D.C. United has awarded a $150 million contract to Turner Construction Co. to build its Buzzard Point soccer stadium, an important step toward the Major League Soccer team's goal of starting the 2018 season in the Capitol Riverfront.

Team spokeswoman Lindsay Simpson confirmed the contract was awarded but declined to provide additional details.

The New York-based contractor, whose projects include Yankee Stadium in the Bronx and Lambeau Field's redevelopment in Green Bay, Wisconsin, is expected to start construction later this year. Kansas City-based Populous designed the 19,000-seat soccer-only stadium.

Turner posted $476 million in metro-area revenue last year, making it the region's sixth-largest general contractor. It collaborated with Smoot Construction on the restoration of the Capitol dome and is building the Conrad Hotel at CityCenterDC.

The total stadium cost is expected to be about $300 million when land acquisition, remediation, site work and surrounding infrastructure are included. D.C. has agreed to pay $150 million for those costs while the team — owned by Erick Thohir, Jason Levien and William Chang — is covering the hard construction costs.

The award is another milestone for D.C. United toward its goal of vacating the aging RFK Stadium, where it has played for the past two decades. It celebrated another milestone in April, when the city began demolition work to prep the site ahead of the stadium's construction. Simpson said she expects the team to be in position to go vertical by the end of the year.

The process got off to a slower start than was planned due to several factors, including land acquisition, but Simpson said that is just a small hiccup relative to D.C. United's long search for a new home.

"That's something that the club and the fan base have been working toward for the last 20 years, so when you put it on that scale, we feel the end is in sight," she said.

The stadium is expected to generate $1 billion in economic activity and create 1,000 construction and permanent jobs. Whether it's the promise of the new stadium or a sign of continued interest in now-gritty industrial neighborhood, several new projects have already been proposed near the stadium. Douglas Development Corp. plans to build 462 apartments and roughly 24,000 square feet of retail at 1900 Half St. SW, while Capital City Real Estate plans up to 107 condos plus retail at a site bounded by V, First and Half streets SW.

 

Source : bizjournals.com

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