Levien & Company’s Long Dock Park project wins ASLA’s 2015 Award of Excellence

November 20, 2015 - Green Buildings
Beacon, NY Hudson’s Long Dock Park, a post-industrial landscape reclamation project managed by Levien & Company, has won the 2015 Award of Excellence from the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA). According to ASLA, Long Dock Park is today “an ecological workhorse” and “a mesmerizing place to be, a place of calm or fun that can yet withstand a great deal of natural violence where it juts 1,000 ft. into the Hudson River.” The project, which cost $8.5 million, has transformed a derelict former industrial site into a riverfront attraction and community resource. The 15-acre park features rehabilitated wetlands, a kayak/canoe pavilion and beach, trails, picnic areas, a fishing pier and a restored historic barn that is home to community-based programs and provides gallery space for local artists. Construction of the park required the clean-up of contaminated soil as part of the NYS Brownfield program, removal of invasive plants and removal of debris that filled 75 dump trucks. The park was a pilot project in the Sustainable Sites Initiative, a program that seeks to create landscapes that offer clean water, reduced pollution, and restored habitats while providing economic and social benefits to land owners and municipalities.  Long Dock scored three out of four stars in the rating system. The restored barn obtained LEED Gold Certification, in keeping with the guidelines of the U.S. Green Building Council, and the kayak pavilion received a merit award from the New York Chapter of the American Institute of Architects. Levien was engaged by Scenic Hudson for the management of the project in 2009, overseeing the work of the team, which included landscape architect Reed Hilderbrand, architect Architecture Research Office, civil engineer Divney Tung Schwalbe, structural engineer Robert Silman Associates, marine engineer McLaren Engineering Group, sustainability consultant Viridian and environmental consultant Ecosystems Strategies. Scenic Hudson, founded in 1963, is an environmental organization dedicated to preservation and restoration of the Hudson River and its surroundings. When the Long Dock Park project was completed in 2012 its director, Margery Groten noted:  “In the two years since the firm joined the project, Levien & Co. has been essential in helping us meet all of our benchmarks and reach this point.” The ASLA honor came as no surprise to Pamela Holzapfel, ASLA, Levien & Company’s project manager for Long Dock and leader of the firm’s Urban Landscape practice sector.  “Long Dock Park was immensely satisfying to work on, as Scenic Hudson and all of the professionals on the project team were thoroughly dedicated to creating a beautiful and ecologically sustainable park,” she says. “It was a privilege contributing to the construction of a park that the public will enjoy for years to come and that is sensitive to the preservation of the environment."  
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