SOUTH Miami WorldCenter: City’s biggest construction project commences Work crews have started work in downtown Miami on the biggest construction project in the city’s history, which is also America’s second largest mixed-use urban develop- ment. Construction crews began drilling 400, 150 ft. deep steel structural support piles into the ground in February. Next they will lay the foundation for Miami Worldcenter – the city’s new retail, residential, entertainment and trans- portation complex. Phase one construction focuses on Paramount Miami WorldCenter. It is the project’s 700 ft., 60-storey, $500 mil- lion signature residential skyscraper. It will feature the world’s largest private urban amenities deck with resort style pools, bungalows, walking paths, gardens, tennis courts and a regula- tion soccer field. “You are literally going to see six blocks being de- veloped all at the same time,” Daniel Kodsi, Para- mount Miami WorldCenter CEO and master devel- oper, said in a news release. “This is basically step one of multiple steps in which you are going to see six buildings going vertical.” Kodsi says that Miami WorldCenter will intertwine Para- mount with six other residential and office buildings, an 1,800 room Marriott Marquis and convention center; the intermodal hub for the downtown MetroMover and Metro- rail elevated transit systems; the adjacent main terminal for the under construction All Aboard Florida high speed rail- road; and the Miami WorldCenter retail and restaurant promenade. It will feature an unprecedented collection of retail stores and a fusion of restaurants. The 27-acre Miami WorldCenter will be second in size only to New York’s Hud- son Yards development at 28-acres. In comparison, New York’s Rockefeller Center is 22-acres. Miami Beach park failure judgement results in landscape architect’s Chapter 11 filing A California headquartered landscape architect has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection (see filing at link) fol- lowing a judgement against it because of the failure of a Miami Beach park. Hargreaves Associates Inc. filed the petition in San Francisco on Nov. 18, 2015 after the City of Miami Beach won a $1.3 million judgement in a lawsuit re- lated to the design of the oceanfront South Pointe Park where the city had to replace soil, sod and playground equipment after its com- pletion. The park opened in 2009. Hargreaves is appealing the decision and filed for Chap- ter 11 “to prevent the city from garnishing all of the money at once,” the Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal re- ported. The city’s debt is the only major obligation in the filing. “Initial good faith attempts by us to assist the city were not reciprocated by changing city staff,” the company was reported as saying by the Miami New Times at the time of the initial controversy, before the suit was filed. “If we were allowed to continue, it would have led to earlier and more successful outcomes.” At the time, Miami Beach assistant city manager Jorge Gomez was quoted as saying that city engineers believed a flaw in Hargreaves’s irrigation plans may have been to blame for the dead grass. “The company also failed to plan for lightning strikes on the tall metal light fixtures along the waterfront, he says, and didn’t design the water fountain at the park’s entrance to meet county codes,” the Miami New Times reported. Seminoles announce $1.8 billion expansion plans for Hard Rock Hotel and Casino Florida’s Seminole Tribe has announced plans for a $1.8 billion expansion of the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Hollywood, but the project may die on the vine because of the state’s failure to ap- prove a gambling agreement with the tribe. The proposal calls for a guitar shaped hotel with 800 rooms, according to the Sun Sentinal. The expansion was contingent on the state legislature’s approval of a deal reached between the tribe and Governor Rick Scott in December. That agreement would have gen- erated $3 billion in revenue for the state over the next seven years and grants the tribe exclusive rights to have roulette, craps, and other table games. The expansion would create 20,000 jobs, according to the Seminoles, with the hotel “trying to create something that is iconic, that creates international tourism coming to Florida,” says Seminole Gaming CEO Jim Allen. This in- cludes cabanas and tikis “submerged in water.” However, the gambling agreement may not pass the leg- islature. In late February, the Senate Appropriations Com- mittee tabled bills that would have ratified the contract with the tribe, SB 7074, and the chances of the legislation being revived this season are remote, The Tampa Bay Times has reported. PHOTO: GOOGLEMAPS Florida Construction News — MARCH-APRIL 2016 – 3