Dive Brief:
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Miami officials are considering proposals from three bidders who want to renovate a city marina, according to the South Florida Business Journal. The project will include a boardwalk, restaurants and mangrove restoration.
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Although the city of Miami won't release bid details until 30 days after the May 24 submittal deadline, one company, Biscayne Marine Partners told the Business Journal that its redevelopment bid for the Marina PARC (public access recreation community) was more than $113 million.
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The city will score the bids and then send their developer recommendation to the city commission, which will vote to determine what bidder will get the contract.
Dive Insight:
On a larger scale, Fort Lauderdale, FL, is getting ready for a $437 million expansion of its Port Everglades. Moss/Kiewit, a joint venture between Moss & Associates and Kiewit Infrastructure South Co., is the general contractor and will oversee construction of new berths that can handle larger cargo ships, rails that can accommodate post-Panamax cranes and an increase in deepwater turnaround areas. Like the Miami marina project, the port will also engage in a mangrove conservation project.
Meanwhile, a three-person panel, under the authority of the Florida Department of Transportation, selected an $800 million downtown Miami bridge design earlier this month that kicked off a local controversy.
A former Miami commissioner said the FDOT was biased in its tallying of scores and that the recommendations of a local "aesthetics" advisory committee were ignored. In addition, opponents of the bridge design said they couldn't judge which bridge they liked best because the FDOT had kept competing designs under wraps until the award announcement was made.
The controversy even spilled over into Miami politics, with Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez and Miami Mayor Tomás Regalado also in dispute as to which of the designs was better.
