Being in the construction business I get copies of the Philadelphia Construction News. Under the "Planning" section was this ad today. Can we get excited now? Sorry for the bad scan, but I was REALLY excited. (actually if you right click and "view image" it's a little better). The main points (in case you can't read them) * Drawings are complete * Bidding possibly 4th Quarter of 2008 * 20,000 - 30,000 seats * Owner is listed as Major League Soccer * Value is $100 million
Re: Stadium Bid Advertised American soccer fans are amazing in the lengths they go to find things out. Good snag!
Re: Chester Stadium RFQ Advertised in Trade Magazine (Philly) Ditto on the rep. NICE!!! I'm slightly more hopeful now. I'd love to see those schematic drawings...
Re: Chester Stadium RFQ Advertised in Trade Magazine (Philly) Nice find. Some tidbits I picked up. "Bidding possible 4th Quarter 2008" "End Date: 2010" and most interesting: "Owner: Major League Soccer"
Re: Chester Stadium RFQ Advertised in Trade Magazine (Philly) Main points to me are bidding a year from now, I would think they'd accept bids in the fourth quarter of this year if the bill passes. Dan Courtemanche is the league contact, not Tom Kourtamunch Is this subterfuge by someone not with the project? How reliable are the RFQ's in the News you get? I'm trying to find reasons to lower my hopes.
Re: Chester Stadium RFQ Advertised in Trade Magazine (Philly) It's a VERY reliable source for bids and such. I would say they wouldn't print it unless they were certain it was going to happen. As soon as they print these the Engineers/Architects/Owners start getting calls from the GC's right away. They will print a retraction/cancellation if it doesn't happen, but I would say the fact that this got put into a very reliable (and expensive) construction news journal means that positive things are on the way.
Re: Chester Stadium RFQ Advertised in Trade Magazine (Philly) Celt1997, what exactly does this mean? That MLS/Chester investors are trying find a builder for the stadium? Or is like getting a price quote from the builders so that they can show it to the State Assembly? Where on the timeline does this publication put the stadium project?
Re: Chester Stadium RFQ Advertised in Trade Magazine (Philly) Hmmm...still there are things that don't add up. A bid process that doesn't begin until 4Q08 being the major one, I would think they'd want to nail that down even if they have a years worth of site rehab to do before handing it over.
Re: Chester Stadium RFQ Advertised in Trade Magazine (Philly) Basically the journal lists all of the bids according to their bid date. They also have an area called "planning news." These are advertisements to put all of the GC's and their subs on alert for larger projects that have a bid date that is further away. It gives all of them time to get the plans and get pricing from all of their subs (the various "Divisions" in the ad). For a stadium project of this size the number of people who have to be organized prior to the bid is enormous! Citizens Bank Park was advertised in a similar fashion prior to the actual bid date being announced. If you were the owner of a contracting business, basically you could call MLS and request a copy of the schematics. They're probably costly, but with this ad they are making them available to interested parties. The $100 million value is only an estimate. The actual price of the final stadium will be based on the competitive bidding process. Make no mistake, though, this is important news. ETA: Actually this won't be a public bid. I noticed the Contractors are by invite only for bidding. So, basically, the MLS knows who they want to build the stadium. I have a feeling, though, that this ad is for the "invited" GC's to get in touch with the local sub-contractors.
Re: Chester Stadium RFQ Advertised in Trade Magazine (Philly) That doesn't make sense. It's an RFQ = Request for Qualifications. Let MLS know if you're a firm in the Philly area that can handle this kind of project, what you've done that's similar, and if you'll have capacity in say late 2008. You could definitely have a large RFQ and not follow up with an RFP or private bidding.
Re: Chester Stadium RFQ Advertised in Trade Magazine (Philly) I'm not sure where you're getting that it's an RFQ. I didn't put that in my title (it was edited by a mod).
Re: Chester Stadium RFQ Advertised in Trade Magazine (Philly) Should it be RFP? I edited it to RFQ (Request for Quotation)...my bad
Re: Chester Stadium RFP Advertised in Trade Magazine (Philly) This looks like the most promising piece of news in a long time. Sounds like they are starting to make the construction definite, and that's a load better than the news which is never truly definite. Bidding by the fourth quarter of 2008 suprises me too, I thought it would begin by the end of this year and be finished hopefully by the 2009 season. Oh well, I can wait as long as we get a team.
Re: Chester Stadium RFQ Advertised in Trade Magazine (Philly) At this point, maybe just leave it at Chester Stadium Planning for now. Until they clarify it with an actual bid date at the very least.
Re: Chester Stadium RFQ Advertised in Trade Magazine (Philly) Thanks J, I will change it. So much for me trying to make a descriptive title
Re: Chester Stadium RFQ Advertised in Trade Magazine (Philly) I just changed it from "RFP" to "proposal". Sound vague enough?
Re: Chester Stadium RFP Advertised in Trade Magazine (Philly) Huh. Apologies then, it did say RFQ. It seems like if it were an RFQ (coming from MLS HQ) with private bidding to follow after it was clear there could be competition (and maybe after a league announcement or state action) then it would make perfect sense. An RFQ could demonstrate a final checklist item to the league before making the expansion award for Philly. But if this is only for invited GCs then why are they announcing it publicly? You call MLS to lobby then get an official invite? You ask GCs to do a ton of work without it being clear that there's a project? And the Courtemanche name thing is bizarre.
Re: Chester Stadium RFQ Advertised in Trade Magazine (Philly) repped. as the #4 TV market in the country its nice to see Philly finally get going on this stadium news and get a team in the city.
Needless comment of the day" Keep your eyes peeled for more annoucements about the projects! I did some looking online and couldn't find any more info...
Well I'm definitely going to keep my eyes peeled over the next few weeks on this. I'll see if they print any further clarifications. Unfortunately with things that are this far off, they tend to show up once or twice under "planning" and then disappear until bid time gets closer. Interesting about the private vs. public thing. I think it will be privatized for the GC's that get to bid, but I think they wanted to advertise it publicly for all of the local subcontractors to be aware. One of our clients is an electrical contractor and they got pegged for some of the Citizens Bank Park work, so I'm sure that's why the public announcement was made.
HMMM... (Mr. Obvious says...) Things are progressing nicely. I am truely getting excited... the negadelphian in me just won't let me get over anxious.