In 2022, the owners of the Kalamazoo Country Club purchased a neighboring 49-acre parcel formerly home to the now shuttered Lakeside Academy. The adjoining space was ideal for the construction of a new PGA tournament level venue. The project includes the construction of a new clubhouse, member activity center, dining venues, golf performance center, indoor tennis courts, outdoor paddle/racquet courts, aquatic center including 5 pools, and parking garage. Site improvements include planting 4.5 acres of trees and 2.5 acres of native grasses as part of the new course layout, and public roadway and intersection improvements at the new club entrance.  

SME performed a geotechnical evaluation for the Kalamazoo Country Club, where we encountered very loose sands underlain by dense soils, specifically in the proposed area of the parking garage. SME recommended removing over 10 feet of the loose sand, and placing the sand back in compacted lifts to increase its load-bearing capacity. The SME team then performed additional pressure meter testing to verify that the sand fill could achieve the same load-bearing capacity as the dense underlying soils. This testing was performed with hand equipment, allowing for readings while avoiding the costly use of a drill rig. Recompacting the sand allowed for shallow foundations (as opposed to time- and cost-intensive deep foundations) to be used for the parking garage.  

The retaining wall for the proposed parking garage was about 30’ tall. Due to the height and the soil pressures associated with typical backfill, our geotechnical design team recommended using large foam blocks as fill to minimize loading on the large permanent earth retaining walls, optimizing the tight fit of the Kalamazoo Country Club’s parking garage. 

Another unique portion of this project was the use of lightweight recycled glass aggregate as part of the decorative block paver cross section on the top level of the parking structure. The lighter-weight aggregate made the overall structural loads tolerable and the structural design of the parking structure economical.  

Our Pavement group also helped the project team navigate challenges with the realignment of the public roadway intersection at the new country club entrance, where the contractors encountered unsuitable soils below the existing roadway mixed in with numerous utilities. While the high-pressure gas mains couldn’t be removed, SME’s Pavements and Construction Materials Services teams coordinated to remove some of the larger obstructions to maximize the service life of the roadway.  

Our Steel, Coatings, and Non-Destructive testing (SCN) team provided structural steel observation, wood timber observation, and spray-applied fire resistive materials (SFRM) observation for the clubhouse and other buildings.  

Team members from five different offices participated in this project. The Kalamazoo Country Club is expected to be complete in May 2027.