Geotechnology was also recognized for its work on a 25-story hotel and nine-story parking garage for the Ameristar Casino in St. Charles with both ASCE’s 2008 Outstanding Project Award and a Grand Award from ACEC-MO’s 2007 Excellence in Engineering Awards. Ameristar originally had plans to build on a Missouri River floodplain where underlying sandy soils would be potentially liquefiable during an earthquake. Using conventional methods, a seismically safe foundation would have been very costly and delayed the target completion date. Geotechnology’s engineers analyzed a ground improvement package that made the soil dense enough to support the hotel and parking garage on more shallow foundations. This resulted in a safer building and a significant savings of time and money.