With Denver’s largest public construction project in more than a decade about to begin at Union Station, hundreds of small businesses expect to get a piece of the work – and in the process gain experience that will help them win other projects.
At least 15 percent of the firms hired to convert the historic train depot into a transportation hub and mixed-use development must be small, independently owned businesses not dominant in their fields. Thanks to the developers, those firms will get mentoring as well as contracts.
Civil Technology Inc., a Denver-based, minority-owned program and construction management firm, has already benefited from working with one of the two finalists for the Union Station project.
It joined the team led by Continuum Partners and East West Partners about six months ago as a development partner. Already the firm is using ideas and skills it learned from predevelopment work.
James Ellis, senior associate at Civil Technology, said the firm has gotten ideas about how to incorporate a pedestrian mall into its $35 million project in Five Points.
The company is redeveloping the historic Rossonian Hotel at 26th and Welton streets into a street-level restaurant with music venues on the second and third floors. If residents agree, it will also convert the old Fire Station into a museum and develop a pedestrian mall along 25th Street.
“It’s a mirror image of what’s going on at Union Station, and it’s what makes our partnership so exciting,” Ellis said.
Including small businesses in the Union Station project is a priority for the executive oversight committee, the group charged with selecting the team to develop the 19.5-acre site.
Two groups are competing for the contract: a team led by Continuum Partners and East West Partners; and Union Station Partners, led by Cherokee Development and Hensel Phelps Construction Co.
The committee has set a 15 percent small-business participation goal for predevelopment work, which includes revising the master plan, an environmental impact assessment, governance, contract negotiations and refining cost estimates.
“Generally, you don’t have any goals at this phase of a project,” said Liz Orr, executive director of the group that will select the developer. “Knowing that the teams would be expanded as they put together proposals, we tried to get a reasonable goal for (small businesses) incorporated at the beginning of the process.”
Both teams already are working with a handful of small businesses. Their numbers will increase after a team is selected. The decision was expected by late October but has been delayed indefinitely.
Both teams know their programs must include more than just meeting the participation goal.
“If you take the attitude of having to comply with a goal to meet a number,” said Taryn Edwards, vice president of Hensel Phelps Construction, “you end up with a company getting some work. But you don’t develop the company so it can succeed in the future.”
Hensel Phelps already has a national program to help small businesses compete for jobs in the private sector.
“If we are given a chance, we think we can create a model for future transit-oriented development that will enrich and empower local neighborhoods throughout the region and not just be a big-business opportunity,” said Walter Jones, the company’s national director of community development.
Carl Bourgeois, business manager for Civil Technology, punctuated that thought. “It would be a huge tragedy if, at the end of Union Station, we don’t have a lot of women- and minority-owned businesses out doing business in the private sector,” he said.
It’s critical for small businesses to be fully engaged, rather than pigeonholed into one job. “That enables skill transfer and technology transfer because you’re working side-by-side,” Bourgeois said.
The Continuum/East West team has put a small business – PACO Group Inc. – in charge of making sure participation is integrated at every level.
“We’re pretty confident we can exceed any goal they set and exceed any expectations that go with that goal,” Continuum Partners’ Tom Gougeon said.
Separate goals for including disadvantaged businesses will be established for pieces of the project that use federal funds. Those goals will be set as part of contract negotiations after a development team is selected, Orr said.
Staff writer Margaret Jackson can be reached at 303-954-1473 or mjackson@denverpost.com.
15 percent of the firms hired to convert Denver’s Union Station into a transportation hub and mixed-use development must be small, independently owned businesses not dominant in their fields.
