The New York City Department of Design and Construction selected a joint venture from Tutor Perini Corp. and O&G Industries Inc., along with design partner HOK, as the apparent selected proponent for the Manhattan Jail Facility design-build project, the contractors recently announced. .
The city’s Department of Design and Construction (DDC) is planning the project as part of the $15.6 billion Borough-Based Jail System program, which aims to replace the Rikers Island jail complex with smaller jails in Brooklyn, the Bronx, Manhattan and Queens. .
DDC plans to build the new 886-bed Manhattan Jail on the site of the former Manhattan Detention Complex on White Street in Chinatown. Covering 697,000 square meters of zoning, the building would also include below-grade parking for 125 vehicles and community and retail space on the ground floor.
City records show that Tutor Perini beat out another shortlisted team, the Transformative Reform Group, for the job. The contractor has yet to finalize terms and prices with DDC. The agency expects the process to be completed by spring, DDC representative Ian Michaels told ENR.
“As soon as we have an official award and contract with the design-build firm, there will be a strong community and design engagement for the duration of the project,” he adds.
DDC also selected Tutor Perini for the first of the new borough jail design contracts last year, worth $2.95 billion for the Brooklyn facility.
Improved contractual conditions
Tutor Perini CEO Ronald Tutor said on a Nov. 6 earnings call with investors that the contractor’s most recent and future civil projects have improved contract terms compared to what it booked several years ago , and pointed to the Brooklyn jail project as an example. The initial conditions were “so onerous” that the contractor wrote to city officials that he would not bid on the conditions. But a few months later, he said city officials responded by agreeing to improve conditions for contractors.
“Literally, every burdensome term has been removed,” Tutor said.
Earlier this year, DDC announced that it awarded a $3.9 billion contract to Leon D. DeMatteis Construction Corp. for the Queens prison project and a $2.9 billion contract to Transformative Reform Group, a team led by SLSCO Ltd. and Sciame Construction LLC, for the Bronx Jail project.
The Manhattan prison is the last of the projects to reach this phase. Officials had originally issued a request for qualifications for the work in 2021, but decided in 2023 they would try again based on industry feedback and changes in the construction market after the ‘increase in the COVID-19 pandemic.
Demolition of the old detention complex is already underway. DDC previously awarded a $125.2 million contract to Gramercy Group Inc. for this work.
