Author: andcon1986

The condominium site at the 27-acre Miami Worldcenter project sold for $26.28 million as construction on the project continues.

The $1.5 billion Miami Worldcenter is slated to bring residential, retail, a hotel convention center and a large amenity deck on the north side of downtown Miami. The master developer is Miami Worldcenter Associates and it’s funded by Boca Raton-based Falcone Group and Los Angeles-based CIM Group.

In the recent deal, Miami Worldcenter Associates affiliate Miami A/I Parcel 2 Subsidiary sold 2.5 acres at southeast corner of Northeast 10th Street and Northeast 1st Avenue for $26.28 million to Tower 2 LLC, managed by Daniel Kodsi. The transaction included seller financing of $12.98 million.

Kodsi has been leading the development of Paramount Miami Worldcenter, the site’s 60-story condo tower. With 512 units, the condo would be attached to parking garage and retail/restaurant building topped by an amenity deck featuring pools, a soccer field, tennis courts and more. The condo would also have a rooftop amenity deck shaped like a yacht.

According to ISG World’s Miami Report, the condos in Paramount Miami Worldcenter were 52 percent pre-sold as of October.

Developers started site work on Miami Worldcenter in March and the foundation for both the condo and the retail was poured in October.

Other phases of Miami Worldcenter would include 338,036 square feet of “high street” retail, a 429-unit apartment tower in partnership with ZOM; and the Marriott Marquis Hotel with 1,700 rooms and 350,000 square feet of convention space in partnership with MDM Group.

Read Full Article here

Solar industry advocates in Florida are forecasting a mostly sunny future with just a few uncertainties after voters failed to approve a constitutional amendment supported by big utilities in a bitter election battle.

A sign of the increased confidence was an announcement on Dec. 1 by SolarCity, the nation’s largest installer, of plans to expand its operations into Florida.

“The industry is evolving almost as rapidly as cell phones these days,” said Ray Johnson, president and founder of Fort Lauderdale-based Florida Solar One, one of Solar Power World magazine’s 500 most influential solar contractors in North America in 2015. “Solar panels are priced at an all-time low and are now 500 percent cheaper than they were eight years ago.”

Interest is also being driven by improvements in storage technology and electronics that control and regulate electricity flows, growing demand for electric vehicle charging stations and “smart home” technology. Another lift came from the federal government’s extension through 2019 of a 30-percent tax credit for solar installations, Johnson said.

“Many of the modern custom home builders are contacting us to professionally engineer these highly specialized and advanced home electrical systems and the pace of these inquiries has never been higher,” he said.

 

Read Full Article here

Although the concept of Building Information Modeling originated from architectural design, the constructors/contractors have a very important seat at the table as well. The process isn’t new in the industry, yet it is still evolving in a manner where BIM professionals make it functional for better profitability and also make them global competitors. According to a report from McGraw Hill, only 25% of the companies have adopted BIM for their projects.

Of the various reasons responsible for low adoption, one of the prominent one is to the smaller size of construction companies and contractors with limited financial resources. This hinders their growth and ability to compete on higher levels as their capability is outright rejected and undermined as compared to the BIM users. However, Outsourcing BIM services, productivity and quality of work can be enhanced – easily.

BIM helps with electronic data, to easily coordinate and collaborate

BIM assists contractors in analyzing the piece of information pertaining to a building and clubbing it with scheduling, finances and bidding the best for the project. Thus, the electronic data in the form of BIM model, allows the contractors to streamline the activities for projects, which otherwise would take up a huge time and resources. To put it in one statement, BIM enables a contractor in coming out with the best possible outcomes right from the design stage and all the way to construction and even post-construction.

With such collaborative and collective processes, the costs are reduced due to eliminated rework and faster delivery of projects, and as a result, a way to have early design changes in the model during conceptual states. Through all this, a small contractor can essentially deliver quality project work within timeframe, making him compatible to what market demands.

Read Full Article here