HomeMy WebLinkAboutM-81-0931Howard V. Gary
City Manager
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October 28, 1981
Coconut Grove Exhibition Center
West Courtyard Roof
When we met October 27th with Mr. Joseph Vendi and Mr. Skip Shepard
their interest was for the City to construct a roof over the west
courtyard area at the Coconut Grove Exhibition Center. Mr. Vendi
and Mr. Shepard were interested in this area being roofed because of
their concern that the ASTA (American Society of Travel Agents)
Convention next October would move the exhibit part of their con-
vention to Miami Beach because the Coconut Grove Exhibition Center
could not provide 100,000 square feet of adequate exhibition space.
Apparently the 100,000 square feet requirement was not discussed
at the time ASTA committed to come to Miami, and this requirement
was an afterthought as a result of some things that happened in
Hawaii.
In discussing this matter with the group, they were informed that
the City presently had budgeted $348,000 for the roof. They were
also informed that the roof would probably cost in the neighborhood
of a million dollars, although Mr. Perl has contended that a roof
could be built for around $650,000. It should be pointed out that
the design to satisfy Mr. Perl has a vertical clearance of only
20 feet and would require interior columns. Both Mr. Shepard and
Mr. Vendi felt that we should provide at least 30 feet of vertical
clearance and unobstructed space if at all possible.
As a further consideration in this problem is the fact that unless
the roof can be completed by October of 1982, it would prohibit the
space from being covered with a tent such as is presently used in
the Boat Show. It was not known by Mr. Shepard or Mr. Vendi whether
a tent enclosure would or would not be acceptable to ASTA. The gen-
eral consensus, however, was that it would be acceptable as an al-
ternative to a permanently covered space.
Since the City has some funds budgeted for this purpose, it would
be possible to hire architects or engineers to analyse possible al-
ternative roofs, i.e., conventional, air -supported or tension, to
determine costs and in fact bid the design of the selected alterna-
tive that required adequate protection for completion prior to
October of next year. I might add that this is less than eleven
months away.and could be an unrealistic schedule.
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Howard V. Gary -2- October 28, 1981
I should also point out that additional funds, possibly as much as a
million dollars, could be required to accomplish the roof. There
has not been any positive information presented which would indicate
that the expenditure of a million dollars for the roof would be re-
covered. Whether an increased facility at Dinner Key would be a
plus or minus for Downtown exhibition space is also unknown.
It is the request of Mr. Shepard and Mr. Vendi that the City Commis-
sion authorize the Administration to proceed to select an architec-
tural or engineering firm to design a covering and for the City to
receive bids under the conditions of time as required, and then to
request the City Commission for whatever funding is necessary.
VEG/h