Miami-Dade PAC Project Manager Resigns

(CelebrityAccess MediaWire) — Gail Thompson, the project manager chosen in 1999 to oversee the construction of the now over budgeted and two-years-behind-schedule Miami-Dade Performing Arts Center, has quite her job days after she was demoted to an administrative position by Miami-Dade County Manager George Burgess as he tries to get the project back on track. The PAC is $67 million over budget and 20 months behind schedule.

Burgess has hired performing arts construction veteran Ronald M. Austin to manage the day-to-day operations of the project, now priced at $411 million. Austin is a principal with a construction firm that already completed two performing arts centers in Ohio with Cesar Pelli, the architect who designed the Greater Miami PAC — within budget and on time.

The PAC's original completion date was October 2004; it is now slated for a May 2006 opening. — Jane Cohen and Bob Grossweiner