Swale on Yale
       
     
Challenge Stormwater was being piped untreated from Seattle's Capitol Hill neighborhood directly to Lake Union. This untreated water carried pollutants like motor oil, pesticides, fertilizers, grease, paint, and heavy metals.
       
     
Solution In 2006, Seattle Public Utilities (SPU) proposed to Vulcan Real Estate that they co-develop bio-swales along two blocks owned by Vulcan Real Estate. The four swales, alongside Pontius and Yale Avenues North, were designed to divert the
       
     
Results While at Vulcan Real Estate, Rachel Ben-Shmuel managed the negotiation between Vulcan and SPU. The innovative agreement took seven years and culminated in the construction of a regional-scale bio-filtration swale in an urban streetscape
       
     
Swale on Yale
       
     
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Swale on Yale

Received the Seattle Design Commission’s 'In the Works' award for its “collaborative and creative design process.

Applied Expertise
• Public Private Partnerships • Project Management • Entitlements

Challenge Stormwater was being piped untreated from Seattle's Capitol Hill neighborhood directly to Lake Union. This untreated water carried pollutants like motor oil, pesticides, fertilizers, grease, paint, and heavy metals.
       
     
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Challenge
Stormwater was being piped untreated from Seattle's Capitol Hill neighborhood directly to Lake Union. This untreated water carried pollutants like motor oil, pesticides, fertilizers, grease, paint, and heavy metals.

Solution In 2006, Seattle Public Utilities (SPU) proposed to Vulcan Real Estate that they co-develop bio-swales along two blocks owned by Vulcan Real Estate. The four swales, alongside Pontius and Yale Avenues North, were designed to divert the
       
     
+

Solution
In 2006, Seattle Public Utilities (SPU) proposed to Vulcan Real Estate that they co-develop bio-swales along two blocks owned by Vulcan Real Estate. The four swales, alongside Pontius and Yale Avenues North, were designed to divert the storm water.

Results While at Vulcan Real Estate, Rachel Ben-Shmuel managed the negotiation between Vulcan and SPU. The innovative agreement took seven years and culminated in the construction of a regional-scale bio-filtration swale in an urban streetscape
       
     
+

Results
While at Vulcan Real Estate, Rachel Ben-Shmuel managed the negotiation between Vulcan and SPU. The innovative agreement took seven years and culminated in the construction of a regional-scale bio-filtration swale in an urban streetscape that cleanses one hundred eighty million gallons of storm water from about 435 acres of Capitol Hill streets and sidewalks.