Brinderson Picks Up Navy Building Contract

Brinderson Corp., an Irvine construction company, has been awarded a $22.9-million contract to complete a U.S. Navy training center at the Kings Bay nuclear submarine base in St. Mary’s, Ga.

Brinderson is taking over the partially completed project after the Navy fired its first general contractor for what it said were numerous delays and safety violations on the site. Construction on the project, suspended in December when Washington-based Blake Construction Co. was released, will resume later this month.

The 500,000-square-foot facility will be used to teach crew members how to handle the Trident nuclear submarines that will be based at the southeast Georgia facility beginning in 1989.

Brinderson submitted the second lowest bid to the Navy when Blake was awarded the original contract in 1984, a Navy spokesman said.

Brinderson is perhaps best known in Orange County as the contractor and owner of the giant, $125-million Brinderson Towers complex near the intersection of Jamboree and MacArthur boulevards and the Corona del Mar Freeway.

The first phase of the project, scheduled to open shortly, includes a stark, 15-story black granite tower. A second and smaller tower is scheduled for completion in a few years.