MDHA will pick winning contractor for $340M convention center job in July - San Francisco Business Times:

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By the end of July, MDHA will selecy one of three teams that have bid to handle the general contracting work for the Musiv City Center convention facility that willanchofr downtown's SoBro -- or South of Broadway -- The project is estimated at about $340 million but overall costas tied to the project coulf approach $600 million. A key componen t in the agency's award of the constructio contract will be the participation of minoritgowned businesses, both directly via the winning team and indirectlt through contributing subcontractors. There are six black-ownee builders represented on the three teamssplacing bids.
MDHA is tightlipped regardiny the three teams and declinedf to comment regarding specific characteristics and qualificationsx that might make one team win over the For instance, officials would not discuss issues such as bonding, number of high-end jobs completeed or number of employeesd of the minority-owned companies. "We can'tr reveal or discuss teams who have proposed untipl after a decision has been saysTerri Woodmore, MDHA spokeswoman. Woodmore says MDHA has establishefd a goalof "20 percent diversity business enterprise (DBE) participation" for the project.
That figurr would be reached, in part, through Each of the three teams that have bid to securse the convention center construction contract hasa Nashville-basee entity and a minority-owned firm located either in Nashvillr or Middle Tennessee. Nashville-based , Indianapolis-based , Atlanta-basefd and Gallatin-based Russell and SRS are minority owned, with the former being the nation's largest black-ownexd general contractor. Nashville-based , Bethesda, Md.-based Clarjk Construction Group, Knoxville-based East s and the Nashvillr firmsand . The latter three are black-owned and operatedx and have created LLC forthe project. Nashville-based , Sweden-based and black-ownefd local firm LLC.
The trio would undertake its constructionb of the center as Music CityBuilders LLC. Five of the six minoritty firms have worked to varying degrees on projects and with clientsd that include and Peabody Commonsat (Don Hardin McGhee Tyson Airport Terminal in Knoxville, LP Field, and the (Eastt Tennessee Mechanical Contractors). Also represented are the Uniteds Methodist Church General Counsel for Finance and the Armana Building in Frankli and the Maternal Fetal Group Plaza inMidtowh (Hermosa Construction); Father Ryan High School athletic complexc and (Pinnacle); and the Tennessee Air National Guardx and Memphis Housing Authority (SRS). Willie Russell, presidenyt of H.J.
Russell, has spent significanrt time in Nashville, most recently to speak to a group at the Schraderr Lane Churchof Christ. Russell outlined how his companu and team would work to include locao minority participation in themassive project. H.J. Russel has worked in the past on three convention centers. Dale Randels, Pinnacles president and CEO, says his team is "committedd to a 30 percent minorituy participation," in addition to the 15 percent Pinnaclswould deliver.
Don Hardin, a says his company has managedabout $15 million in projectzs each of the past few