Developers Amera Corp. and Barron Real Estate recently announced plans for 300 Third, a mixed-use development for downtown Fort Lauderdale that integrates 278 residential units in two 30-story towers with ground-floor retail space and townhouse units, and a six-story, 64,000-sq.-ft. office building all focused around a central plaza.

Chicago-based Solomon Cordwell Buenz is the project's designer.

Hoar Construction Building $25 Million Condo in Altamonte Springs

Hoar Construction LLC of Orlando is building Tower One of Emerson Plaza, a 12-story condominium in Altamonte Springs for real estate developer Emerson International. The $25 million project is comprised of 54 two-, three- and four- bedroom units.

John Youngman, R.A., is the project architect.

Facchina-McGaughan Building 46-Story Brickell on the River South

Facchina-McGaughan of Fort Lauderdale announced it has been awarded the contract to build Groupe Pacific's Brickell on the River South project in Miami. The 46-story condominium has 319 residences and was designed by the architectural firm of Cohen, Freedman and Encinosa. Facchina-McGaughan is currently bringing Brickell on the River North, an adjacent tower, to completion.

Moss & Associates Building TAO in Sunrise

Moss & Associates of Fort Lauderdale has been named general contractor for TAO, a new luxury condo project in Sunrise being developed by Weitzer Communities of Davie, Fla.

TAO will feature 396 units in two 26-story towers. Each tower has a combination of one-, two- and three-bedroom floor plans plus ground-level townhomes ranging from 967 to 1,973 square feet.

Florida Contract Activity Dips in July

Florida contract activity took a dip in July, as the overall value of contracts for future construction signed during the month dipped by 3 percent over the same period of a year ago, McGraw-Hill Construction reported recently. The total value of new July contracts was estimated at roughly $5.4 billion, compared to last July's $5.6 billion.

The overall decline was due to a 38 percent decrease in the nonbuilding sector, which includes streets and highways, bridges and sewer and water projects, among others. For this latest month, that sector registered about $498,700 in new contracts, versus the $801,000 reported for July '04. Meanwhile, the value of new residential contracts stayed flat compared to last July, with nearly $4.0 billion in new contracts. The value of nonresidential contracts improved by 12 percent to tally $963.3 million, ahead of last July's approximately $859.4 million.

For the year-to-date, Florida activity is valued at roughly $39.6 billion for the first seven months of 2005, or about 11 percent ahead of the same period of a year ago. The nonresidential category is down by 11 percent, totaling approximately $6.2 billion to date. The value of nonbuilding contracts, estimated at $4.1 billion, is 6 percent ahead of the 2004 pace. Residential is approximately 18 percent ahead of the first seven months of 2004, with a cumulative value of roughly $29.3 billion.

Hardin Construction Announces Two More Residential Projects

Hardin Construction Co. of Orlando recently announced it has been awarded two new residential projects, one in the Panhandle and one in Tampa.

Intrawest Resort Development Group selected Hardin, in joint venture with Ledcor Construction, to build Elation at the Grand Sandestin, another residential project within the Sandestin's Baytowne Wharf resort development near Destin. The eight-story, 118-unit condominium development will be built over a 78-space, 27,000-sq.-ft. parking garage. The architect is OZ Architecture of Colorado. Completion is scheduled for December 2006.

Meanwhile, in Tampa, Mercury Advisors tapped Hardin to build its Grand Central at Kennedy condominium, which includes separate 12- and 14-story condo towers with a total of 392 units and 1.3 million sq. ft. Urban Studio Architects of Tampa is the design architect, and Scott Partnership of Orlando is the production architect. Completion is scheduled for April 2007.

Baker Barrios Unveils Design for $100 Million Acqua

Baker Barrios Architects of Orlando recently unveiled its design for Acqua at the Downtown Plaza, a planned residential, theater and retail development in Clearwater. Construction on the $100 million project was scheduled to begin this summer, with a tentative completion date set for summer 2007.

The tower will include 245 residential units with waterside views. Cafés, retail outlets and a 12-screen theater complex will be incorporated into the development, which will be open to the general public. Clearwater Development LLC is the project's owner.

National Trust Urges Preservation of Naval Air Station Buildings

The National Trust for Historic Preservation announced it is strongly urging the United States Navy to reconsider the demolition of 39 historic structures located at the Pensacola Naval Air Station in Pensacola, a facility the Trust described as "the birthplace of naval aviation." According to the National Trust, the Navy's proposal includes 29 - more than two-thirds - of the historic buildings within the Pensacola Naval Air Station National Historic Landmark District. The Navy is citing damage from Hurricane Ivan in September 2004.

"Since the adoption of the National Historic Preservation Act, the National Trust is aware of no other demolition of federally owned historic property that compares with the scale of the Navy's proposed demolition in Pensacola," said Richard Moe, president of the National Trust for Historic Preservation. "The Pensacola Naval Air Station National Historic Landmark District is the Independence Hall of our nation's naval history. To lose the heart of this irreplaceable historic district at the hand of the U.S. Navy itself is incomprehensible.

"The National Trust strongly encourages the Navy to reconsider its demolition plans and follow through with the mothball and minimal rehabilitation alternatives recommended by the Preservation Analysis Reports to save this extraordinarily significant place in America's military history," Moe continued.

The Navy entered into a Memorandum of Agreement with the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation. The agreement identified 16 of the most significant historic buildings slated for demolition, and required the Navy to evaluate alternatives to demolition through Preservation Analysis Reports, which would recommend ways to preserve and reuse the buildings. All but four of the 16 buildings evaluated are 19th century buildings.

According to the National Trust, the resulting studies showed that most of the 16 most significant historic buildings could be cost-effectively preserved through rehabilitation or mothballing efforts, and that none of the damage from Hurricane Ivan is irreparable. Despite these results, the Navy has decided to preserve only three of the 16 most significant buildings, the National Trust stated, indicating the Navy has cited excess capacity as the basis for its preference to eliminate, rather than repair, the historic structures.

One Charter Place Kicks Off Coral Springs Redevelopment

Officials of Amera Urban Developers and the City of Coral Springs Community Redevelopment Agency broke ground recently on One Charter Place, a $25 million office and retail center and the first phase of Downtown Coral Springs.

One Charter Place will encompass 210,000 sq. ft. and is anticipated for completion in fall 2006.

Solomon Cordwell Buenz & Associates of Chicago is the architectural. The general contractor is J. Raymond & Associates.

Beame Architectural Partnership Design Renovation of Miracle Market Place

Beame Architectural Partnership of Coral Gables announced it has been commissioned to design the renovation of Miracle Market Place in Miami. The project is being developed by Talisman Cos. of Miami, and involves the renovation of an existing vacated multi-level shopping center with over 900 parking spaces at the upper four floors.

A complete interior and exterior remodel will include a new helical ramp to access the parking levels and the lower four floors, which will be converted to a 263,000-sq.-ft., three-level, "big-box" retail shopping center.

Construction is expected to begin this fall and should be complete by the end of 2006.

Construction Starts on SCC's Auto Training Center

Seminole Community College has selected the design-build team of Stiles Construction and Hartmann Architecture in Fort Lauderdale for its $6.9 million Automotive Training Center. C.T. Hsu + Associates of Orlando served as design criteria architect and will oversee the construction of the project, which is expected to be complete by late 2006.

The facility is a public-private partnership between the college and the Central Florida Auto Dealers Association. The 57,000-sq.-ft. facility will house the school's Automotive Department.

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