Construction of this immersive dining experience at Epcot’s World Showcase in Walt Disney World included renovation and expansion of an existing retail store into a high-end signature restaurant. Heavily themed, with five uniquely detailed dining rooms, the project boasts an “impressive level of complexity,” including new landscaping, a retaining wall and garden wall, themed concrete and a stone entryway, says contractor PCL Construction. The contractor—whose scope included renovation of the existing space, build-out of the addition, all MEP work, construction of a full-service kitchen, foundation and structures as well as the tie-in of new utilities—encountered two unexpected challenges. First, during permitting, due to “extenuating circumstances,” the contractor had to replace the project architect, who was serving in a dual role as architect of record and owner’s representative. PCL worked with the owner through the transition, persuading Mitsukoshi USA to retain the same engineering design team to minimize schedule disruption. Also, during demolition of the existing structure, the team discovered roughly 70 active utility lines, all of which needed to be relocated without interruption to park operations. PCL completed the unforeseen work in two months and was able to minimize impacts to the overall schedule, completing the project in June 2019.

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