Dive Brief:
- Completion of the $300 million Frost Museum of Science in Miami is in jeopardy after the museum’s fundraising efforts have failed to bring in enough private money, according to The Real Deal. Miami-Dade County set aside $160 million to help pay for construction, but those funds have already been spent.
- City officials said a $5 million-$7 million payment is due to general contractor Skanska at the end of January, but the museum will not be able to make that or any further payments, The Real Deal reported. Skanska, who scored the $101 million construction contract for the museum in December 2014, replaced Suffolk Construction, who museum officials said they fired after delays and quality concerns costing an additional $25 million.
- Miami Mayor Carlos Gimenez's office has come up with a plan that would, upon commission approval, advance the museum $45 million on the $4 million subsidy it is scheduled to receive each year, The Real Deal reported. The deal is contingent, however, on the museum not asking for operational help for the next 20 years.
Dive Insight:
The museum totals 250,000 square feet, split into four sections: the Exploration Center, planetarium, Living Core and Innovation Center. The museum features classrooms and educational facilities for children and their families, exhibits, food vendors, as well as conference and event space.
The 500,000-gallon aquarium topped off in July, and 70 pumps and filtration systems have been installed throughout the museum for its many other aquariums.
Two commissioners said they were surprised by the cash shortfall. "I had no idea this was coming," Commissioner Dennis Moss told the Miami Herald. "Everybody is trying to get their arms around what the issues are. … We're going to have that conversation to try and figure out what went wrong, and how do we fix this mess?"
Skanska is also part of a less problem-plagued project a few hundred miles north of Miami near Orlando, where it is part of the I-4 Mobility Partners, which is revamping a $2.3 billion, 21-mile section of I-4 as part of a public-private partnership (P3). Dubbed the "I-4 Ultimate," the project recently won the Best Transport Project award at the 2015 P3 Awards, where it was recognized for its scale, complexity, and overall performance.
