Minority-Owned Firms Urged to Bid on Center
Attempting to spread the wealth, officials of Southeast San Diego’s most ambitious industrial and commercial project Monday urged minority- and women-owned contracting firms to submit bids on the more than $3 million in public and private construction funds that will be awarded next month for Gateway Center East.
Gateway, bordered by Interstate 15 and California 94 along Market Street, is a 130-acre industrial and business complex split into two parks. Gateway Center West is nearly completed, but construction on Gateway Center East parcels is just now starting.
Nearly $2 million for public improvements will be awarded by the City of San Diego, according to Reese Jarrett, executive director of the Southeast Economic Development Corp., the nonprofit group charged with leading the revitalization official of the area.
About $1 million in subcontracts, including painting, carpentry and plastering, will be awarded for work on Starboard Development Co.’s two projects in Gateway Center East, said Brad Saunders, owner of Starboard. One project is 32,000 square feet, the other is 16,000 square feet. Both offer 90% manufacturing space and 10% office area, said Saunders.
“We need to get the word across to minority contractors,” said Jarrett, who added that there are no government quota mandates concerning contracts to minority- and women-owned businesses.
Saunders, whose company is constructing the new $36-million San Diego Police Department headquarters downtown, said that a similar call to minority firms last year yielded a flood of inquiries and the subsequent awarding of $700,000 in subcontract work.
M.H. Golden Co. is the general contractor on the Starboard project and will award the contracts. To attract minority- and women-owned firms, the company will place ads in a few newspapers this week and the first week in January, said Peter A. Terry, minority business officer at Golden.
Deadline for the Starboard projects is Jan. 15, and deadline for the city-funded contracts is Jan. 23.
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