May/June 2021 - 16

SPECIAL
ISSUE
ICOASTAL
NFRASTRUCTURE
Boston Pier One, where load testing occurred,
near project's three shore-based buildings
COVER
STORY
Load Testing for Pier Pile Reuse in Boston
Reusing legacy infrastructure on waterfronts such as ports,
piers, warehouse and distribution facilities, and manufacturing
and industrial facilities will continue to grow in
large metropolitan areas. The greatest risk associated with
these projects is uncertainty related to the condition of
existing foundations and/or a lack of design and construction
documentation. This article on a Boston Harbor development
demonstrates how a developer, geotechnical engineer,
structural engineer, pile load testing firms and a contractor
can work closely together to develop cost-effective, highquality
evaluations of these foundation elements. Pier One,
owned by the Massachusetts Port Authority (Massport), is
located on Marginal Street in East Boston, Massachusetts, and
extends beyond the concrete seawall into the Boston Harbor.
Pier One is approximately 5.4 acres (2.2 ha) with plan
dimensions of about 390 by 605 ft (120 by 185 m).
The pier was constructed in 1955, with minimal paperwork
available on its foundation. Built as a one-story, steelframed
warehouse and distribution facility, it had three
railroad spurs at the East Boston Naval Annex. This annex
was part of the Boston Navy Yard and served as a ship repair
facility and naval fuel depot. The naval facility closed in 1975
following the end of the Vietnam War, and Pier One then
remained dormant for more than four decades.
To transform the previously underutilized shoreline of
East Boston, a luxury residential and retail complex -
Portside at East Pier - was developed by Roseland
Residential Trust at the Pier One site. The complex currently
consists of three five-story residential buildings with 550
luxury apartments and two parking garages that were
constructed along the Pier One shoreline between 2006 and
2018. CDM Smith, the geotechnical engineer, and structural
engineer McLaren Engineering Group, designed the site's
on-shore structures to be founded on 14-in-sq (36 cm-sq)
prestressed, precast concrete piles; these were driven into the
glacial till and/or weathered bedrock strata.
In developing the site, the trust envisioned reusing the
existing pier deck and foundation elements (i.e., the concrete16
* DEEP FOUNDATIONS * MAY/JUNE 2021
AUTHORS John P. Briand III, P.E., Douglas J. Aghjayan, P.E., and Michael S. Schultz, P.E., CDM Smith

May/June 2021

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of May/June 2021

TOC
May/June 2021 - Intro
May/June 2021 - 1
May/June 2021 - 2
May/June 2021 - TOC
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