This agenda supports the Board's goal of increased economic strength and impact of revenue-generating County enterprises balancing economic, environmental, and community needs.
On May 19, 2015 (Item No. 41B), the Board designated itself as the Direct Procurement Authority (DPA) for the Broward County Convention Center Expansion and Headquarters Hotel Projects, Step One through Step Three. This designation was based on the recommendation from the County Administrator, in accordance with the Broward County Procurement Code, Section 21.10, DPA. Steps One through Three constitute the first stage of the procurement process, which is focused on the qualification and ranking of Developers.
On August 25, 2015 (Item No. 44), the DPA reviewed the Developers’ Step One submittals to qualify the Developers. The DPA qualified five Developers.
On November 3, 2015 (Item No. 25), the DPA reviewed the Developers’ Step Two submittals to qualify the Developers’ teams, in compliance with the Consultants’ Competitive Negotiations Act (CCNA) and the solicitation requirements. The DPA qualified the Developers’ teams and shortlisted three Developers.
On November 3, 2015, the County issued a Request for Letters of Interest to the shortlisted Developers. On March 11, 2016, the County received one submittal from the Developer, Matthews Southwest Holdings, Inc. (MSW)
On April 26, 2016, the DPA heard presentations from County staff and from MSW and its team members. Upon review of the information, the DPA re-qualified the team, contingent upon resolution of expressed concerns regarding MSW's general contractor (GC) for the project.
On May 10, 2016, the DPA received a report from County staff stating MSW was currently reviewing its team and needed additional time for review.
On August 16, 2016, the DPA approved a change to the Developer’s team for the Convention Center General Contractor, reaffirmed the Developer’s Team as qualified, ranked MSW as the No. 1 ranked firm, and approved a Pre-Development Agreement with MSW.
On November 1, 2016 the DPA approved a conceptual site plan to provide staff with appropriate design direction on how to proceed with the Project.
On April 4, 2017, the DPA heard presentations from County staff and from the MSW development team on the updated design proposal for the Project. The DPA expressed support for the new design.
During subsequent negotiations and fact finding sessions, it was determined that the most recent hotel design would require a much larger subsidy from the County than originally proposed. County staff requested a redesign to bring down the costs of the project. The Developer initiated a redesign of the hotel that resulted in a significant reduction in costs. Attached to this agenda item (Exhibit 1) is a copy of the update presentation that will be made at the DPA meeting on the latest conceptual design of the project.
To bring a new perspective for the project, MSW brought in a new design professional (Nunzio DeSantis) to provide fresh ideas on how to reduce project costs while maintaining design integrity. The Board will be presented with his qualifications (Exhibit 2) and asked to approve his inclusion on the design team. Additionally, the County was notified last November that VOA Architects was being purchased by Stantec Architecture, but was told that the transition would take several months. VOA principals have continued to work on the project, but recently other Stantec professionals have joined the design team. Since the Stantec/VOA acquisition is now complete and additional Stantec personnel have been added to the project, Board approval is required to include Stantec on the design team. Stantec will also present their qualifications (Exhibit 3).
In light of the substantial savings resulting from the hotel redesign effort, staff is also interested in pursuing savings possibilities for the convention center expansion project. While considering possible design changes and taking into account industry feedback, staff has taken another look at the phased nature of the expansion project as originally envisioned in the 2014 Broward County Convention Center Master Plan Study. Staff recommends that we evaluate an expansion of contiguous exhibition space to the west (Exhibit 7) of the existing facility and a smaller expansion to the east that focuses only on meeting and ballroom space.
The DPA will be considering a new design contract with a not to exceed amount of $10,700,000 that includes a conceptual design modification to evaluate this new phasing option in the near future. The new design contract (Exhibit 4) also moves the project to the next level by including the schematic design and engineering work necessary to submit a site plan application to the City of Fort Lauderdale. The notice to proceed (NTP) for the schematic design work would not be given to MSW until such time as the DPA has been presented with and approves the new conceptual design for the Convention Center Expansion.
The design contract also includes the development of both schematic and construction drawings for three Enabling Projects. These projects must be first completed to enable the rest of the Project to move forward. In order to move forward with demolition of the north end of the Convention Center, a new Central Energy Plant needs to be designed, constructed, connected and energized so that the rest of the Convention Center can continue to operate during construction. Before the eastern expansion of the Convention Center can take place, new ingress and egress points need to be created to the ground floor of the parking garage in order to facilitate the flow of tractor trailers, buses and taxes that support the operations of Port Everglades Terminal 2. And before demolition of the north end of the convention center can take place, a reorientation of the road access (18th Street) to the Convention Center needs to be made to provide continued access to the Convention Center loading dock.
After several interviews with four hotel operators (the fifth, Starwood, merged with one of the other four hotel operators), which were attended by MSW and County staff, MSW is seeking approval to enter into exclusive negotiations with Omni Hotels and Resorts to serve as the hotel operator (flag) for the Convention Center Headquarters Hotel, with the intent of finalizing a deal with them in the coming months. If MSW is unable to come to acceptable final terms with Omni, MSW will come back to the Board for approval to negotiate with an alternative hotel operator. Omni will be making a brief presentation to the DPA (Exhibit 5).
At the June 15, 2017 Board of County Commissioners (Board) Budget Workshop staff provided a presentation on the Convention and Visitor’s Bureau, including information related to the Convention Center Expansion Project (CC) and the Tourist Development Tax (TDT). Discussion ensued about the need to levy the 6th penny of the TDT as allowed by Section 125.0104 (3)(m), FL Statutes to provide funding for the CC expansion. As a result of the Board discussion staff indicated it would start the process.
On June 19, 2017, staff sent a request to the FL Department of Revenue (DOR) to certify that Broward is eligible to impose the tax. On July 7, 2017 the County received an affirmative response from DOR certifying that Broward meets the eligibility criteria as a High Impact Tourism County. In order to levy the additional penny of TDT, the Board must approve an ordinance to that effect. For the Board's reference, Exhibit 6 provides a comparison of lodging taxes for the 150 largest urban areas in the US. The Tourist Development Council did discuss this item and expressed approval of it. |