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US DevelopersJournal

Summer 2009 www.usdevelopersjournal.com

nichols Brosch Wurst Wolfe associates

Exciting DEstinations crEatED HErE

National Association of Tower Erectors

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Exciting Destinations Created HereBy Holly Alexander

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Nichols Brosch Wurst Wolfe Associates

Fans of luxury and destination hotels in the United States, Caribbean, Mexico and several other countries could spend 200 nights a year in different locations designed by Nichols Brosch Wurst Wolfe Associates (NBWW), an architectural firm based in Miami.

However, most guests don’t want to leave the one they’re in. The firm designs a wide variety of other buildings as well, from resorts, convention centers, office buildings, spas and other special features built with hotels, to condos and a variety of business and mixed-use complexes.

The company to date has designed over 200 hotels and resorts working with major Hoteliers such as Marriott, Ritz-Carlton, JW Marriott, Renaissance, Starwood, St. Regis, the Luxury Collection, Westin, Sheraton, Loews, Fairmont, Regent, Hilton, Hyatt, Grand Bay Hotels, and others. These projects can vary from major urban convention hotels to boutique beachfront low-rise resorts with bungalows and casitas.Within the last seven years, said John Nichols, founder and chief executive officer, one of the major trends has been

brand hotels developing condominiums and/or fractional units along with the resorts, allowing for a greater variety of shared special amenities and facilities than two separate projects would support.

Nichols graduated from the University of Florida and taught at the University of Manchester in England and the University of Miami before deciding to start the business in 1967. He is a member of the Urban Land Institute and the National Council of Architectural Registration Board (NCARB).

Partner Bruce Brosch, a graduate of the University of Cincinnati, joined the firm in 1979, when it was just Nichols and Associates. Key projects he has managed include the Westin Convention Center Hotel in Providence, Rhode Island; the Alhambra, an office/hotel complex in Coral Gables, Florida; and the Barclays Financial Center / J.W. Marriott mixed use facility in Miami.

A graduate of the University of Notre Dame, James Wurst joined Nichols Partnership, the predecessor to NBWW, in 1992 after a distinguished career in development and construction. His major credits include The Ritz-Carlton San Juan, The Westin Diplomat Resort & Spa in Hollywood, Florida, One Bal Harbour Condos, and Marriott Frenchmen’s Reef in the Virgin Islands.

Donald Wolfe, also a Notre Dame graduate who joined the firm in 1985, specializes in the entertainment side of projects, and develops and designs projects extensively throughout Europe, Central America, Asia and the Caribbean.

As a group, architects from Nichols, Brosch, Wurst and Wolfe are active in major industry groups such as the American Association of Architects (AIA), the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) and the National Council of Architectural Registration Board (NCARB).

Having had members of AIA on staff for many years, the company enjoys a close relationship with the association and benefits from its many services.

For sheer drama, NBWW’s design for the Westin Diplomat Resort & Spa would be hard to beat. Soaring almost 40 stories, the main building boasts a glass roof, five-story glass waves and bridges connecting many parts of the facility. The stats: 1,000 guestrooms and suites, 208,000 square feet of convention space and 60,000 square feet of retail space, plus a spa and two restaurants.

On the other end of height, in the works is a low-rise, spread-out Ritz-Carlton Resort suited to the landscape in Napa Valley, California. That facility, like many of NBWW’s, will be sustainable and LEED certified. When Nichols talks about green building and LEED, it is evident that this had been in his mind for years before it became the movement in design and construction that it is today. “It’s right for

the economy and the world as well as our clients and their customers,” he states.

LEED is also on show at Met 1, 2 and 3, a three-block renovation in the heart of Miami’s downtown, and Brickell Plaza in Coral Gables, both with housing, hotel and mixed-use components. The Plaza is a 35-story building that’s entirely glass which was cut like the facets of a diamond. Both the firm and a number of individual architects on its staff are LEED certified, which helps the company complete these projects to LEED specifications.

Restoration and expansion of the historic Fontainebleau and Eden Roc hotels, among the first luxury hotels on Miami Beach, were completed in recent months. With both

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new and restored components, NBWW has designed more Miami Beach hotels than any other firm, Nichols noted.

Beyond imagination and design ability, a gifted architect’s third major skill needs to be listening, Nichols said, to ensure that the architectural team knows each client’s aesthetic, marketing and economic guidelines. The firm’s partners are also the primary sales staff, and because of the repeat business NBWW earns, many jobs bring them back in touch with good professional friends. The company subs

out everything but architecture for two reasons. The first is that this lets them select the best group of contractors for every job; the other is that it ensures each member of the team is on equal footing, rather than other disciplines being – or feeling – that they rank behind architecture. Architects necessarily work closely with structural engineers, interior design firms, landscape design firms, and the many other professions involved in their projects, and NBWW knows and elevates the importance of this collaboration.

The recession has of course hit the travel and related industries, and NBWW has fewer employees than in peak years. Luckily, most projects are long, spanning about

three and a half years from start to finish, so many are still in progress and some projects are just beginning, guaranteeing that the firm will be busy for the immediate future.

“If you can get the financing, it’s a great time for construction because costs are down 20 to 30 percent from just a year ago,” Nichols commented. Given the entire time curve that starts with planning, it’s also a good time to prepare projects for future financing.

NBWW truly enjoys its projects, from historic restoration to the latest in LEED technology, and its top-tier list of hotel and resort clients attests to the fact that the company’s

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Established : 1997 NBWW Members : 41

President : Marvin Malecha

www.nbww.com

COMPANY AT A GLANCE

New York Office228 East 45th Street

2nd FloorNew York, NY 10017

212-687-2233Fax: 646-487-5555

New Jersey OfficeOne Woodbridge Ctr

Suite 510Woodbridge, NJ 07095

732-636-3700Fax: 732-636-3645

Florida Office245 NE 37th Street

Suite 101Miami, FL 33137

305-573-8005Fax: 305-573-8860

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Award-winning Structural Engineering High-Rise Buildings Mixed Use Residential Hotels

Commercial/Office Retail Building Alterations and Renovations

Civil/Transportation Green Design (LEED)Construction Inspection Peer Review and Value Engineering

FForensic Engineering and Structural InvestigationsEducation K-12 Government Facilities Health Care

Higher Education Libraries Maritime Engineering MuseumsPerforming Arts Parks, Recreation, Stadium & Sports

Bridge Design Blast Resistant Design

Ysrael A. Seinuk, P.C.is proud to Collaborate with

Nichols, Brosch, Wurst, Wolfe & Associates

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architects work both with imagination and excitement, while also with excellent function and operation, just as when it began specializing in the hotel and the larger hospitality industry more than 40 years ago.

Winter 2009 www.usexecutivejournal.com

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