Clark lands stadium deal

Friday, Sept. 2, 2005

Next week, building plans for the Washington Nationals’ new ball park will begin to take shape with the first planning meetings between the construction team, led by Clark Construction Group LLC of Bethesda, and stadium architects.

On Aug. 25, the District of Columbia Sports and Entertainment Commission recommended that the team of Clark, Hunt Construction Group of Indianapolis and Smoot Construction of Columbus, Ohio, be awarded a $23.2 million contract to manage construction of the stadium. The ballpark, estimated to cost about $279 million for construction, according to commission spokesman Tony Robinson, is to be built in southeast Washington along the Anacostia Waterfront.Ê

‘‘We will be sitting down to map out schedules, timetables and getting to the real nuts and bolts,” said Clark’s Greg Colevas, project officer for the new stadium’s construction. The architects are a joint venture of HOK Sport, which performs work around the world, and Washington, D.C.-based Devrouax & Purnell Architects.Ê

Clark was previously involved in building the Washington Redskins stadium, now FedEx Field, in Landover, MCI Center, American Red Cross National Headquarters, Catholic University’s Columbus School of Law, Gallaudet University’s Academic Center, and many other buildings in Washington, D.C., as well as Chevy Chase Bank headquarters in Bethesda and Discovery Communications’ headquarters in Silver Spring.

With the formal approval of the D.C. City Council expected in September, the Clark-Hunt-Smoot team will receive $9.35 million for construction and design management services and an additional $13.875 million for project costs, including expenses for managers and field offices. The commission also approved a $700,000 contract, which does not require council approval, that goes to Clark to help the construction team ‘‘jump start” necessary predevelopment planning, Robinson said. The stadium is to be completed in time for the 2008 Nationals season.

The majority of the workers and managers for the ballpark project site will be hired from the metropolitan Washington, D.C. area, said Colevas. The contract requires the construction team to hire 50 percent of its subcontractors from eligible ‘‘Local, Small and Disadvantaged Business Enterprises,” a designation of the D.C. Office of Contracting and Procurement.

Asked for comment on that requirement, Colevas said, ‘‘There is no downside to the LSDBE requirement, only positives for businesses in the D.C. area to get to be in on a big construction job.”

He said Clark will draw from its existing list of LSDBE certified contractors, but the company will also be looking for many new ones, including some from more than the usual categories of plumbers, carpenters and electricians.

‘‘It’s a stadium,” he said. ‘‘We will need contractors for seating, 41,000. We’ll need video screens and scoreboards, sports lighting, ball field landscaping, batting cages and backstops, sound systems, concession stands with kitchen designs, beer and soda distribution systems, lots more.”

Clark often complies with requirements for local contractors on public construction jobs, said Colevas.

At an August 25 press conference, William L. Talbert, president of Clark’s Mid-Atlantic Region said, ‘‘As members of the Washington, D.C. community for nearly 100 years, Clark Construction is thrilled to be a part of this important milestone in the city’s history.” Talbert said, ‘‘Along with Hunt Construction Group and Smoot Construction of Washington, D.C., our joint venture partners, we are excited to be building the Nationals’ new ballpark, and look forward to constructing a facility of which the nation’s capital can be proud.”

Said Allen Y. Lew, CEO of the sports commission, ‘‘This has been a lengthy process, but I believe our evaluation committee did a remarkable job and I concurred with their recommendation that the Clark-Hunt-Smoot team offers the strongest, most experienced team. This is going to be a demanding effort to build an exceptional facility within a very tight schedule. The experience of this team is unmatched in the industry.”

A commission statement said, ‘‘The Clark-Hunt-Smoot team has worked on many projects with the Sports Commission’s architects, the joint venture of HOK Sport and D.C.-based Devrouax & Purnell Architects.” Members of the team have worked on 15 Major League Baseball stadiums, 10 of which have involved HOK Sport as the architect, the statement said.

Other notable projects involving Clark included the Baltimore Raven’s Stadium, Oriole Park at Camden, Petco ballpark in San Diego, General Motors Vehicle Engineering Center in Warren, Mich., Los Angeles Convention Center and McCormick Place Convention Center in Chicago. Clark produces more than $2 billion in annual revenue, according to its Web site. Clark has about 1,500 employees, Colevas said, including some 750 in the mid-Atlantic region.

Two other teams presenting proposals were Turner Construction-Gilford Community Partners and Barton Malow-WhitingTurner-Essex construction companies.