Appendix Iv.F
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APPENDIX IV.F Report of Geotechnical Evaluation for EIR Purposes Proposed Wilshire Grand Redevelopment Project, 930 Wilshire Boulevard, Los Angeles, California Prepared by Mactec Engineering and Consulting, May 2010 REPORT OF GEOTECHNICAL EVALUATION WILSHIRE GRAND REDEVELOPMENT PROJECT 930 WILSHIRE BOULEVARD LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA 90017 Prepared for: HANJIN INTERNATIONAL CORPORATION c/o Thomas Properties Group, L.P. 515 South Flower Street Sixth Floor Los Angeles, California 90071 May, 2010 MACTEC Project 4953-09-1091 MACTEC May, 2010 Hanjin International Corporation c/o Mr. Tom Paradise Thomas Properties Group, L.P. 515 South Flower Street, Sixth Floor Los Angeles, California 90071 Subject: LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL Report of Geotechnical Evaluation Wilshire Grand Redevelopment Project 930 Wilshire Boulevard Los Angeles, California 90071 MACTEC Project 4953-09-1091 Dear Mr. Paradise: We are pleased to submit this report presenting the results of our preliminary geotechnical investigation for the site of the Wilshire Grand Redevelopment Project at 930 Wilshire Boulevard in Los Angeles, California. This investigation was conducted in general accordance with our proposal dated March 27, 2009 and addenda Nos. 1 through No. 3 and Task Order 2159 (Scope of Service No. 014) of our contract, dated June 30, 2009. Our consultation was performed to evaluate the subject site and provide our findings as to the existing soils underlying the subject site and provide preliminary foundation recommendations for the development. Should you have any questions regarding this report, or if we can be of further service to you on this phase of the project, please contact us. Additional studies should be performed to provide detailed and definitive geotechnical recommendations for the project when the project details are more defined. MACTEC Engineering and Consulting, Inc. 5628 East Slauson • Los Angeles, CA 90040-1554 • Phone: 323.889.5300 • 323.889-5398 REPORT OF GEOTECHNICALEVALUATION WILSHIRE GRAND REDEVELOPMENT PROJECT 930 WILSHIRE BOULEVARD LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA 90071 Prepared for: HANJIN INTERNATIONAL CORPORATION c/o Thomas Properties Group, L.P. 515 South Flower Street Sixth Floor Los Angeles, California 90071 MACTEC Engineering and Consulting, Inc. Los Angeles, California May, 2010 Project 4953-09-1091 Wilshire Grand– Report of Geotechnical Evaluation May, 2010 MACTEC Engineering and Consulting, Inc., Project 4953-09-1091 TABLE OF CONTENTS 1.0 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ................................................................................................... 1 2.0 SCOPE ................................................................................................................................... 3 3.0 PROJECT DESCRIPTION .................................................................................................... 5 4.0 CURRENT PROJECT SITE CONDITIONS ........................................................................ 7 5.0 REGULATORY PROJECT SETTING .................................................................................. 8 5.1 STATE LEVEL ......................................................................................................... 8 5.2 CITY LEVEL ........................................................................................................... 9 6.0 GEOLOGIC-SEISMIC HAZARD EVALUATION ............................................................ 12 6.1 GEOLOGIC SETTING .......................................................................................... 12 6.2 GEOLOGIC MATERIALS .................................................................................... 12 6.3 GROUND WATER ................................................................................................. 13 6.4 FAULTS .................................................................................................................. 13 6.5 GEOLOGIC-SEISMIC HAZARDS ....................................................................... 19 7.0 ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS ......................................................................................... 24 7.1 THRESHOLDS OF SIGNIFICANCE .................................................................... 24 7.2 GEOLOGIC HAZARDS ........................................................................................ 25 8.0 HAZARD MEASURES ...................................................................................................... 27 8.1 STRONG SEISMIC GROUND SHAKING ........................................................... 27 8.2 LIQUEFACTION AND LIQUEFACTION-INDUCED SETTLEMENT AND LATERAL SPREADING ....................................................................................... 27 8.3 TEMPORARY STABILITY ................................................................................... 27 8.4 EXPANSIVE SOILS .............................................................................................. 28 8.5 SURCHARGE OF EXISTING STRUCTURES .................................................... 28 8.6 FOUNDATION REQUIREMENTS ....................................................................... 28 8.7 PAVING AND HARDSCAPE ................................................................................ 28 8.8 GEOTHERMAL SYSTEMS .................................................................................. 29 8.9 SUBDRAINAGE .................................................................................................... 29 9.0 LAND EQUIVALENCY PROGRAM ................................................................................. 30 10.0 DESIGN FLEXIBILITY ..................................................................................................... 31 11.0 PROJECT ALTERNATIVES ............................................................................................... 32 12.0 GENERAL LIMITATIONS ANS FINDINGS ..................................................................... 34 13.0 BIBLIOGRAPHY ................................................................................................................ 35 i Wilshire Grand– Report of Geotechnical Evaluation May, 2010 MACTEC Engineering and Consulting, Inc., Project 4953-09-1091 TABLE OF CONTENTS (cont.) TABLES: 1. Major Named Faults Considered to be Active in Southern California 2. Major Named Faults Considered to be Potentially Active in Southern California 3. List of Historic Earthquakes of Magnitude 4.0 or Greater Within 100 km of the Site FIGURES: 1 Regional and Project Vicinity Map 2 Aerial Photograph 3 Plot Plan 4 Geologic Location Map 5 Local Geology 6.1 Cross-Section 1-1’ 6.2 Cross-Section 2-2’ 6.3 Cross-Section 3-3’ 7 Regional Faults and Seismicity APPENDIX: Logs of Borings ii Wilshire Grand– Report of Geotechnical Evaluation May, 2010 MACTEC Engineering and Consulting, Inc., Project 4953-09-1091 1.0 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The Wilshire Grand Redevelopment Project is to be developed on a 3.2-acre site located in the Central City (Downtown) Redevelopment area of City of Los Angeles. The Project Site is bounded by Wilshire Boulevard to the north, Figueroa Street to the east, and 7th Street to the south and inclusive of Francisco Street to the west, and includes the existing Wilshire Grand Hotel & Centre. The Project would include demolition of all existing structures on the Project Site, including existing subterranean parking, and redevelopment of the Project Site. The Project Site would be developed with an approximately 65-story office building, no more than 1,250 feet in height (“Building A”), an approximately 45-story hotel, no more than 750 feet in height (“Building B”), and an approximately 6-story podium structure no more than 168 feet in height (“Podium”). The Project would be constructed over a maximum of eight levels of subterranean parking containing approximately 1,900 parking spaces. Fill soils, 6 feet thick, were encountered in one of our two current borings. The fill is underlain along the eastern side of the Project Site by young alluvial fan deposits of Holocene to Late Pleistocene age (a few thousands to hundreds of thousands of years old). These deposits consist of interlayered loose to medium dense sand and silt and clay. Old alluvial fan deposits of Late to Middle Pleistocene age (between approximately a few hundred thousand to 800,000 years old) underlie most of the Project Site. These deposits consist of medium dense to dense sand with layers of silt and clay. The entire Project Site is underlain by bedrock of the Pliocene age (between approximately 2 to 4 million years old) Fernando formation. The bedrock consists of massive to interbedded siltstone and fine sandstone. Based on the available geologic data, active or potentially active faults with the potential for surface fault rupture are not known to be located beneath or projecting toward the Project Site. In our opinion, the potential for surface rupture at the Project Site due to fault plane displacement propagating to the ground surface during the design life of the proposed development is considered low. Although the Project Site could be subjected to strong ground shaking in the event of an earthquake, this hazard is common in Southern California and the effects of ground shaking can be mitigated by proper engineering design and construction in conformance with current building codes and engineering practices. 1 Wilshire Grand– Report of Geotechnical Evaluation May, 2010 MACTEC Engineering and Consulting, Inc., Project 4953-09-1091 The Project Site is near an oil field and the potential