Following negotiations with both bidders, Shiver and his staff recommended an estimated budget cap of $255 million.

In December, the commission approved an increase of $68 million to $255 million in the Performing Arts Center budget, as well as an $18 million increase in the budget for project contingencies.

Late last month, the builders' consortium submitted a $255 contract, relying on a variety of cost-reduction methods including value engineering, building savings options, a fee reduction, savings in the buyout of construction subcontracts and other amended terms.

In a memorandum to the commission, Shiver is expressing a sense of urgency about the need to authorize a final guaranteed contract with the builders' consortium.

"First, over these past two years, construction industry activities in South Florida have not softened," Shiver argues. "Costs are increasing, and the market continues to tighten. That coupled with the fact that the project has undergone several phases of bidding has only served to drastically erode subcontractor interest in the project."

If the commission approves the contract, Shiver says, construction could begin as early as Oct. 1 on the two parcels separated by Biscayne Boulevard at Northeast 13th Street.

"The prospect of the PAC's development has also already created renewed interest in economic development activities in the area surrounding it," Shiver writes in the memo.

"The PAC is the key element of an urban revitalization strategy being developed for our downtown and its surrounding neighborhoods."