The California company that plans to transform a swath of downtown Toledo along Swan Creek into a $300 million river walk development is building a reputation nationwide for that kind of revitalization.

Tetra Tech Inc. - which announced plans Thursday to pay Toledo $4.2 million for 27 parcels of city-owned property for the project - has helped implement other large-scale waterfront improvement programs.

In addition to designing the famed San Antonio River Walk, the company's resume includes redevelopment programs in Memphis; Owensboro, Ky., and Kansas City, Mo.

Tetra Tech, which has a Toledo office, is also working on the Los Angeles River revitalization master plan for the city of Los Angeles.

Toledo Mayor Carty Finkbeiner had nothing but praise for the company.

"All I have seen of them for about seven months now is nothing but the highest degree of knowledge for urban waterfront communities," Mr. Finkbeiner said. "Their love and gusto for communi-ties that have water flowing through them is - I won't say unsurpassed - but it is exhilarating."

In Los Angeles, the company is attempting to bring new life to a 32-mile stretch of the river and create a green ribbon of parks and community recreation areas.

The plan lays the framework for potentially billions of dollars of revitalization-related construction and engineering along the river's corridor.

Mr. Finkbeiner said the $300 million development around Swan Creek would include money from private investors.

The development will stretch along both sides of the waterway from I-75 to the Maumee River.

It will include a pedestrian-friendly walkway along the creek plus office space, homes, shops, and a waterfront promenade in a mixed-use development, said Andrew Langenderfer, senior project manager for the company.

The purchase price includes $1.2 million for the Erie Street Market "and a number of smaller properties," plus $1.8 million for the water-distribution building at 401 South Erie St.

Toledo City Council is expected to review a purchase agreement between the company and the city on Tuesday.

Mr. Langenderfer acknowledged that the company has many focuses worldwide.

According to its Web site, Tetra Tech provides consulting, engineering, and technical services, has about 8,500 employees around the world, and works for commercial and governmental clients.

At the end of 2006, the firm announced it would lead a major waterfront improvement program for the city of Destin, Fla., which has grown from a small fishing village on the Gulf of Mexico to a tourist destination.

That project includes a waterfront boardwalk, public plazas, and storm water improvements.

Hank Woollard, community redevelopment manager for the city, said the firm has proceeded without problem on that $60 million waterfront improvement program.

"We secured Tetra Tech to really do the work of the whole program, of which a harbor boardwalk is one part of," Mr. Woollard said. "They have worked with us through the conceptual design and planning and we have just issued task orders for them to begin engineering design road improvements and schematic designs."

Mr. Woollard added that the city has been very satisfied with Tetra Tech's work.

"It's taken a lot of public involvement," he said. "In a small town that is historically fishermen - where the fishermen are the last refuge of the rugged individualists, and they are a tough sell - Tetra Tech has been really good at listening to their concerns and making sure all are met because it's easy for a project like this to get derailed," he said.

Toledo Council President Mark Sobczak has said Toledo faces similar challenges getting citizens and politicians on board with the project.

"Tetra Tech's track record with the city is good," Mr. Sobczak said.

Tetra Tech is part of the engineering team working on the Toledo Waterways Initiative, the city's $450 million program to upgrade sewage and wastewater treatment facilities.

The first phase, begun in 2002, cost $200 million and involved constructing new treatment and storage facilities at the Bay View wastewater treatment plant, new sewage pumping stations in Point Place, and an equalization basin in Brookford Park in South Toledo.

Tetra Tech was paid $4.8 million for its work in phase one as a subcontractor to Black & Veatch Corp. of Kansas City, Mo., said Dave Leffler, the city's director of public utilities.

Contact Ignazio Messina at:

imessina@theblade.com

or 419-724-6171.

First Published April 26, 2008, 9:17 a.m.