Oaks Shopping Center Construction Mid-May

Just wanted to keep you up to date on the view in Oaks. Mid-May the construction was at full speed. Possibly a dozen active pieces of heavy equipment.

A large pit was dug. Storage tanks were placed at the bottom of the pit and was backfilled with the grey gravel. You can see it on the left side of the above photograph. The tanks were probably for the fuel to be pumped at the soon to be built Wawa.

An excavator was digging at the site of the unregulated traffic entrance to the shopping center on Egypt Road.

Piles of earth and crushed stone were everywhere.

Within the year the area will never be dark again. The smell of frying burgers will fill the air twenty-four hours a day. Oaks will never look or smell the same.

©Damyon  T. Verbo - all rights reserved

US 422 Oaks Exit - Working at Night

By daylight, the Oaks exit on eastbound US 422 .

I drove by the site around 8pm on Wednesday night and couldn't help but notice the bright lights.

The generator powered lights were at opposite ends of construction site. The scene reminded me of the photographs that came back from the manned lunar landings. Very bright directional lighting on a barren surface. That reminded me of David Bowie's song Space Oddity. "Ground control to Major Tom ..."

I moved to the other end of the ditch, where there was work actually happening. 

Even though the lights were bright, the lighting was not great. The operator of the excavator could easily be blinded by the lights. A worker at this kind of site really has to be alert. Getting hit by the bucket could ruin a worker's evening.

"Tell my wife I love her very much. She knows."


©Damyon T. Verbo - all rights reserved

Oaks Shopping Center Site Dusted with Snow

Early Friday morning on the first day of February, the Oaks Shopping Center construction site was lightly dusted with snow.

The snow had little effect on the actual construction work. The storm sewer work continued.

Across Black Rock Road was the Chicago Grill / Pizzeria Uno site.

Infrastructure is also the focus of work on that site. 

With the sun being so bright, I dont' think the snow dusting will be around very long. 

©Damyon T. Verbo - all rights reserved

Oaks Shopping Center 30 January 2013

I stopped by the construction site on Egypt and Mill Rds today to check on the progress.  

That pile of wood was the Oaks Gardens building that was still standing on New Years Day 2013.


There was work being done on the infrastructure. Today it was the sewer and or storm drains.

One worker was remotely operating a small articulated roller. Packing down soil that had been returned to the trench above some pipe that was buried earlier. Using the remote is like using a game controller with two joysticks.

When I was still working in the outdoor advertising industry, I used such a remote to operate a 130' extendable truck mounted crane. After operating the crane from the bed of the truck for over twenty years, it took some practice to operate from the business end of the load line.

Back to the construction site. Earth was moving from place to place.

Digging was being done by both a large excavator and a small shovel.

Other parts of the site has been scraped of vegetation. 

There is a huge change in the site from the end of 2012. Taking the project as a whole however, there is a great deal to be done before the expected opening of the Oaks Shopping Center in the fall of 2013.


©Damyon T. Verbo - all rights reserved

Progress Marches On in Oaks, PA

Progress at the two building sites in Oaks, PA is marching along.

The Chicago Grill site has a level pad and a berm near the cemetery wall at St. Paul's Episcopal Church. 

There is pipe on site that will undoubtably be buried as part of the infrastructure.

Concrete sewer castings are waiting to be placed.

The larger site across Black Rock Road also has signs of progress.

The Oaks Gardens building has been ravaged.

 A broken shell.


The lot has been defoliated, partially graded and rolled. It looks large. Much larger than before the work began. 


To defoliate, whole trees were eaten in one shot by an enormous piece of equipment.


There are graders, rollers, excavators, back hoes, dozers and other heavy construction behemoths on site waiting for their shot at progress.









The train tracks that ran along the western edge of the site were ripped out along with the trees on that grew alongside. 


Houses are now clearly visible along that edge of the site. I am guessing that the owners of those houses have a new clear view of the site, also.

Progress marches on.


©Damyon T. Verbo - all rights reserved