Miami Beach Doesn't Want to Pay for Zaha Hadid's Garage

The Collins Park Garage designed for Miami Beach by Zaha Hadid still hasn't broken ground despite being very behind schedule, and now the city's contractor is telling them that it will cost $49 million to build, twice the budget of $25 million. The city commission has requested that Hadid's firm cut the cost by about half reports The Next Miami, which would basically value engineer the bloody life out of it.

Hadid's firm responded in a letter by saying that the escalating costs have been out of their control for a variety of reasons, including changes to the design to combat rising water levels, labor and material costs, and communication issues with the construction manager. In the closing of the letter, the firm said that value engineering options would be limited due to the "high-profile nature of this project," but considering how many high-profile, excellent projects by starchitects like Hadid that the current commission has been only too happy to squash (the Rem Koolhaas Convention Center and Lincoln Lane North) that can't have been a smart move.

· Zaha Hadid's South Beach Parking Garage is Too Expensive to Build [TNM]
· Collins Park Garage coverage [Curbed Miami]