Darien Crossing Regional Stormwater Retrofit

RES was awarded a Greened Acre Retrofit Program (GARP) grant to implement the Darien Crossing Regional Stormwater Retrofit (Darien Crossing) on a parcel owned by the Philadelphia Industrial Development Corporation (PIDC). The GARP program is a component of the Philadelphia Water Department’s (PWD) innovative Green City, Clean Waters Program, adopted in 2011 as Philadelphia’s plan to reduce stormwater pollution currently entering its combined sewer system through the use of green infrastructure. Darien Crossing is located within the very active stadium district in South Philadelphia, provides PWD a large-scale green stormwater project at a high-profile, highly-visible, impervious-dominated part of the City. The project provided a unique opportunity for RES to develop an innovative solution that addressed PWD’s programmatic goals while maintaining the preferred land use of PIDC and the surrounding stakeholders.

Using the space from a demolished portion of an existing warehouse, RES installed an enormous underground stormwater management basin. The basin was designed to capture and store stormwater minimizing combined sewer overflows at the PWD system.

The system was capped with new parking and landscaping, which will be used and enjoyed aesthetically by visitors to both Lincoln Financial Field and Citizens Bank Park.

Design and permitting, along with demolition for the project, was completed by the close of 2019. Construction began in January 2020. Excavation of the site was completed in phases due to the size constraints of the parcel. The SMP was installed, and the finished work (curbing/paving/landscaping) has been initiated with a projected end date of Fall 2020. Additionally, RES executed a long-term lease agreement with PIDC to operate and maintain the facility for 45 years post-construction. PIDC and other project stakeholders will benefit from significantly reduced stormwater fees after the implementation of the project.