MGM has selected Baltimore-based Whiting-Turner Contracting
Co. to build its $1 billion resort and casino at National Harbor, one of the
Washington, D.C., area’s largest general contracting jobs in recent years.
Construction is expected to begin within six weeks. Site
preparation has been underway since April. The 1 million-square-foot resort —
featuring 3,600 slot machines and 160 table games, a 3,000-seat theater, 55,000
square feet of branded retail, 35,000 square feet of meeting space, a
4,700-space parking garage and numerous restaurants from local and national
chefs — is scheduled to open in summer 2016.
A national firm with a huge presence in the Baltimore and
Washington metropolitan areas, Whiting-Turner will direct, supervise and
coordinate construction of MGM National Harbor. It will oversee dozens of
subcontractors and roughly 2,000 construction workers. Over the last five
years, the company has worked on more than 1,000 projects in Maryland and D.C.
valued at nearly $8 billion. The firm also is building the Horseshoe Casino
Baltimore.
“We are honored and delighted to have been selected by MGM
for this prestigious, landmark project,” Timothy Regan, Whiting-Turner's
president, said in a statement.
Whiting-Turner was picked, MGM officials say, because of its
national and regional portfolio and because it “shares MGM Resorts’ core
values, striving to engage local and minority business operators at every
opportunity and in every market the company operates.”
“This is a Maryland-based company with an admirable record
and reputation in Prince George’s County,” MGM National Harbor President
Lorenzo Creighton said in a statement. “Whiting-Turner has stayed true to its
roots and we feel will be the perfect partner to bring to life our vision for
MGM National Harbor.”
Whiting-Turner's regional portfolio includes the ongoing
Springfield Mall overhaul, M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore, Reston Square, 20
M St., 2000 Tower Oaks, 1400 Crystal Drive, and Rockville Town Square.
It was selected over five other firms, or teams of firms —
one led by Clark Construction, the others by Hensel Phelps Construction, Holder
Construction Group, Manhattan Construction Group, and TN Ward Co. The six,
narrowed down from a list of 25 candidates, received copies of the bid package
in mid April, in addition to the names of the 19 firms not prequalified to bid.
At the time, MGM asked that the finalists consider partnering or teaming with
one or more of them.
While MGM declined to release the value of the
Whiting-Turner contract, it should be among the largest for a single facility
or campus in the Washington area in the last decade. MGM as of Monday has upped
the MGM National Harbor price tag from $925 million to $1 billion.
The general contractor award should rival or top that of
Nationals Park ($442.5 million), Constitution Square ($416 million), the
Marriott Marquis ($520 million) the Wharf ($457 million), CityCenterDC ($694
million), the U.S. Coast Guard headquarters ($646.2 million), the Food and Drug
Administration ($325 million), Health and Human Services ($350 million), and
the National Museum of African American History and Culture ($305.76 million).
The contract for the Mark Center in Alexandria, Va., went
for $760 million. The contract for the 2.2 million-square-foot NGA Campus,
which opened in 2011 at Fort Belvoir, totaled $1.4 billion – the only project
certain to cost more than MGM National Harbor.
The southern end of the 1,400-foot-long MGM resort will
contain the first six stories of the parking garage, topped by an outdoor plaza
featuring a large water fountain, outdoor seating and an 18-foot-tall statue on
a 16-foot-tall podium — the trademark MGM lion.
Above the podium containing the plaza will be the main
casino and entertainment area, and another floor of parking. At the northern
end of the building is the eighth story of parking and the 21-story,
240-foot-tall hotel.
Source: Baltimore
Business Journal
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