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Week of February 12, 2004 |
| County says Performing Arts Center will open in 2006 By Shannon PettypieceNow planning for a 2006 grand opening of the Performing Arts Center of Greater Miami, county officials and contractors are finalizing an opening date, Assistant County Manager Bill Johnson said this week. He would not narrow the timeframe any further than to say it would be sometime in 2006. Center officials in recent months had been expecting an opening in late 2005, more than a year later than expected when the project was approved in 2001. The builders, Miami-Dade County officials and architects are scheduled this week to sign off on an agreement on dates for construction completion and a grand opening. The $255 million center is under construction on Biscayne Boulevard between 13th and 14th streets near downtown Miami. Mr. Johnson said by March he will take several items to the Board of County Commissioners related to cost overruns and project change orders for the center. The parties will sit down with a mediator later this month to finalize the wording on an agreement concerning $2.9 million of the total $57 million in cost overruns. The parties entered mediation late last year after concerns over the quality and timeliness of construction were raised in September by the Performing Arts Center Trust, which will run the center once its completed. "The contract is to continue to comply with their obligation to do quality work," Mr. Johnson said. "We continue to work with the contractors on issues related to the claims." |
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