The city of Miami has awarded an $11 million contract for its on-again, off-again convention center renovation to Denver-based Fentress Architects, which will serve as the design criteria professional on this project.
City Commissioners voted unanimously (with one commissioner absent) in favor of Fentress over seven other contenders, according to the Miami Herald. The design plans that Fentress draws up will serve as the basis for the city’s weighing bids from design-build firms to complete this project.
The renovation has been controversial. A larger plan that would have spanned 52 acres across South Beach and cost $1 billion got scrapped after the election of a new mayor and three new commissioners. The designs for that larger plan got nixed only six months after the city had awarded developer South Beach ACE and the architectural firm OMA.
Fentress is working with New York-based architecture, design, and planning firm Arquitectonica and the urban-design and landscape architect West 8 on a scaled-down masterplan whose price tag is estimated at $500 million. The renovation will include the convention center’s 500,000-sf exhibition hall, its 200,000-sf of existing meeting spaces, and a new 70,000-sf ballroom and outdoor event area. The facility’s existing parking lot will be converted into a 6.5-acre public park.
The Herald reports that the park will include a memorial to Miami Beach’s military vets, and a small café. A 1.8-acre park along the north side of the convention center will have more than 1,000 feet of renovated space.
City Manager Jimmy Morales is quoted as stating that his office staff expects to present recommendations for design-build firms to the City Commission by Nov. 19. If there are no hitches, the renovation should begin by December 2015, the convention center should be completed by 2017, and the park by the following year.
Related Stories
| Nov 8, 2013
Oversized healthcare: How did we get here and how do we right-size?
Healthcare facilities, especially our nation's hospitals, have steadily become larger over the past couple of decades. The growth has occurred despite stabilization, and in some markets, a decline in inpatient utilization.
| Nov 8, 2013
Can Big Data help building owners slash op-ex budgets?
Real estate services giant Jones Lang LaSalle set out to answer these questions when it partnered with Pacific Controls to develop IntelliCommand, a 24/7 real-time remote monitoring and control service for its commercial real estate owner clients.
| Nov 8, 2013
S+T buildings embrace 'no excuses' approach to green labs
Some science-design experts once believed high levels of sustainability would be possible only for low-intensity labs in temperate zones. But recent projects prove otherwise.
| Nov 8, 2013
Net-zero bellwether demonstrates extreme green, multifamily style
The 10-unit zHome in Issaquah Highlands, Wash., is the nation’s first net-zero multifamily project, as certified this year by the International Living Future Institute.
| Nov 8, 2013
Walkable solar pavement debuts at George Washington University
George Washington University worked with supplier Onyx Solar to design and install 100 sf of walkable solar pavement at its Virginia Science and Technology Campus in Ashburn, Va.
| Nov 6, 2013
PECI tests New Buildings Institute’s plug load energy use metrics at HQ
Earlier this year, PECI used the NBI metrics to assess plug load energy use at PECI headquarters in downtown Portland, Ore. The study, which informed an energy-saving campaign, resulted in an 18 percent kWh reduction of PECI’s plug load.
| Nov 5, 2013
Net-zero movement gaining traction in U.S. schools market
As more net-zero energy schools come online, school officials are asking: Is NZE a more logical approach for school districts than holistic green buildings?
| Nov 5, 2013
New IECC provision tightens historic building exemption
The International Energy Conservation Code has been revised to eliminate what has been seen as a blanket exemption for historic buildings.
| Nov 5, 2013
Living Building Challenge clarifies net-zero definitions and standards
The Living Building Challenge has released the Net Zero Energy Building Certification to provide clearer definitions regarding what net zero really means and how it is to be achieved.
| Nov 5, 2013
Oakland University’s Human Health Building first LEED Platinum university building in Michigan [slideshow]
Built on the former site of a parking lot and an untended natural wetland, the 160,260-sf, five-story, terra cotta-clad building features some of the industry’s most innovative, energy-efficient building systems and advanced sustainable design features.
