Whenever someone decides to wait until Friday afternoon to drop some news, it's almost never good. The Washington State Convention Center expansion team did just that last Friday when they announced that they've discontinued their relationship with the Skanska-Hunt joint partnership, which was the team initially hired to build the $1.4 billion renovation.
Pine Street Group's Matt Griffin even went as far as to say that Skanska-Hunt "are not the right fit for this project." Ouch. He also said that the design process will not be extended and the contractor selection process will begin again.
For their part, Skanska officials aren't happy either, calling the move "shocking and tremendously disappointing."
"We have operated in a professional manner consistent with our corporate values and in the best interest of the Washington State Taxpayers who will ultimately fund this $1.4B project," the statement said. "The services, which we have provided WSCC, are consistent with the manner in which we have delivered similar projects for the cities of San Francisco, Phoenix, San Antonio, San Jose, Seattle and others over the past decade."
The expansion, which is supposed to give the convention center 1.2 million square-feet of exhibition & meeting space, a 30-story residential tower with 428 units, 16-story office building and new retail & public spaces all along the exterior, is still slotted to break ground in 2017. We'll see.
· Convention Center cuts ties with contractor on $1.4 billion expansion project [PSBJ]
· $1.4 Billion Convention Center Expansion Up For Review [CS]