After two years of design and construction, the King of Prussia Mall expansion, located 25 miles northwest of Philadelphia in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania, opened in August 2016. Project-owner SIMON selected Kleinfelder to be the geotechnical and construction materials engineering and testing (CoMET) consultant for construction of the expansion to one of its most famous malls.
Kleinfelder served as the geotechnical engineer-of-record for the project and provided recommendations for supporting the new 200,000-square-foot above-ground retail space as well as a new four-level parking garage on a micropile foundation system. Construction spanned several major shopping seasons during which the mall remained open to the public, adding a unique layer of complexity to the project.
Because customer experience was paramount to SIMON, Kleinfelder installed and managed a remotely operated noise and vibration monitoring program that included real-time data collection with the capability to provide threshold exceedance notifications to control impacts to mall customers during construction. With these precautionary measures in place, Kleinfelder’s project team maintained a safe and appealing environment for shoppers during back-to-school shopping, Black Friday sales, and the winter holidays.
The Kleinfelder team assisted during design and construction to overcome challenges associated with the Karst geologic setting of the site, which included a highly irregular rock surface (pinnacled limestone) and subsidence sinkholes. Associated improvements also included retaining wall construction and approximately 10 acres of site work, involving pavement, underground utilities, and landscaping.
Location:
King of Prussia, Pennsylvania
Owner:
SIMON
