Dive Brief:
- According to a report that was reviewed at the Nov. 14 meeting of the Las Vegas Stadium Authority, the $1.8 billion home to the NFL's future Las Vegas Raiders is on schedule and on budget after breaking ground one year ago. In a separate update, the Mortenson-McCarthy joint venture construction team indicated that the project is also exceeding its small business and minority hiring goals.
- The project update from the authority said it has approved $448 million of funding requests thus far, or 24% of the project's total budget. Change orders for the project are at $3.2 million, with the most recent change for a modification to the stadium's fluorine-based plastic roofing system. There are also $9.6 million of pending change orders for offsite work and other sites like flush valves and steel painting design changes, as well as $22.7 million in potential change orders, including scope-of-work changes and tariffs on foreign materials. The construction monitor for the project, JLL, approved the latest draw request for the project — $46 million. The authority's construction representative, Grand Canyon Development, said that despite forewarnings about the lack of skilled ironworkers in the area, the job is adequately staffed and any labor shortages have not impacted the JV's efforts to make up time lost on the concrete work by speeding up steel erection.
- On behalf of the JV, Lynn Littlejohn, a vice president of the team's community affairs and development, reported that the project is currently at 69% minority and female participation, beating the original 38% goal by 82%. The project also has 3% veteran participation. Littlejohn also reported that of the $776 million of work awarded for the project so far, $133 million has gone to small business enterprises and that total SBE participation is at 18%. More than 70% of the contracts awarded so far have gone to Nevada-based businesses.
Dive Insight:
When a $1 billion-plus project like the stadium comes to town, it's typically a priority for the community to demand hiring preferences and other benefits as part of the deal, especially when taxpayer money is being used.
As part of its agreement to provide almost $2 billion of incentives for the $5 billion midtown Gulch mixed-use redevelopment project, Atlanta city officials will require that 38% of construction contracts be set aside for minority- and women-owned businesses. Other developer-provided community benefits include $28 million for affordable housing, $12 million for economic development, $12 million for a new fire station, $2 million for workforce development and space within the development for the Atlanta police.
