CityPlace Doral
Doral, Fla.           
Award of Merit

Owner: Related Group - Miami
Lead Design Firm: Arquitectonica - Miami
General Contractor: Suffolk
Civil Engineer: Ballbe & Associates
Structural Engineer: McNamara Salvia Structural Engineers
MEP/Electrical Engineer: JALRW

The CityPlace Doral project, developed and owned by Miami’s Related Group, is a 1.2-million-sq-ft multi-use complex consisting of seven different buildings: two residential towers, a 300,000-sq-ft retail center, a 36,000-sq-ft movie theater, two parking garages and a 30,000-sq-ft grocery store. Two eight-story residential towers include a total of 303 apartments and ground-level retail in each. The complex also has two precast concrete parking garages.

One major challenge arose near the project’s close. All buildings share an engineered exterior framing with DensGlass cladding that was finished with stucco and paint. However, as final inspections began on the DensGlass cladding, city officials indicated that the material might not meet recent revisions to the state building code involving specific conditions for exterior cladding.

Ultimately, city officials directed contractors to reinstall plywood, stucco and paint atop all areas—a task that was completed in less than a month without impacting the project’s schedule. Additionally, Suffolk Construction, the client and the design team spent numerous hours working with authorities to prove that the nearly 70,000 sq ft of installed DensGlass was compliant.

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