St. Regis Resort

Project designed, built as Broward County's first five-star hotel

by Natalie Keith

It took two groundbreakings to get started, but Broward County's first five-star hotel, the $135 million St. Regis Resort, Spa and Residences in Fort Lauderdale, is expected to be completed in the fall.

Developed by Castillo Grand LLC of Fort Lauderdale this new St. Regis will be one of 13 worldwide and the first to have a condominium component. The 23-story tiered tower is located on the beachfront between the Atlantic Ocean and Intracoastal Waterway.

The first groundbreaking took place Jan. 11, 2002, but the event was merely a symbolic gesture meant to assure supporters of the project's viability after Sept. 11. "We held it to let our supporters know that we were planning to move ahead with the project," said John McDonald of Castillo Grand.

After Castillo Grand obtained project financing, another groundbreaking was held and construction started in July 2003. The project topped out in mid-December.

"I've been extremely happy with the project. It's both met and exceeded our expectations," McDonald said. "The contractor is doing an outstanding job, which is a good thing."

The contractor, Facchina-McGaughan LLC of Fort Lauderdale - formerly AMEC - has a special job on its hand.

The 750,000-sq.-ft. project includes the 169-room St. Regis Resort, 33 penthouse condominium residences and 25 private residence club suites. Facilities and amenities will include terraces with ocean views; a two-story, 22,000-sq.-ft. spa; five-star restaurant and cocktail lounge facing the ocean; outdoor café; 10,595-sq.-ft. ballroom; 29,000-sq.-ft. landscaped pool deck with an infinity pool and whirlpools; beach cabanas; and water sports activity center.

The condominium levels in the upper portion of the tower area will be accessible by two high-speed passenger elevators and a dedicated service elevator. The two time-share levels will be accessible by the three hotel passenger elevators and two service elevators.

After the hotel is completed, Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, based in White Plains, N.Y., will manage it.

Facchina-McGaughan project manager Brant Kish said one hurdle was the limited staging area on the site, which is bounded on two sides by the north and southbound lanes of A1A.

The project team addressed the problem by constructing the tower portion of the structure first, followed by the podium portion. Workers then could use the building's future podium area to store materials and for other construction work.

And then there was the original design of the pile caps for the elevator banks. They were initially designed to go below the water table, but with the assistance of the engineers on the job were redesigned and "lifted up" above the water table, Kish said.

"We lifted up the caps so we didn't have to deal with sand and water," he added.

The architectural design was done by Arquitectonica of Miami.

The podium and tower consist of a series of curing bands of nautical cool whites, aqua glass, natural stones and sand-colored stucco, punctuated by landscaping.

The lobby has been designed to open up to both the Beach Boulevard pedestrian entrance and the Castillo Street entrance where the vehicular drop-off is located. Twenty-ft.-high ceilings "bring the spacious feeling of the beach-side verandah inside and then gradually step down as visitors walk farther into the lobby," according to Arquitectonica.

A curving colonnade at the ground level faces the beach along the Beach Boulevard sidewalk and is punctuated by the grand entrance stair to the verandahs and hotel. White awnings provide shade to the café and lounge tables on the verandah. Above the verandah is the terrace of the restaurant and meeting rooms, echoing the curves of the wave wall along the beach, according to Arquitectonica.

Kish said the wavy walls weren't easy to construct. Concrete subcontractor Capform Inc. of Carrollton, Texas, assisted with the work.

"From the beach, it's a good-looking building, but from a layout perspective, it's challenging," he added.

All but one of the condominiums has been sold at prices ranging from $1.5 million to $9 million, McDonald said.