PortMiami huge project spending list wins county OK
PortMiami projects costing Miami-Dade more than $301.5 million won OKs just two days before commissioners OK’d waiving up to $285.5 million for cruise lines crushed by Covid-19.
Commissioners signed off last month on construction deals required by prior berthing and development pacts. Each came via competitive bid, Deputy Mayor Jack Osterholt wrote.
The priciest, a design-build deal with Suffolk Construction for Virgin Voyages’ Cruise Terminal V, is to cost $158.6 million – 9% under estimates. Shifting risk coverage from Suffolk to the county and changing the project’s scope without altering its “visual integrity” saved $17 million.
Commissioners also OK’d a deal with Lemartec Corp. for berthing realignment and expansion at Carnival’s Terminal F. The $120.7 million is 38% below county pre-bid estimates.
Miami-Dade reached preferential berthing and terminal accords with Virgin and Carnival Sept. 19, 2019. Estimates then said Virgin’s 30-year lease and two five-year renewals, if used, would yield the county over $1 billion. If Carnival tapped two seven-year renewals past its initial 20-year lease, the county expected $921 million.
Two other deals passed: a $16 million cargo gate modification for Terminal Link Miami and a $6 million extension to a road linking Norwegian Cruise Line’s Terminal B, MSC Cruises’ Terminals AA and AAA, Royal Caribbean’s Terminal A and Terminal C.
Central Florida Equipment Rentals will do the gate project for Terminal Link, whose reduced footprint allows MSC’s terminals to be developed.
JVA Engineering Contractors will handle the roadway, part of a 30-year terminal and berthing deal with Norwegian that was OK’d last year.
All costs “will be funded with Seaport Department debt over four fiscal years,” Mr. Osterholt wrote, with annual debt service ranging from $18.5 million (4.5%) to $23 million (6.5%).
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