Due to the continuing drastic decline in residential construction, McGraw-Hill Construction reported the value of Florida contracts for future construction dropped 31% during the month of February, compared to the same period of a year ago. For February, the total value of new contracts totaled roughly $3.9 billion, down from the $5.6 billion reported a year ago.

Residential was the only declining sector, turning down by 49%. The total of new residential starts for the month was nearly $2.2 billion, down from last February’s total of about $4.3 billion. The nonresidential category was up by 35 percent, however, for a total of about $1.1 billion, compared to last year’s $840 million. The nonbuilding segment improved by 13%, to total $599.7 million for the month.

Suffolk, Song Break Ground on Port St. Lucie Civic Center

Suffolk Construction Co.’s Florida division recently broke ground on the Port St. Lucie Civic Center. The West Palm Beach-based contractor is partnering with Song + Associates of West Palm Beach on the $25 million design-build project.

The project will encompass over 100,000 sq ft and serve as the focal point of the town square plaza. It will consist of a grand entrance lobby, banquet hall, multipurpose gymnasium, exhibition space, art gallery, racquetball courts, fitness center, café and a terrace overlooking a redeveloped lake and fountain.

Clark Constructing High School in Orange County

Clark Construction Group of Tampa has started work on the West Orange High School replacement project in Winter Garden, for Orange County Public Schools.

The new 377,000-sq-ft facility is being developed next to the current West Orange High School on both new and existing school district property totaling more than 61 acres.
The replacement campus is designed for 2,776 students and is based on a prototype by SchenkelShultz Architecture of Orlando. The new school will feature a courtyard surrounded by eight buildings: an administrative building; a media center/gymnasium; three two-story classroom buildings; an auditorium/music building; a cafeteria/energy plant; and a remote field house for athletic programs.

Clark broke ground on the project in mid-November. The new campus is scheduled to be completed in June 2008. A second phase involving demolition of the existing campus and creation of student and staff parking is targeted for an April 2009 completion.

QJJMWAV Begins Design on Florida’s Largest Workforce Housing Project

Boca Raton-based Quincy Johnson Jones Myott Williams Acevedo Vaughn Architects has begun design on the Villages of Delray in Delray Beach. The $200 million, 60-acre, 1000-unit project is slated to be the largest work-force and affordable housing project in the state.

The first phase of the project will encompass 29 acres of the total site and have 264 rental apartments and 324 condominiums and townhomes. Demolition of the existing community is slated to commence this spring, and the first buildings scheduled for completion in 2008.

Chelle Named GC for St. John’s Villas Project in Lantana

Lehman Development Group has hired Miami-based Chelle Construction as general contractor for its St. John’s Villas project in Lantana. Chelle will manage the construction of the building shell.

St. John’s Villas features just 15 single-family-style residences located directly on the Intracoastal Waterway. Homes range from 2,736 to 3,912 sq ft of living space in varying three-bedroom, three-bath designs.

Prices start at $1.4 million and reach $2.5 million for the penthouses. Construction is expected to start at the end of April 2007.

Hennessy Starts Work on Don Cesar

St. Petersburg-based Hennessy Construction Services has started work on a $5.4 million, 22,000-sq-ft spa addition at the Don Cesar Beach Resort in St. Petersburg. The project will incorporate a 5,000-sq-ft ground floor entrance arcade; and a 5,000-sq-ft rooftop garden/sun deck with views of the Gulf of Mexico. The architect of record is FleischmanGarcia Architecture of Sarasota.

The company also has started construction of its Woodland AA Office Building project, a 94,690-sq-ft, three-story shell office building and complete site development in Tampa for Liberty Property Limited Partnership of Malvern, Pa.  The building is scheduled for LEED Gold status.

M.J. Harris Completes Regional Med Center in Naples

M. J. Harris of Orlando has completed the Physician’s Regional Medical Center - Collier Boulevard in Naples. The hospital is owned by Health Management Associates.

The 100-bed, three-story, 220,000-sq-ft facility is a full-service hospital with a staff of more than 300. The hospital has four surgery suites, a 20-bed recovery unit and 12 intensive-care beds. The design allows for the addition of 320 beds and six additional surgical suites ready to fit out when patient volume warrants.

The campus also has an 80,000-sq-ft medical office building next to the hospital that was completed in January 2007.

In addition to M.J. Harris, the project team included Helman, Hurley, Charvat, Peacock/Architects; GRG Consulting Engineers; ECOS Environmental Design; WilsonMiller; Stanley D. Lindsey and Associates Structural Engineers; and The J. Nichols Group.

Wescar Announces Plans to Build Solis in Maitland

Heathrow-based developer Wescar recently announced plans to build Solis, a $20 million, seven-story luxury lakefront condominium community in Maitland. The 2.5-acre development will include 47 units, ranging from 900- to 1,800-sq-ft.

Maitland-based HHCP is the project architect. CPH civil engineers and Anne Rue Interiors also will work on the project, which is slated to break ground this summer.

Baker Barrios Revises Plans for The Cristal

Baker Barrios Architects of Orlando has revised its design for The Cristal, a 24-story mixed-use development located in downtown Orlando. The project’s developer, Concorde Eastridge, has decided to alter its original plans by adding a boutique hotel to the project.

The new plans call for the 240-room boutique hotel. The development also will include 55 residential units, 15,000 sq ft of office space, 7,500 sq ft of retail/restaurant space and approximately 352 parking spaces.

The original plans for The Cristal included 187 residential condominium units and no hotel component.

Construction is slated to begin in late 2007 with completion estimated for 2009.

Brickell Financial Centre Could be Florida’s Largest “Green” Building

Miami’s Foram Group has announced plans to develop Brickell Financial Centre, a two-tower office and hotel project estimated to measure 1.5 million sq ft. According to the developer, the property is South Florida’s first LEED-precertified commercial office building at the silver level.

The area’s first major office project since 2000, Brickell Financial Centre will be built in two phases, with groundbreaking set for April. The $245 million first phase has a planned completion date of fall 2009. It will consist of a 40-story, 600,000-sq-ft tower that will include a lobby and retail space on the first floor, 11 stories of parking and 28 floors of class-A office space. The second tower is planned to rise 68 stories, and will include retail and office space, and a 300-room hotel.

RTKL of Washington, D.C., is the lead architect for the project.

Brickell Financial Centre’s core and shell are LEED precertified at the silver level.

Work Resumes on Lake Okeechobee Dike Rehabilitation

Incorporating lessons learned from Hurricane Katrina, the Army Corps of Engineers’ redesigned rehabilitation of the Herbert Hoover Dike at Lake Okeechobee features redundancies and will cost $856 million, still unfunded, plus land acquisition, compared with $300 million for the original plan. The Corps first discovered weak areas in the dike during the 1990s and Congress approved the Corps’ proposal to shore it up. The Corps began construction in 2005 but stopped work last year to re-evaluate and select an alternative design. The new plan calls for a toe ditch, a seepage berm and a cut-off wall.

Work has resumed, with the Corps clearing the toe ditch in the first section of the dike, which will be followed by work on the seepage berm within the Corps’ right-of-way.

The Corps plans to start testing the cut-off wall this fall with construction scheduled to start in 2008. Once the final design is approved, the South Florida Water Management District will need to purchase property before the project can proceed.
Source: Engineering News-Record. By Debra Wood

Darden Picks Hardin for New $100 Million Corporate HQ

Orlando-based Darden Restaurants has selected Atlanta-based Hardin Construction Co. to build its new corporate headquarters, which will be located as a corporate campus at John Young Parkway and the Beachline Expressway in Orlando.

Trammel Crow is serving as Darden’s development partner. Perkins + Will of Atlanta is the project architect for the $100 million headquarters, which is planned to include more than 400,000 sq ft of office space and will house more than 1,200 Darden employees.

The project is scheduled for completion by the end of 2009.

Ajax Breaks Ground on North Shore K-8 in Jacksonville

Officials from three elementary schools joined Ajax Building Corp. in Tallahassee in a groundbreaking celebration for the new $26 million North Shore Elementary K-8 school in Jacksonville for Duval County Schools. Song & Associates designed the 145,000-sq-ft school, which will accommodate 1,200 students and replace North Shore, Lola Culver and Norwood elementary schools.

It is expected to be completed in August 2008.

The school includes a new one- and two-story building, as well as administration areas, classrooms, a media center, food services dining and a multi-purpose gymnasium.

HuntonBrady, Brasfield & Gorrie Building New Family Life Center in Orlando

Orlando-based HuntonBrady Architects and general contractor Brasfield & Gorrie are designing and building a new Family Life Center for Holy Family Catholic Church for the Catholic Diocese of Orlando.

The two-story, 56,000-sq-ft expansion project will be located on the church’s campus on South Apopka Vineland Road and will include a new 1200-seat social hall, youth center, narthex, office space and a library. Also, the existing church will be expanded from 1200 to 1600 seats.

Orlando Mixed-Use Project Plus One Set to Start in May

Baker Barrios Architects of Orlando announced that construction was set to start soon on Plus One, a new mixed-use project the firm designed for The Weintraub Companies and G&D Developers in downtown Orlando. The 26-story building will feature 128 residential units, 11,260 sq ft of retail space, 84,400 sq ft of office space and a seven-story, 500-space parking garage.

Construction is slated to begin May 2007 and is estimated to be complete in April 2009.

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