The US National Park Service has awarded Perini Management Services, a wholly owned subsidiary of Tutor Perini, a design-build contract for a new visitor centre at the Everglades National Park in Florida, US.

The estimated value of this fixed-price project is $47m.

The Marjory Stoneman Douglas Visitor Center project will see the development of a new two-storey visitor centre, along with a one-storey remote concessions and storage facility, underground utilities, and other site upgrades.

The development covers the demolition of areas of the existing bulkhead and the construction of a new bulkhead at the marina and along the waterfront.

It also includes dredging Chokoloskee Bay and replacing the current floating docks with a new floating dock system incorporating accessible ramps.

Extensive siteworks involved with the new visitor centre will elevate the roadways and parking areas above king tide levels.

Preconstruction works are currently in progress, with site mobilisation scheduled for early October this year. The project is expected to be completed in August 2025.

The value of this contract will be entered into the company’s backlog for the third quarter of 2023.

Everglades and Dry Tortugas National Parks spokesperson Allyson Gantt was quoted by WGCU News as saying: “We’ve got plans to improve the kayak, launch, the kayak launch, and then there’ll be a new, separate building for canoe and kayak rentals.

“That was designated as a temporary visitor centre for a very long time, and it was very much a part of our plans to build a new one and name it after Marjory Stoneman Douglas.

“It was actually authorised by [US] Congress in 1989 as part of the Everglades National Park Protection and Expansion Act.”