PROJECTS AND OPPORTUNITIES
Plaza Construction to build
Florida’s tallest building
Berkowitz Development Group
has hired construction management
and general contracting firm Plaza
Construction to build what will be-
come Florida’s tallest building.
SkyRise Miami, a 1,000-foot-tall
entertainment and observation
tower, will cost $540 million to con-
struct. The Arquitectonica-designed
tower will include an indoor drop
tower-style ride with a 95-mph de-
scent speed, as well as five obser-
vation decks, a 55-mph
base-jumping experience, a zero-
gravity tunnel, a transparent slide, a
transparent deck at 866 feet and a
skywalk at 908 feet.
In addition, the tower will have
restaurant, music and bar space, an
indoor playground, 14,000 sq. ft. of
combined event and ballroom
space, a 9,500-sq. ft. conference
center with another 4,000-sq. ft.
area for circulation and an open-air
terrace. The project’s design team in-
cludes structural and civil engineer-
ing firm Magnusson Klemencic
Associates and mechanical and
electrical engineering firm Cosentini
Associates. Construction is expected to be
completed in 2023.
Kaufman Lynn to build H3
Hollywood after new
owner closes $48.65
million loan to restart
stalled project
The new owner of H3 Holly-
wood, a previously unfinished
condo development, has closed on
a construction loan to complete the
project stalled as a shell since 2016.
Kaufman Lynn Construction is ex-
pected to complete the building in
less than 18 months.
Hollywood East LLC, led by bro-
ker Vivian Dimond and Cristina
Pereyra Alvarez, closed on a $48.65
million construction loan from Trez
Forman Capital Group for the un-
named 15-story, 247-unit building
on Van Buren Street in Hollywood,
according to a statement.
Dimond and a group of investors
took over the project last year, set-
tling with the buyers who had put
down deposits at what was then H3
Hollywood, a 154-unit condo project
being developed by Hollywood Sta-
tion Investments. Hollywood Sta-
tion Investments halted
construction in the fall of 2016.
The original project's general
contractor LB Construction, which
won the bid for the project at a fore-
closure auction, sold the property in
April 2017 to Dimond’s Hollywood
East LLC.
The previous owner built the
shell for 13 of the 15 floors. The
building will feature a pool deck on
the fifth floor, nearly 4,800 sq. ft. of
ground-floor retail space and a 433-
space parking garage.
10 – DECEMBER 2018 - JANAURY 2019 — Florida Construction News
YMCA of Central Florida
gets $8.9 million to build
new Orlando project
Dr. Phillips Charities has an-
nounced $8.9 million in funding to
the YMCA of Central Florida to build
and equip a new family center for
the College Park within The Packing
District, a 202-acre, $480-million
project at the intersection of Prince-
ton St. and Orange Blossom Trail in
Orlando. The YMCA Family Center will
have 24,500 sq. ft. of space span-
ning two stories. In the future, the
family center could expand up to
40,000 sq. ft. of space.
The family center is projected to
break ground in late 2019 and be
operational by early 2021.
Preparations are underway to
ready the site for construction,
which will span the next 10 to15
years in four phases.
$65 million UF Gators
baseball park cleared for
construction in February
Construction will start in Febru-
ary for the $65 million University of
Florida's (UF) Gators baseball park in
Gainesville, pending UF Trustee
Board approval.
The project on the southwest
part of the university's campus adja-
cent to Dizney Stadium, has a
planned completion date of June
2020. The Gators' first season in the
new ballpark will be in 2021.
"This is an exciting day for Gators
Baseball and our entire athletic de-
partment," athletic director Scott
Striklin said in a statement. "While
our original hope was to have the