Chicago Botanic Gardens: Shoreline Restoration and Shida Garden Evaluation

As construction manager for the Chicago Botanic Gardens, B&A was tasked with restoring part of the garden’s 385-acre campus. The project consisted of two parts: the shoreline restoration and the Shida garden evaluation.

The shade evaluation garden included four acres and involved regrading the entire site and installing new landscaping, garden structures and paths.

The shoreline restoration project restored the east shoreline of the lakes at the south end of the Chicago Botanic Garden campus as well as the west shoreline of Marsh Island and Dixon Prairie. The restoration involved approximately 4.3 acres, approximately 330 linear feet of cofferdam sheet piling and approximately 640 linear feet of permanent sheet piling. The scope of work also included regrading of the existing lake bottom and shoreline, amended and new soils and the planting of a variety of native shoreline plant species.