Case Studies

The Strand Hotels – Miami, FL

The four building historic renovations and new ground up construction of hotel/condominiums collectively call the Strand in Miami’s popular South Beach had to over come multiple problems.  The buildings located at 1020, 1030, 1040 and 1060 Ocean Drive in South Beach consisted of the complete gutting of three existing buildings and the construction of a new four story building wit an infinity pool on the roof.

Due to the fact the buildings were and are considered historic the Miami Historic society held considerable control over the final  cosmetic appearance of the buildings that couldn’t be depicted on initial Architectural drawings.  The existing buildings were gutted down to the structural frame.  The first problem presented itself when it was discovered that upon reconstruction up to date egress requirements wouldn’t work with the design.  Existing concrete stair cases didn’t meet current height nor depth requirements.   The structure was concrete and with the location of the building on the site didn’t allow to completely demo the stair case to rebuild. Arundel created a process to extend the height and width of the toes to meet the requirements of the Fire Marshall.  The second issue arose when it was discovered the location of the  buildings didn’t allow for current ADA slopes.  Arundel had to design drops in the exit sidewalks to bring the new sidewalks into compliance.  The biggest obstacle occurred when the electrical Sr. Inspector, during certificate of occupancy inspections,  decided the buildings should have been constructed as condominiums instead of hotels.  This would cause us to have to completely re gut the entire project to install additional home runs in the  buildings.  Arundel had to design new outlets close enough to the kitchen to satisfy the inspector and keep the cost to the owner to a minimum.   One of the buildings (Congress Hotel) had a mural on the front facade that had to be recreated by hand while looking at an 80 year old photograph.

Despite the many obstacles presented by satisfying the client, inspectors, fire marshal and lastly the historic society, the  project was completed on time and is one of the premier hotels and condo projects in all of South Beach.