ASSOCIATION AND INDUSTRY NEWS
GRAEF acquires Miami
based Consulting
Engineering & Science, Inc.

GRAEF-USA Inc., a full service en-
gineering, planning and design firm
headquartered in Milwaukee, says it
has acquired Miami based Consult-
ing Engineering & Science, Inc. (CES).

In partnership with GRAEF’s Or-
lando office, the CES purchase will
expand its services throughout the
State of Florida and the broader
southeast region of the country,
GRAEF says in a statement.

For more than 30 years, CES. has
been a leading consulting engineer-
ing firm in South Florida, with a focus
on civil engineering, coastal engi-
neering, and environmental sciences,
the announcement said. These focus
areas will build upon and strengthen
GRAEF’s existing services.

CES leaders John Guttman,
Richard Bochnovich and Nelson Ortiz
have been named associates of
GRAEF. The firm’s additional staff will
also continue through the transition
as employees of GRAEF. In the
south-Florida area, GRAEF will oper-
ate under the name Consulting Engi-
neering & Science.

“This is a win-win situation,” said
Guttman, CES’s former president.

“Our firm and GRAEF are a natural fit.

We look forward to continued
growth and enhanced opportunities
as we integrate into the GRAEF com-
munity.” CES will join GRAEF’s existing of-
fices in Milwaukee, Green Bay, and
Madison, WI; Chicago, IL; Orlando;
and Minneapolis, MN.

PROJECTS AND OPPORTUNITIES
Miami Worldcenter’s
CAOBA apartment tower
tops-off 444-unit tower at
43 stories
Downtown Miami co-developers
CIM Group and Falcone Group have
topped-off construction at CAOBA, a
444-unit apartment tower within
Miami Worldcenter, the 27-acre
mixed-use development.

Formerly known as the first phase
of the Seventh Street Apartments,
the 43-story market-rate rental
building at 698 Northeast 1st Ave.

becomes the first tower to top-off
construction at the $2 billion
Worldcenter, marking a major
milestone for one of the largest
urban development projects
18 – MARCH 2018 — Florida Construction News
underway in the country, the
developers say in a news release.

Construction of CAOBA is
anticipated to be completed in the
fall of 2018.

CAOBA will include more than
20,000 sq. ft. of ground-floor retail
space for shops and restaurants,
connecting Worldcenter’s ‘High
Street’ retail promenade and plaza to
the east between Northeast 1st and
2nd Avenues. Plans for an adjacent
40-story, 429-unit tower have been
approved by the City of Miami.

“Caoba is the Spanish word for
mahogany, which is a variety of
wood prized for its beauty, durability
and color – attributes that will reflect
the luxurious, organic sensibility of
the building’s amenity and public
spaces,” Miami Worldcenter’s
managing principal Nitin Motwani
says in a statement.

“Residents of this complex will
value being able to walk outside their
door and be in the heart of a 10-
block ‘city within a city’ complete
with offices, shopping, dining and
entertainment. And our proximity to
Miami-Dade’s primary transit
systems, including the new
Brightline high-speed rail, means
residents will be able to jump on a
train and beat the traffic to anywhere
in South Florida.”
$158 million Tallahassee
downtown redevelopment
project moves forward with
document signing
Developer North American
Properties has signed the last five
documents with the Tallahassee
Community Redevelopment Agency
(CRA) to build its Cascades Project
on the hem of the city’s 24-acre
public park, The Tallahassee
Democrat (T-D) reports.

“This is a major step in the
creation of a transformational,
$150,000,000 project,” CRA director
Roxanne Manning wrote in a memo
to the agency’s board members.

“Thanks to the CRA board’s
leadership and vision, we are looking
forward to the creation of a project
which will enhance Tallahassee’s
downtown with a new activity center
adjacent to Cascades Park.” (The
Cascades Project website says the
project value is $158 million.)
Two city blocks will be levelled to
make room for the development –
described as the largest of any