On Tuesday May 7, 2024, the City of Fort Lauderdale launched their “Reimagining Fort Lauderdale City Hall” Campaign with the ceremonial demolition of the old City Hall Building, and our team attended this event after receiving a special invitation from the mayor’s office.
Last year, a historic flash flood occurred in #FortLauderdale and the surrounding areas. A record 25.6” of rain fell within approximately 12 hours causing extensive flooding, which prompted Fort Lauderdale Mayor Dean Trantalis to issue a state of emergency. At Florida Governor Ron Desantis request, the federal government declared the flood event a federal disaster on April 28, 2023. The declaration made incident-related damages eligible for funding through FEMA’s Public Assistance Program (DR-4709-FL). The City Hall Building received extensive flood related damages to not only structural and architectural elements, but also electrical, mechanical, plumbing, HVAC, and fire protection systems. CSA Group, as a sub-contractor WSP, was contracted by the City of Fort Lauderdale to perform a damage assessment of the City Hall Building followed up with a damage estimate.
CSA sent a multi-disciplinary team of engineers and architects to conduct the damage assessments and estimates. Upon completion and submittal, CSA received a follow-on task to act as the owner’s representative during the demolition of the damaged structure. Additionally, CSA was asked to perform storm related damage assessments and estimates for six additional sites. These locations will also require CM responsibilities as the City’s Owner’s Representative for the repair of multiple City Parks.
CSA’s Juan Melgarejo, Senior VP of Business Development, Kiko Morillo VP of Business Development for Federal and Emergency Management and John Turner, Project PM attended the demolition ceremony where one of the highlights was Mayor Trantalis opening a time capsule that was set in the cornerstone of the city hall building by the Freemasons when it was constructed in 1978. Our partners from WSP in the U.S., Richard Bauer, Deputy Project Manager; Miguel Torres-Diaz, PE, MEM, VP Federal and EM, Adelmarie Bones,MSPH,CIH, CSP, Lead Industrial Hygienist, and colleague Jason Fawcett, Project Manager, fromAshBritt also attended the ceremony.
A special thank you to Melissa Doyle, Director Solid Waste City of Fort Lauderdale, and COL (RET) Alan Dodd, Col (R), PE, Director of Public Works, City of Fort Lauderdale, for the special invitation. CSA is proud to be part of such an important project and to contribute to the “Reimagined” City Hall of Ft. Lauderdale and its bright future.
