Being associated with a luxury brand like Porsche is something any company would be happy about and Viega is no exception. By June 2016, occupants of the Porsche Design Tower on the shoreline of Florida’s Sunny Isles Beach will be experiencing the best view in the city, with the best products in the industry surrounding them and Viega is proud to be one of them.

The luxury home in the skies was the vision of Gil Dezer, President of Dezer Development. One of South Florida’s most accomplished businessmen, as well as one of the largest oceanfront property owners in Sunny Isles Beach, Dezer partnered with the Porsche Design Group on this $560 million project. The 650-foot tower boasts 132 units ranging from 4,200 to 17,000 square feet, but its size is not what makes the tower so special.

In this case, not only does the tower hold Viega’s ProPress® in ½" to 4" copper for the domestic and potable water, Viega MegaPress® in ½" to 2" for chilled water and Viega MegaPressG in ½" to 2" for gas, it has three elevators that will take owners and their car right into their home. The patented elevator, the Dezervator™, can also operate with zero human input, taking you from the entry floor to a private garage. Equipped with an RFID chip, the car goes into the same space every time.

“The inspiration was to create a home,” Dezer said. “The whole idea was to really raise the bar here in Florida and do something that’s never been done before and that’s what we’re achieving.”

The simplicity of the elevator was an ingenious way of maximizing the footprint of the building as well as the profits. Dezer picked up 200,000 square feet of parking and put it inside rather than adjacent to the building. Adding the cost of the parking into the unit price saved money and maximized the profits by 20-to-30%, according to Dezer.

Porsche luxury meets Viega innovations

“From a developer standpoint, and even from an architect’s standpoint, what we’ve done in this building that’s really never been done before, is we increased the efficiency of the floor plan,” Dezer said. “What that means is that every developer is required to give away parking, but because we put the elevator in the building, we are able to charge for parking. What is typically a cost to a developer has turned into a profit center.”

It's something the contractors want us to use”“

CUSTOMER: Porsche Design USA

APPLICATION: Potable water, chilled water, natural gas

LOCATION: Sunny Isles Beach, FL

CONTRACTOR: Olympia Plumbing Corporation

The financial efficiencies of the building don’t stop there. The mechanical engineering firm, Steven Feller P.E., PL in Ft. Lauderdale, FL, knows how critical time is on these jobs, and knew that Viega was the right way to go for a building of this caliber. Over the last few years, the firm has seen the number of contractors requesting the use of Viega products increase tremendously.

“We saw how well Viega press technology was accepted, even overseas. All our contractors started submitting it for use, and now it’s come a long way,” Mike Torrey, Plumbing Department Head at Feller said. “It’s something the contractors want us to use. It’s affordable, and we like that we can put something in the spec that they want to use and will be happy with.”

Olympia Plumbing Corporation, who worked closely with the general contractor for the tower, Coastal Construction, is one of the largest commercial plumbing companies in South Florida. Olympia has worked on many high rise buildings, but the Porsche tower is one of the more notable projects on their resume. They have used Viega ProPress and Viega MegaPress on a variety of projects across the state and stand by the product.

“The Viega ProPress was excellent. We’ve been working well with it − there are no leaks,” Cesar Gamero, Superintendent at Olympia said. “I pressurized it at 200 pounds and we haven’t had any problems with it. You don’t have to come back to it. It’s a good product.”

Viega sales representatives played a major role in this high-profile installation at the Porsche Design Tower. Viega sales representatives have a great relationship not only with Olympia, but all the mechanical and plumbing contractors on the Porsche Design Tower project.

“Any time we have an issue, we call our rep and he’s right there,” said Carlos Alvarado, Project Manager for Olympia. “We want to keep using it.”

Another contractor involved in the project, Jorda Mechanical, visited the Porsche Design Tower while a Viega sales representative was providing training on Viega MegaPress with hands-on demonstrations. Jorda Mechanical is installing Viega MegaPress in ½" to 2" for the heating and air conditioning.

“I’ve used Viega ProPress before,” Jose Castelloa, an employee of Jorda Mechanical said. “I think it’s great. It will speed up the work for us.”

©2015 Viega LLC

It’s not rare that jobs like the Porsche Design Tower come together like this. With every inch of the project specifying Viega systems − from the beginning with the engineering firm, to the experience contractors already have using the system − the tower is an example of how seamlessly a project can run from conception to completion. Impeccable timing is something important to developers like Dezer who work to make Miami a better place to live.

“It’s going to be the greatest building in Miami. Miami is home. There is a real working environment here, where you can do business and get jobs done and then come Saturday morning, you’re on vacation,” Dezer said. “We live in paradise. We live where everyone else comes to vacation.”

For more information on Viega system solutions, visit www.viega.us, or call toll free: 800-976-9819.