, Lansing Melbourne Group, address the parking needs of SNHU as they begin to fill in their new space off Commercial Street along the Merrimack River.

At six stories and 1800 spaces, the new garage will be the second largest garage in the state when completed. We have literally have watched this project rise above the Millyard from the office windows of our Headquarters, here, in Manchester.

“The SNHU Garage was a highly visible and important project for us, and we enjoyed having Verdantas on our team.  As a catalyst for a new era in the Historic Millyard, we needed pros like Verdantas to help us through the myriad of issues in redeveloping a centuries-old industrial riverfront.  They were easy to work with and provided real value to the project with their practical input and cost-efficient services during design and construction.”  Peter Flotz, AICP – Managing Member, Langer Melbourne Group

The SNHU garage project is a perfect showcase for many of our services. Our accumulative experience allowed us to multitask many aspects of this project, which resulted in significant cost savings for our client. For example, by providing staff that were capable of delivering several services during a single day or even a single visit, we eliminated the need to otherwise hire multiple consultants and experts. 

Our contributions to the project included performing:

• Environmental  site assessment
• Geotechnical investigation
• Soil and groundwater sampling;
• Soil management plan preparation and implementation;
• Historical research of previous structures;
• Pre-construction conditions inspection;
• Baseline air quality monitoring;
• Geotechnical foundation feasibility evaluations;
• Regular air monitoring during construction;
• Vibration monitoring;
• Timber and steel-H pile installation observation;
• Soil compaction testing and subgrade approval;
• Assessment of multiple types of on-site materials to maximizing reuse;
• Observation of stormwater drainage system installation;
• Concrete reinforcement steel installation inspection;
• Concrete placement inspection and sampling; and
• Grout placement inspection and sampling.

“Verdantas was tasked with monitoring air quality, soils, timber and steel pile work, rebar, concrete and precast on this demanding project.  All occurring concurrently. Their ability to “juggle all the balls” and manage all of their tasks both planned and unplanned was critical to the success of this project.  They did a great job at accommodating all of our needs.”   

– Glenn Dugas – Superintendent, Harvey Construction, Langer Parking Facility

Our efficient problem solving, flexibility with our availability for field visits, and willingness to coordinate and communicate with all the different team members contributed to streamlining the construction progress. We are very excited to watch the garage grow, knowing its foundation is solid due in part to our involvement. View some of the progress in this time-lapse video taken June 2018 of the construction featured in Manchester’s Link Ink publication.