Contractors Team to Manage $47M University Center Construction

DAVIE, FL-Miller Construction Co. and Moss & Associates LLC, both based in Fort Lauderdale, have formed a joint venture partnership to provide construction management for the new $47-million Nova Southeastern University Center rising here.Preliminary site work for the 250,000-sf multi-purpose center is under way, according to Thomas J. Miller, CEO of Miller Construction Co. Plans call for the university center to include several basketball courts, a fitness center, a student union, and space for support and ancillary services. The center, designed by Cannon Design, is a multi-level facility with an irregularly shaped footprint. The eastern half, to abut the existing student center and bookstore, will be three stories high. The western half will have a basketball arena and a hydrotherapy spa.This isn’t the first time 31-year-old Miller Construction Co. and Moss & Associates have worked together. Earlier this year, the general contractors finished their first joint venture project as a construction manager for the upscale Himmarshee Landing mixed-use development on Las Olas Boulevard in Downtown Fort Lauderdale.In addition, Miller and Bob Moss, chairman and CEO of Moss & Associates, have been friends for 20 years. “While we both construct buildings, we have different target markets and found we can be a benefit to clients by teaming on select projects,” Miller says in a statement. Miller Construction Co. focuses on mid-sized projects, typically less than $25 million, in South Florida, and Moss & Associates works on larger projects nationally.”Building on more than two decades of trust and friendship with the Millers, we value the opportunity to joint venture this high-profile project,” according to Moss. “We’re combining talents to maximize our services.”Moss formed Moss & Associates last year, after spending 22 years as CEO of national construction services companies including Centex Construction Group and Centex Rooney Construction Co. Moss & Associates recently moved into a separate office suite at Miller’s multi-tenant headquarters building for the interim and has plans to build its own headquarters facility.