Construction manager bids for Braves stadium:
Clark-Skanska Construction: $37 million
American Builders 2017: $40 million
Turner Construction: $43 million
Hunt-Holder Construction: $47.5 million
The firms selected by Cobb County and the Atlanta Braves to manage construction of the new Major League Baseball stadium in the Cumberland Mall area will be paid more than $40 million to oversee the three-year project, according to records reviewed by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
American Builders 2017 — a joint venture between Mortenson Construction, Brasfield & Gorrie, Barton Malow and locally-based New South Construction — was selected May 27 as the Construction Manager for the Braves 41,500-seat stadium, which is scheduled to be open in time for the 2017 season.
In addition to managing construction, American Builders will hold costs to a “Guaranteed Maximum Price” — effectively a spending cap — to complete the facility after receiving detailed architectural specifications and soliciting bids from subcontractors who will perform the work.
American Builders will be responsible for all costs over that maximum price, unless changes to the design of the stadium are ordered by the team or the county. In those cases, the party requesting the changes are responsible for the additional costs.
Rob Taylor, principal in charge of the project, called the stadium an “iconic project.”
“We’re very confident in our ability to meet the (construction) schedule,” Taylor said
Derek Schiller, the Braves executive vice president of sales and marketing, touted the joint venture’s 225 years of combined experience, and its completion of 330 sports projects.
“We’ve got a tremendous and capable team,” Schiller said. “We’re ready to build this ballpark.”
The firms that make up American Builders have worked on projects such as Target Field in Minneapolis; Coolray Field in Gwinnett County; Coors Field in Denver; PNC Park in Pittsburgh; as well as the baseball conversion of Turner Field after the Olympics.
American Builders had the second-lowest bid on the project, saying it would charge $30.6 million for construction of the stadium; $8.4 million for work at the stadium site; and $997,000 for all pre-construction work.
The joint venture of Clark-Skanska Construction came in with a lower overall bid at $37 million. The other two bids came in higher with Turner Construction bidding $43 million and a joint venture between Hunt and Holder companies bidding $47.5 million.
The bids, which were evaluated by a panel that included county employees and Braves officials, were scored based on company experience, their interview with the panel, staffing and approach to the project. Those categories made up 85 percent of the score; cost was worth only 10 percent.
Joe Tommie, the county’s purchasing director, said the county usually awards bids to the lowest qualified bidder. He said different scoring systems are used for specialized projects, in which the county solicits bids from contractors. Tommie said cost was not a main concern because of the limits set by the Guaranteed Maximum Price.
“The evaluation factors can vary” from project to project, Tommie said.
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