125 years ago, Henry Plant built the Belleview Biltmore Hotel in Belleair, FL, located just south of Clearwater on the state’s west coast. Chances are, Mr. Plant would never believe that someday someone would pick up and move his magnificent 5-story hotel, but that is precisely what happened. Working with engineers from Pennoni Associates Inc., the structural engineer of record (SEOR), Wolfe House & Building Movers rotated the original section of the old hotel 50 degrees. Then, they moved it about 350 feet as part of a significant redevelopment project. According to Wolfe, the structure weighed 1,750 tons, making it one of the heaviest framed buildings ever moved. The old hotel was then renovated into the Belleview Inn and is now the center point of a $125 million development that consists of four 8-story condominium buildings and 2-story carriage homes developed by JMC Communities of St. Petersburg, FL.

Advancing the Challenges of Tall Building Design Coupled with Seismic Issues

The Emerald City has its share of hidden passages and mysterious dark alleyways, but it is no secret that Seattle, Washington, is a metropolis on the move. According to census data released in August 2021, the city’s population grew by 21 percent over the previous decade to 737,015 people, with tech giants like Amazon, Google, and Microsoft bringing people to the area by the tens of thousands.

The  Laurel Rittenhouse Square is a 50-story, 583,000-square-foot residential tower currently under construction in Philadelphia. Located on the last undeveloped parcel on Philadelphia’s prestigious Rittenhouse Square, the project features an ultra-luxury mixed-use tower consisting of 65 condominiums and 184 apartments on top of a three-story podium with 44,000 square feet of retail and dining spaces. Once complete, The Laurel will rise 604 feet, making it the tallest residential building in Center City.

The $350 million Long Beach Civic Center is a state-of-the-art facility that provides the City and Port of Long Beach, California, with performance-based infrastructure commensurate with its size and status as a world-class shipping and logistics hub. The City wanted a revitalized civic core that was environmentally sustainable and resilient. The project was developed under a public-private partnership (PPP) with developer Plenary-Edgemoor Civic Partners and general contractor Clark Construction. The design was led by Skidmore, Owings, and Merrill (SOM) as the architect, and structural engineering was shared by Nabih Youssef Associates Structural Engineers (NYASE) and SOM.

Boston University Center for Computing & Data Sciences Building

The Center for Computing & Data Sciences is a dynamic new vertical campus building at Boston University. The design maximizes opportunities for interaction and interconnectivity and carefully integrates every element to establish Data Sciences as Boston University’s new iconic heart.