Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino, South Florida's ultimate entertainment destination, celebrated another '"first" by setting the Tilt-Up Concrete Association's world record with a 96-foot- 6-inch-tall wall hoisted recently at the site of its new 2,300 space Lucky Street parking garage which will open in late spring.

Timothy Streeter, president of TiltCrete (tiltcrete.com) and construction contractor for the project, said the wall is five feet taller than the previous world-record holder.

Panels for the wall are 6 feet wide, with the widest being 12 feet wide or 1,158 square feet, 33 cubic yards or 132,000 pounds of concrete.

"Not only is our product first-class, but it's now a world-record holder," said Mike Bloom, president of the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino.
Streeter said the only way to construct a panel of this nature is actually onsite in the general proximity of the overall structure.

"There isn't a way to build something like it vertically," he said. "It would take a month to build this wall vertically. With the tilt-up process, it only takes a few days, saving time and money without sacrificing quality. Five years ago, a panel of this height would've been unthinkable. Now, we're only limited by our imaginations and the size of the cranes we can use."

Streeter said tilt-up construction has developed into the preferred method of construction for many types of buildings and structures. Benefits of tilt-up include its efficiency, quality, use of solid concrete and flexibility. It works as well for a one-story structure as it does for seven stories, and lends itself to different design sizes and shapes.
TiltCrete received the Tilt-Up Concrete Association's 2006 Achievement Award in the Retail Division for its work on the 10-building project in Seminole Paradise, South Florida's hottest retail and entertainment district, at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino.

Seminole Paradise (See Concrete Monthly, February 2006, pages 8 and 10) features 12 themed food and dining options, 11 high-energy nightclub and entertainment venues and 24 distinct retail shops in an upscale environment consisting of 350,000 square feet of lushly landscaped grounds and Mediterranean themed architecture winding around a lake.

The TCA Achievement Awards program honors outstanding achievement in tilt-up design, construction and innovation. It recognizes projects using site-cast tilt-up concrete to introduce new building types, advance industry technology and provide unique solutions to building programs.

Garage welcome addition

The Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino has experienced more than 5 million visitors to the property since its opening in 2004. Nearly 6,000 parking spaces are currently available, including surface parking of more than 4,000 spaces and a parking garage for nearly 1,800 vehicles. Both valet and self-parking are available.

The Lucky Street garage offers 2,300 additional parking spaces on seven levels over more than 800,000 square feet with multi-directional speed-ramp access and six elevators. It is also the first castellated steel structure in South Florida, according to Mike Russell of Steel Fab.
The parking garage provides easier access to Seminole Paradise and Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino and a safe and secure environment featuring emergency call boxes on each level and fully covered surveillance.

First class property

The game is on at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino (seminolehardrockhollywood.com), featuring live action poker and 2,100 of the most popular gaming machines on its 130,000-square-foot casino floor.
The 500-room hotel recently received the coveted AAA four-diamond award. It offers several restaurants and lunges, a 16,000-square-foot grand ballroom, a full-service European Spa and adjacent complex of retail shops.