LC Henley Station 

Background

In recent years, Lifestyle Communities has constructed various condominium, apartment and housing developments in Tennessee, Kentucky and Ohio. The company targets young, active tenants with features such as pools, fitness centers, sand volleyball courts, hip bars and restaurants that showcase live music, and a consistent line up of community events and activities. Completed in 2016, LC Henley Station is another in the line of successful Lifestyle Communities townhome projects located in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, just southeast of Nashville.

The Challenge

Murfreesboro and central Tennessee’s terrain is extremely flat and features a predominantly solid rock subsurface. Due to LC Henley Station’s large footprint of 14 acres, utilizing traditional stormwater design would not only pose a significant challenge, but also involve a tremendous amount of rock blasting.

The Solution

The company partnered with Belgard® Commercial employing low impact development (LID) practices by utilizing a 365,000-square-foot permeable pavement system for all of the development’s vehicular surfaces to manage stormwater runoff. The use of permeable interlocking concrete pavement (PICP) allowed for a flat finish grade with minimal subsurface slope to handle stormwater. The finished project resulted in a huge cost savings for Lifestyle Communities. Landscape Architect, RaganSmith Associates, chose Belgard Aqua-Bric® permeable pavers for LC Henley Station. The pavers are basic in form with a clean modular shape that easily adapts to a wide range of design options. The Belgard permeable pavers perfectly complement the aesthetics of the development and offer strength and durability in addition to their stormwater management capabilities.

While Lifestyle Communities appreciated the cost savings, the Murfreesboro utility companies such as phone, cable and electric were concerned about potential drainage affecting the cables and wiring under the permeable pavers. To alleviate this issue, the county constructed a four-foot trench on roads featuring utilities, capping it with nonpermeable clay to protect from stormwater drainage. Conversely, team members from the City of Murfreesboro felt comfortable with the LC Henley Station project.

“We have about 250,000-square-feet of paver projects on the municipal side,” said Sam Huddleston Murfreesboro Assistant Engineer. “So, we’ve been very supportive of developers using pavers on the private side.” Huddleston noted that cost savings are realized on multiple levels when using PICP. Due to its premium location, the real estate at LC Henley Station was high. Lifestyle Communities had to meet the parking and access standards, but the permeable pavers helped reduce the land purchase footprint and maximize the development’s density. In addition, the City of Murfreesboro charges a stormwater discharge utility fee to fund management and maintenance of the system. “The monthly fee is based on the development’s impervious footprint and PICP systems are not part of that,” explained Huddleston. “By implementing the permeable pavers, the development reduced its monthly stormwater management utility fee by over 75 percent of a traditional system, which is quite a savings.”

The Result

Both Lifestyle Communities and City of Murfreesboro were very pleased with the final project. As of 2017, LC Henley Station is one of the largest PICP projects in the nation and the largest in Tennessee. Phase II of the project is on tap for the near future and will feature an additional 175,000 square feet of pavers.