Contracts Go to Minority, Woman-Owned Businesses

Five local minority- or woman-owned firms have won a total of $2.6 million in construction contracts for work at Market Creek Plaza in Southeast San Diego.

The mixed-use commercial project at the corner of Market Street and Euclid Avenue is being developed for $34 million by the San Diego-based

Cats Excavating of San Diego was awarded a $953,000 contract for grading at the 20-acre site, said Jennifer Vanica, executive director of the Jacobs Center.

IE Pacific of ChulaVista won a $644,000 contract for sewer and storm drain installation, while Mission Valley-based Bendix Electric will do the site electrical work for $606,000. Quality Engineering of Spring Valley will perform the inspection work on the project for $50,000 and Pereira Plumbing and Fire Sprinkler of San Diego was awarded $588,000 to install water and fire systems.

Hector Reyes of Fehlman LaBarre Architects of San Diego designed the shopping center.

The site work is now 95 percent completed and bidding for building construction begins July 7, Vanica said.

In addition to the Jacobs Center, the San Diego-based California Southern Small Business Development Corp., Neighborhood National Bank and Willis Insurance, both of San Diego, are participating in the project.

"Through a collaborative effort with these groups, we have been able to provide what small, emerging, disadvantaged contractors need most - increased financial capacity and access to bonding supported by technical expertise," said Rickey Laster, president of the Multi-Cultural Contractors Group, which is receiving the bidding along with the Latino Builders Association and the WORK Foundation, both of San Diego.

Other nonprofit organizations involved in the effort are the Winning Opportunities for Responsible Contractors Foundation, San Diego Youth and Adult Coalition and the Black Contractors Association.

Over the hills to the northeast in La Mesa, Ninteman Construction Co. late last month finished a $3.5 million retail plaza at 5475 Grossmont Center Drive. The masonry block building has a wood facade and about 40,000 square feet of space, said Cathy Riley, a spokeswoman for the construction company.

A poured-in-place concrete and brick 30-foot-wide water fountain highlights the plaza, which was designed by architects Vasquez + Marshall & Associates of San Diego, she said. Topia Landscape Architects of San Diego designed the landscaping for owner Rainbow Investment Co. of San Diego.

Several engineering firms worked on the project as well. They were William A. Steen & Associates of La Mesa, and Stedman & Dyson Structural Engineers of San Diego. Weatherly Engineering of San Diego and Bergelectric Corp. of Escondido also worked on the project.

Grant General Contractors of Carlsbad recently completed a second assisted living facility in Sandy, Ore. The $4 million project consisted of a 55,000-square-foot, three-story, wood frame, asphalt shingled building with vinyl siding, said Dave Butterfield, project superintendent.

An R.G. Petty Construction Co. Inc. official said her firm has started grading for a 126,000-square-foot concrete tilt-up building and also completed a 72,000-square-foot office renovation.

The tilt-up building is Parkway Centre Four at 14303 Danielson St. in the Parkway Business Centre in Poway and was designed by Joe Skimming of KMA Architecture & Engineering of San Diego, said Karen Namy, a business development official for San Diego-based R.G. Petty. Engineers working on the project included Lang Engineering of Carlsbad, Geocon Inc. of San Diego and Burkett & Wong of San Diego. The major subcontractors were C.E. Wilson Corp. of Spring Valley, Thompson Land Surveys of Oceanside, Pacific Coast Steel of San Diego and South Bay Welding of National City.

R.G. Petty Construction also finished the renovation for Conexant System's office expansion project at the company's facility on Barnes Canyon Road.

Roel Construction Co. Inc. of San Diego has finished one tenant improvement project at 110 West A St. in Downtown and is nearing completion on another, said Jacquie Johnston, a Roel spokeswoman.