Moss & Associates announces occupancy for University of Miami Student Activities, Athletic centers

CORAL GABLES, Fla. - Aug. 22, 2013 - PRLog -- In time for the University of Miami’s 2013-14 academic year, Moss & Associates Construction has announced completion on schedule of the new Student Activities Center and the Schwartz Center for Athletic Excellence.

Both have received their certificates of occupancy in time for the students’ return to classes on August 26.

The $45.5 million Student Activities Center, started in 2011 at the campus’s center along Lake Osceola, will be the new hub for student activities, designed to centralize campus amenities and unite the student body.

The facility includes a new Rathskeller restaurant, which is a popular student meeting place that is a tradition on campus.  Also located in the facility are three retail food shops, an indoor/outdoor dining area, lounge, galleries, individual and group study spaces, and a large 1,065-seat multipurpose room capable of adapting to banquets, lectures or performances. Other features include a 10,000-square-foot student organization suite, conference rooms, workspace and fully equipped media center with computer rooms, production facilities, a tiered meeting room with video recording capabilities, and an outdoor lakeside amphitheater.

The four-story project is built to meet LEED Silver Certification. As construction manager, Moss worked with the owner and Miami-based architectural firm Arquitectonica. The project was made possible by the $20 million lead gift from the Fairholme Foundation, and a 2006 student referendum imposing a student fee specifically for the center’s construction and maintenance.

The university’s $14.7 million Schwartz Center for Athletic Excellence is the newest addition to the Hurricanes facilities, located on the north side of the Isadore Hecht Athletic Center. The project broke ground in March 2012 and was made possible by a generous lead gift from Theodore G. Schwartz and Todd G. Schwartz. The 34,000-square-foot facility houses a Gallery of Champions displaying the proud championship tradition of Hurricane Athletics. It is home to a state-of-the-art football locker room, football players’ lounge, natural sun lit Student-Athlete Academic Center with a 120-seat auditorium, and completely renovated and expanded Sports Medicine and hydrotherapy training areas. Designed by AECOM’s local Coral Gables office, it is built to meet LEED Gold Certification.

“These projects should give UM students and student-athletes a big boost to their Hurricane experience,” said Moss’s Stephen Chang, project manager for both projects.

Moss is a big player in higher education construction throughout South Florida, and the University of Miami is no exception. Moss recently completed UM’s 10-story, $74.4-million Biomedical Research Building, garage, and central energy plant, with 100,928 square-feet of lab and 64,709 square-feet of office space.

ABOUT MOSS (http://www.mosscm.com/): Moss & Associates is a privately-held construction company ranked among the nation’s top 100 building contractors and the third largest in Florida. From its headquarters in Fort Lauderdale and five other regional offices in Miami, Orlando, Clearwater, Greenville, S.C. and Raleigh, N.C., the firm provides design-build, general construction, construction management and preconstruction services for commercial, residential and institutional facilities development nationally and internationally. Learn more at www.mosscm.com.