McLaren Engineering Group provided structural engineering services for the development of a 435,000 square foot, $120 million retail complex at Foxwoods Casino in Mashantucket, CT. The Tanger Outlets at Foxwoods Casino is situated on a blasted rock podium and connects at two locations, Grand Pequot Casino and the Foxtower Casino, by a 100 foot elevated structure over the Trolley Line Boulevard.
McLaren provided the structural design of the building frame and foundation, providing an early foundation package to allow for a quick start to construction. The complex site conditions and highly variable bedrock elevations necessitated a flexible foundation design that included everything from conventional spread footings, mini-piles, 3 feet and 4 feet diameter concrete caissons, grouted rock anchors, and tall retaining walls benched into the bedrock. The superstructure consisted of structural steel framing with long spans up to 110 feet to create an open retail environment with unimpeded ribbon glass storefronts along the retail corridor. Due to the multitude of existing site obstructions that could not be disrupted such as electrical duct banks feeding the two casinos, existing site foundations, and vehicular roadways traversing the site, McLaren devised several framing solutions to avoid any impacts to these elements. Some of the solutions included the suspension of the second floor level (from the roof level at one location), utilization of built-up steel plate girders, and kicker braces to prop up very long cantilevers. Two seismic expansion joints were also utilized to control thermal stresses in the structure during the course of construction and to account for the change in foundation types across the site.
McLaren also supplied the design of a 30-foot-tall CMU firewall with an independent foundation system in accordance with FM Global. The firewall was integrated into the structural design and specially detailed with the buildings expansion joints to mitigate the risk of a fire spreading and causing a disproportionate collapse of the structure. McLaren also designed a self-supporting steel portal frame system within the base level of the existing Foxtower Casino as the ceiling was filled with existing ductwork feeding the main casino floor.
McLaren also designed the HSS tube steel supports for the 40 feet by 20 feet LED boards hung off the perimeter of the building facade.
During construction, McLaren accelerated the shop drawing review process and was able to ramp up manpower to review over 4,400 structural steel and concrete rebar shop drawings in less than four-month period in order to meet the 2015 Memorial Day Weekend Opening.
