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Haskell Breaks Ground on Warfare Research Facility

The Haskell Co. of Jacksonville recently broke ground on the new Littoral Warfare Research Facility in Panama City, Fla. The contractor is serving as design-builder for the project, which is located on the waterfront at the Naval Surface Warfare Center. The facility is comprised of laboratories, classrooms and offices supporting robotic technology and research.

The facility will support testing, demonstrating and integrating unmanned systems technology used to accomplish complex warfare tasks with multiple cooperating robots.

The 38,000-sq.-ft., three-story facility will be designed and built to meet the Department of Defense's progressive collapse standards that require a fortified building.

Nonbuilding Category Leads August Contract Activity

The overall value of contracts for future construction in Florida climbed again in August, with a strong surge in the nonbuilding category leading the way, McGraw-Hill Construction reported. Also, residential kept its positive pace over the year-ago period of August 2003, while the nonresidential sector declined significantly.

In August, the value of residential contracts improved by a relatively modest 5 percent compared to August 2003. The most recent month's report indicated an estimated $3.2 billion for this sector, compared to the roughly $3 billion of a year ago. Nonbuilding construction soared by 55 percent, to end at about $530.5 million, up from last August's $341.4 million figure. Nonresidential declined by 22 percent from August 2003's $978.1 million figure, however, to total nearly $765.2 million.

For the first eight months of 2004, overall activity has increased by 18 percent, from the cumulative $32.7 billion reported in this period in 2003 to 2004's $38.6 billion cumulative total. Residential remains the main reason for the overall growth, up 28 percent so far in 2004, with roughly $27.1 billion in activity reported. With its August growth, the nonbuilding sector turned positive for the year. This category is now 1 percent ahead of the same period of 2003, with a nearly $4.4 billion total. Nonresidential is 2 percent behind for the year, with an estimated $7.1 billion in contracts reported to date.

ACI Building Daytona Condo

The Daytona Beach office of ACI is providing general contracting services to build St. Maartens, a $31 million, oceanfront condominium in Daytona Beach Shores. The 12-story, 129-unit tower is scheduled for completion in September.

The building will include an indoor and outdoor pool, spa, fitness center and structured parking under the building. Larry W. Robinson Architect of Daytona Beach designed the building.

Construction Starts on Manatee County Elementary School

Centex-Rooney Construction Co. recently started work on Elementary School "J" in Manatee County, a facility designed by Harvard Jolly Architects, Orlando.

The two-story, 113,000-sq.-ft. elementary school will have 845 student stations and will be completed by August. The school features numerous CPTED (Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design) design strategies.

Turner Picked for Gables Marquis Condo Project

EB Developers hired Turner Construction Co. of Miami as general contractor for its Gables Marquis condominium project. The 20-story, 177-unit tower, located near Brickell Avenue in Miami, was scheduled to start construction this fall.

The residences include a collection of penthouses and three-story townhomes. Amenities include a palazzo pool and spa pavilion, 11,000 sq. ft. of ground-level retail and a fitness center.

Tilt-Con Receives Contract for Bay Meadows School

Skanska USA Building has signed tilt-up concrete contractor Tilt-Con of Altamonte Springs to assist in building the new Bay Meadows Elementary school for Orange County Public Schools.

Construction of the 78,000-sq.-ft. school began in mid-September, with completion targeted for September 2005. The project was designed by SchenkelShultz Architecture.

Site Work Starts for $200 Million Weston Commons Project

WestCity Partners, developer of Weston Commons, announced site work has commenced on the 40 acres of land comprising phases two through four of its $200 million retail, commercial and residential development in Weston.

Phase one is a 130,000-sq.-ft. shopping center anchored by Publix. Phase two will be an additional 40,000-sq.-ft. retail plaza. A third phase, The Palace at Weston Commons, will be a luxury 386-unit, age 55-plus residential community developed by Palace Management Group of Miami. Phase four, The Residences at Weston Commons, is a proposed, 300-unit, age 55-plus residential community.

Nichols, Brosch, Sandoval Designing Regent Bal Harbour

Bonita Springs, Fla.-based developer WCI Communities recently selected Nichols, Brosch, Sandoval & Associates to design The Regent Bal Harbour, a 12-story hotel/condominium that will intersect the 26-story One Bal Harbour residential tower, currently under construction. The South Florida architectural firm was named architect of record for One Bal Harbour when the project was in its earlier stages.

The Regent Bal Harbour is the first new hotel to be built in Bal Harbour in nearly 50 years, and will provide amenities and services by Regent International Hotels. The hotel and residential components will be separated from one another, but residential owners will have access to the same five-star-quality services as hotel guests.

Planned amenities include an oceanfront restaurant; a 10,000-sq.-ft., oceanfront spa; conference facilities including a ballroom, meeting rooms and an executive boardroom; and a separate hotel swimming pool.

Parsons Brinckerhoff Designing I-75 Improvements

The Florida Department of Transportation has awarded a contract to Parsons Brinckerhoff to design improvements for a segment of Interstate 75 in Tampa.

The project entails widening of a 6-mi. section of I-75 from south of Fowler Avenue to north of Bruce B. Downs. This segment contains three major interchanges and provides a commuter connection to major residential and commercial areas around Tampa. The existing roadway is four lanes in each direction with the occasional auxiliary lane. The firm will provide design plans for one additional lane in each direction with some minor cross street improvements, as well as the reconstruction of two large bridges and widening of 12 additional bridges.

Construction of the $50 million project is currently scheduled to begin in 2008 with completion slated for 2010.

Fullerton Diaz Designing One Village Place

Roger Development Group has chosen Miami-based Fullerton Diaz Architects to design One Village Place, a new condominium and retail development adjacent to The Village of Merrick Park. The 10-story tower will feature a combination of condominiums, two- and three-story lofts and penthouses. The development will also feature 28,000 sq. ft. of high-end retail shops.

Kaufman Lynn Building Two Auto Dealer Projects

Boca Raton-based Kaufman Lynn General Contractors recently announced two new construction contracts with Broward County automotive dealerships. Holman Enterprises has awarded the contractor a $4.8 million contract to build a 45,000-sq.-ft. Lincoln-Mercury dealership in Pembroke Pines. A nine-month construction schedule is planned.

Kaufman Lynn has also been awarded a $1.7 million assignment to construct a 15,000-sq.-ft. addition to the Pines BMW Service Center. Lauderdale Imports is the project owner. The project, which will entail the addition of 20 new service bays plus an additional parking deck, has a five-month construction schedule.

Christiano Construction Building Brightwater Point

Christiano Construction of Clearwater is serving as the construction manager for the new four-story Brightwater Pointe condominium in Clearwater Beach. Construction costs for the 70,000-sq.-ft. building are estimated at approximately $7.3 million.