Fall 2021 Structures Graduate Student Seminar (SGSS)

Date/Time
Date(s) - 09/29/2021
12:50 PM - 1:40 PM

Categories


Zoom Link: https://ufl.zoom.us/j/5133689106

Broward County Convention Center Expansion and Hotel
Speaker: Jessi Pereira, PE – Associate at Desimone Consulting Engineers

More than 20 years in the making, the Broward County Convention Center Expansion and Hotel will solidify Fort Lauderdale as a prime location for major trade shows and conventions. This mega project is comprised of five separate buildings. Designed by Fentress Architects the west and east expansions will add 150,000 square feet of contiguous space the to the existing building and well as 386,000 square feet of ballroom and meeting spaces connected to the existing building via pedestrian bridge. Designed by Nunzio Marc Desantis Architects, a 29-story hotel will provide 800 keys with 4-star ammenities, including an elevated pool deck, ballroom and meeting spaces as well a ground level restaurant and roof top bar immediately adjacent to the existing convention center building. At the northwest corner of the parcel a new county vistor’s bureau (CVB) building will serve the thousands of visitors coming into the area each year. The proposed event plaza will be a prevelant outdoor space during future conventions with three stand alone resturants and event stage. In total the project comprises close to 2 million square feet. In addition to the scale and size of the project, the main challenges faced by the design build team lead by Balfour Beatty (general contractor) and Stantec (project architect of record), was the immediate adjacency of new structures to existing structures. Multiple building structures were either completely or partially demolished to make way for the new proposed structures. On the west end of the existing convention center building, extensive retrofit and carefull sequencing of demolition work was required in order to safely carry out the work in the field while staying on a tight schedule with no possibility of a delayed opening.

Biosketch: Jessi Pereira, PE received his BS as well as his ME from the University of Florida. Mr. Pereira has been a practicing engineer for 15 years. In that time, he has worked in Atlanta, New Haven and in Miami where he is currently a Senior Project Manager at DeSimone Consulting Engineers. Mr. Pereira has worked on large scale projects throughout the country including Stadiums, Airport Terminals, Hotel/Residences and Convention Centers. Please contact Mr. Pereira at jessi.pereira@de-simone.com.

 

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