Burkhardt News

2014 AIA Palm Beach Design & Honor Awards Large Builder of the Year - Burkhardt Construction, Inc. William Mignoga Memorial Scholarship - Mary Wissinger - University of Miami Educator of the Year - Dharmesh Patel - Palm Beach State College John Stetson, FAIA Award - David Chase, AIA Landscape Architect of the Year - Jon E. Schmidt & Associates Consulting Firm of the Year - Civil Design, Inc. Small Builder of the Year - Puzzitiello Builders Associate Member of the Year - Heather Appell, Assoc. AIA Bob Graham Architectural Awareness Award - Paul Schofield, Village of Wellington Craftsman Award - Billy Pike, Paris Furnishings

On Friday, May 18th, the Preservation Foundation of Palm Beach’s Bradley Park Beautification project was recognized for Meritorious Achievement in the field of Infill Design by the Florida Trust for Historic Preservation at its 40th Anniversary conference in Jacksonville. The award acknowledges a successful new construction or reconstruction project that appropriately fills a gap in the streetscape and is compatible within its context, or the redevelopment of a site that is sensitive to its surrounding built environment. The Florida Trust for Historic Preservation is the statewide nonprofit dedicated to protecting Florida’s extraordinary heritage and history. Founded in 1978, the Florida Trust has collaborated to save irreplaceable Florida treasures like the Historic Florida Capitol and is a statewide partner of the National Trust for Historic Preservation. Over the past thirty-eight years, the Preservation Foundation of Palm Beach has played a vital role in many projects that have enhanced the picturesque nature of Palm Beach. In addition to funding historic restorations like Town Hall, the organization has created urban “green space” through the construction of the Mediterranean Revival-style Earl E. T. Smith Park and Pan’s Garden, a botanical garden consisting of over 300 native Florida plant species. The beautification of Bradley Park is the largest landscape the Foundation has improved. Completed in December of 2017, the Preservation Foundation of Palm Beach's $2.7 million beautification project at Bradley Park was the result of a public-private partnership with the Garden Club of Palm Beach and Town of Palm Beach. The project activates a formerly underutilized 4.4-acre public park located on the town's historic main street and showcases its historic and natural features. Formerly the location of Colonel E. R. Bradley's Beach Club and personal residence, the land was donated to the town in 1946. The Gilded Age buildings were demolished with the exception of the historic tea house and Artemis fountain. Previously lacking a comprehensive landscape design, the refreshed park is now a gathering place and a source of pride for the community that marks the northernmost entrance to the town. The project encompasses every aspect of the Preservation Foundation's mission to preserve the architectural and cultural heritage and unique scenic quality of Palm Beach.

The Memorial Fountain Restoration project in Palm Beach received a 2017 American Public Works Association Project of the Year Award in the Historical Restoration/Preservation category.

The restoration of the Addison Mizner Memorial Fountain in Town Square has been named the historic preservation “project of the year” by the Florida chapter of the American Public Works Association. It is one of about 30 Florida projects that will be considered for a national award, Don Jacobovitz, chairman of the Florida Chapter’s awards committee, said Monday. Historic preservation and restoration is one of more than 60 award categories in which projects can be considered. “This one was especially interesting, with all the intricacies and the fact they had to bring in experts from all over North America to restore this fountain,” Jacobovitz said. “They took it apart into pieces, trucked it to Ontario, and put it back together.” Designed by Addison Mizner, the 1929 double-bowl cast stone fountain was deteriorating and needed restoration and reconstruction. Portions were worn away — especially artistic details on the four mystical horses of the sea, known as hippocamps. The town sought to conserve as much of the original fountain as possible; it was accomplished through a careful dismantling of the fountain, simultaneous restoration of the hippocamps in Canada, reconstruction of other key elements in Delray Beach, and onsite work to rebuild the lower basin. The town’s Centennial Commission chose the restoration of the fountain as its legacy project in 2011. Bill Bone chaired the commission’s effort to raise more than $1 million in donations to help pay for the $1.5 million fountain restoration. The project was the starting point of the $5.7 million Town Square renovation that began in February 2015 and was completed in December. The fountain restoration team included Kimley-Horn & Associates; Burkhardt Construction; conservator Mark Rabinowitz with Conservation Solutions; Hedrick Brothers; Clifford Restoration; Premier Stoneworks; Bridges, Marsh & Associates; SMI Landscape Architecture; Wojcieszak and Associates; and Research Atlantica. Chartered in the United States in 1937, the American Public Works Association has 63 chapters in North America, which includes eight chapters in Canada. The national winners will probably be known in a month, Jacobovitz said. The Florida Chapter awards will be given out at a May 11 dinner in Tallahassee. - See more at: http://www.palmbeachdailynews.com/news/local/palm-beach-mizner-fountain-named-project-the-year/MewMvYnef6XwAYeDYQsGNI/

Hundreds of residents turned out under sunny skies Sunday, March 1, for the Grand Opening and Ribbon Cutting at South City Beach Park in Hallandale Beach. Located at 1870 S. Ocean Drive, South City Beach had been closed for a 13-month, $4.36 million renovation. The park was re-opened on time and $100,000 under budget.

The dismantling of iconic Memorial Fountain is nearly complete. The fountain, which was built in 1929 using concrete mixed with crushed coral, has been patched a few times in the past few decades. But the Town Council approved a $1.54 million restoration of the fountain last year after expert analysis revealed extensive deterioration. The project also includes repairing the reflecting pool as well as upgrading electrical and mechanical systems for both. On Tuesday, workers removed the upper stem of the Addison Mizner-designed fountain. The next day, crews removed the large upper bowl and the west-facing hippocamp, or horse of the sea, as a crane pulled those elements above the scaffolding surrounding Memorial Park’s upper terrace and lowered them to the ground. The remaining three hippocamps were removed Thursday. Workers plan to reuse the four torsos of the hippocamps and recast their finned hooves and other detailed areas. The fountain’s bowls, stem and walls will go into storage and recast those elements. The large bowl was cracked and worn at the edges, Palm Beach architect Mark Marsh noticed Wednesday before that bowl was removed. “It’s lost all the detailing. There’s no way the water could spill over” properly, Marsh said. Premier Stoneworks of Delray Beach will clean the pieces that are going into storage. Separating the first hippocamp from the fountain stem Wednesday took more than four hours. Crews had to work around wood braces supporting them, but more challenging was the unanticipated connection points between the hippocamps and the stem of the fountain, said Tony Sabatino, project manager for project engineering firm Burkhardt Construction. A worker with Mulford Enterprises used a wet saw to slice through the horizontal and vertical connecting points. “There was a vast amount of rebar (metal support) that was inside the hippocamp, along the bridge bone area and/or the rib-cage area where everything had to be sawed out,” Sabatino said. The team had an easier time removing the other three hippocamps, which each weigh about 1,700 pounds, on Thursday. “We’ve come across a few hurdles that we had to cross that were unexpected, but, all in all, everything is going quite well and we are on schedule,” Sabatino said. Burkhardt is working with general contractor Hedrick Brothers Construction on the project. The two companies worked together on the $15.8 million Worth Avenue streetscape renovation, which was completed in 2011. Marsh created the plan to renovate Memorial Park and the Town Hall Square Historic District, with considerable community input and the aid of landscape designer Jorge Sanchez of SMI Landscape Architecture. Last fall, the Town Council separated the project into two parts to allow the fountain restoration to start as soon as possible. Phase 2 includes placing large canopy trees on the east and west sides of the fountain, installing two rows of shade trees with benches to the south of the fountain and upgrading the sidewalks in that two-block area of County Road, among other changes. That phase will start after the community raises $1 million toward its cost. - See more at: http://www.palmbeachdailynews.com/news/news/local/deconstructing-history/nkFP2/#sthash.ZSfLUv5h.dpuf