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
PROJECTS AND OPPORTUNITIES
ballpark available at the beginning
of 2020, and therefore available for
play that season, this period of ris-
ing construction prices has required
additional time to finalize the de-
sign, and has caused us to adjust
our timeline by a few months.”
The baseball park and the ongo-
ing $15 million renovation to soft-
ball's Katie Seashole Pressly
Stadium, along with renovations to
the Gators' track and tennis facili-
ties, are Phase II of the University
Athletics Association's (UAA) Facili-
ties Master Plan. The work at Katie
Seashole Pressly Stadium is nearing
completion, with a ribbon cutting
ceremony scheduled Feb. 12.
The UAA says in its news release
that design work and planning also
continues on the Football Training
Complex, which is Phase III of the
Facilities Master Plan. This transfor-
mational project, which is going on
the site currently occupied by base-
ball's McKethan Stadium, will break
ground as soon as the site is avail-
able following the Gators' 2020
baseball season, with a completion
goal before the end of 2021. In ad-
dition, the UAA is moving forward
with plans for significant upgrades
to the current football locker room
in Ben Hill Griffin Stadium, which
will serve as the game day locker
room once the new complex is
built. Funding for Phases I-III of the
UAA Facility Master Plan, which
total $285 million, includes a target
of $155 million in private support.
To date, Gator Boosters, Inc. has re-
ceived nearly $86 million in private
gift commitments, marking
progress at 55 percent of the nec-
essary philanthropic support for
these phases.
Zoi House to be Orlando's
tallest structure
Orlando has approved construc-
tion of what will be the city's tallest
building, says its architect.
Wayne Dunkelberger said Zoi
House will include retail, office and
apartments. “Zoi' means 'life' in
Greek, so at the very top is going to
be a pool and pool deck that looks
over the city of Orlando, 300 apart-
ments, underneath that will be 6
floors of office, and below that,
parking deck.”
Miami-based MEC Development
Associates and architects Baker
Barrios have refined the 41-story
structure with a gentle, sweeping
curve at the building’s most promi-
nent corner at Orange Avenue and
Livingston Street, The Orlando Sen-
tinel reports.
The developers say 467-ft. tall
Zoi House will be taller than the Or-
ange County Courthouse, as well as
the SunTrust Center. "The Court-
house is around 419 feet, and Sun-
Trust around 427," Dunkelberger
said. TRX Investments taps
PREMIER for 163,000 sq.
ft. industrial project in
Hialeah Gardens
dens into a class A, 163,000 sq. ft.
distribution facility. The building has
a flexible design and can accommo-
date tenants from 9,000 sq. ft. The
project is owned jointly by TRX and
by Everwest Real Estate Partners.
“TRX has been great to work
with,” says PREMIER project man-
ager Yoan Aedo. “Our teams are in
close communication to ensure
everything stays on track for com-
pletion.” The building has all of the mod-
ern features that today’s tenants
need, such as a 120’ deep truck
court and a 32’ clear height.
TRX/Everwest will speculatively
construct offices in a number of
bays allowing for immediate occu-
pancy. The building will be constructed
of tilt-up concrete slab and struc-
tural steel and will include an im-
pact-resistant aluminum storefront
system with tinted glass. The sin-
gle-ply TPO roofing system will fea-
ture an ESFR fire suppression
system, and 277/480 volt 3-phase,
4-wire electrical service will ensure
ample power for commercial opera-
tions. Aedo and Omar Lopez, PRE-
MIER's director of project develop-
ment, Southeast market leader, are
overseeing the project, and RLC Ar-
chitects is providing architectural
services. Engineering services are
being provided by DDA Engineers,
P.A. (structural); Puga and Associ-
ates (mechanical, plumbing and
electrical); and Thomas Engineering
Group (civil).
The building will be delivered in
May 2019 and Devin White, senior
vice-president of CBRE, is the ex-
clusive leasing agent.
U.S.-based real estate developer
TRX Investments has tapped PRE-
MIER Design + Build Group, LLC to
transform a truck stop on about
8.42 acres of land in Hialeah Gar-
Florida Construction News — DECEMBER 2018 - JANAURY 2019 – 11