Suffolk Construction

Building high and┬ágreen┬áKeith Regan learns how the unique blend of office and hotel space, innovative construction techniques and green elements of Suffolk ConstructionÔÇÖs Met2 project help it stand out in a competitive market. Just a few short years ago, construction cranes towered over much of Miami, as developers pushed to bring high-rise condominium projects to a then-booming housing market. This year the landscape is starkly different, with the only active projects now all in the commercial category.  The Southeast division of Suffolk Construction remains active on one of the largest and most innovative of those projects, the 2.6-million-square-foot project known as Met2. The project consists of 753,000 square feet of Class A office space in a 47-story tower and an adjacent 41-story tower that will contain the 376-room Marquis Hotel, which will be operated under the JW Marriot Collection flag. Connecting the two is a 19-story podium structure that will house a parking garage and other amenities for both sides of the project. The mixed-use nature of the project, its location and other factors have helped it attract early tenant interest in the office space at a time when market activity has slowed considerably.┬á ÔÇ£It was very busy in Miami for a number of years, but there are only about three active projects now, and ours is not only the largest but the most unique,ÔÇØ says Scott Prince, senior project manager with Boston-headquartered Suffolk, which is acting as general contractor on the $300 million project. Designed by architects Nichols Brosch Wurst Wolfe and Associates, the project includes both structural steel and concrete structures, all of which are designed to withstand a major hurricaneÔÇöand all of which have contingency plans in place should a hurricane strike during construction, notes Prince. Prince, who has been overseeing the project since mobilization began in mid-2007, says the location of the project has posed some construction challenges. The site takes up an entire city block, and just about all of that space plus some parts of surrounding roadways are being utilized. ÔÇ£We have four tower cranes on the site in close proximity to each other, so they could swing into each other; therefore, we need to have a lot of good coordination and communication going on just to keep that aspect safe,ÔÇØ Prince says. The property is also bounded on one side by a monorail track that is part of the cityÔÇÖs public transportation network as well as by a highway off-ramp that has become the main access point for steel and other materials being delivered to the site. Suffolk has been able to use a nearby site, which is slated to hold the future Met3 project, for staging and other preparation work at times, too. Within the project itself, the design of the podium structure posed its own construction and coordination challenges. To accommodate a two-story, 18,000-square-foot ballroom and meeting space while also providing structure to the floors above, six two-story structural steel trusses were used. Those trusses were delivered on dozens of trucks in sections, and assembled on site before they were raised into place on falseworks and finally put into their permanent positions. The podium part of the project will also house lobbies for both sides of the project as well as parking for 1,500 cars, topped with a floor that will feature the hotel pool, fitness center, spa and regulation basketball court.┬á A similar large-scale undertaking was the foundation pour for the concrete structure, a 14-hour job that used 6,700 cubic yards of concrete. The office side of the project has already been pre-certified for LEED Silver accreditation status. Suffolk, which had 2007 revenues of $1.2 billion, has invested heavily in getting its staff up to speed on LEED, Prince says, with dozens of project managers within the overall company becoming certified. In addition to Prince, the Met2 project has two project managers and three others on the job who are LEED accredited. ÔÇ£WeÔÇÖve put ourselves in a position to offer an owner the assurance of having that insight on how to do things in a sustainable way all through the construction process, not just as part of the design,ÔÇØ says Prince. As much as 80 percent of the construction debris is being recycled or reused, for instance, adding construction-phase points to the considerable sustainability already built into the design. ÔÇ£WeÔÇÖve got a good safety net of points toward LEED Silver, and all our subcontractors are part of that effort.ÔÇØThe slowdown in the construction industry in Florida has helped drive more competitive and plentiful bids from subcontractors and ease what was a crunch on qualified labor. In the Sunshine State and beyond, Suffolk also takes pride in its safety and training programs, ranking 40th on Training magazineÔÇÖs Top 125 list for 2008 and recently earning the Associated General ContractorsÔÇÖ Safety Excellence Award in the building category. Suffolk also emphasizes top-flight service and communication with project owners, using what it calls an ÔÇ£open door, open bookÔÇØ approach that emphasizes constant communication. That work has taken on an old-fashioned approach at the Met2 site, thanks to the proximity of ownersÔÇÖ representatives. ÔÇ£The owners have a trailer ten feet from us, so if thereÔÇÖs something that needs to be hashed out, we do it in real time and in person more often than not,ÔÇØ Prince says. ÔÇ£You still have issues, but you lose a lot of the slowdowns that can sometimes occur as you wait for things to work their way through the communications channels. When you have a hot issue that requires fast action and you need to get to a resolution with the owner, the architect and the contractor, having all three parties right there takes away some of that technology downtime and has let us get back to direct human interaction. ItÔÇÖs helped us build up a very good working relationship.ÔÇØ ÔÇô Editorial research by Dan Finn┬á