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Dive brief:
- The new Highmark Stadium in Orchard ParkNew York has surpassed its goal of minority-owned and women-owned businesses for construction contracts, according to an announcement Tuesday by Gov. Kathy Hochul.
- The project team paid more than $490 million to MWBE contractors, according to the release. That meant the project surpassed the 30% target at the end of April: 15% participation each from minority-owned and women-owned businesses.
- The future home of the NFL’s Buffalo Bills, built by a Gilbane-Turner joint venture, is 96 percent complete, according to the release. The project was previously criticized for not meeting initial MWBE recruitment targets.
Diving knowledge:
The procurement goals tied to the project’s community benefits agreement use $1.5 billion as the cost of the stadium, as that was the estimated price at the time of agreement in 2023, the Buffalo News reported.
Since then, the cost of the project has risen to about $2.1 billion, with cost overruns paid for by the accounts. The team received $850 million in state and Erie County funds, according to the Buffalo News.
In the summer of 2023, Erie County Legislature Speaker April Baskin called out the JV after the state’s economic development arm found that contractors had not met minority business recruitment targets.
Representatives from Turner Construction, New York City-based Providence, and Rhode Island-based Gilbane Building Co. later met with Baskin, now a state senator, who said at the time that she was encouraged by the response.
In October 2023, the JV announced that it had awarded 55 subcontracts worth $163 million to businesses owned by minorities, women or service-disabled veterans, which make up 39.9% of the $408 million spent so far.
“It wasn’t a sprint, it was a marathon,” Turner spokesman Chris McFadden told Construction Dive of the effort to reach the goal. McFadden described the previous reports as a “snapshot” at the earlier stages of the project, noting that the JV continued to prioritize the goal of MWBE participation throughout construction.
With the project almost complete, the JV has awarded 304 contracts to 140 MWBE companies for the development of the stadium. Eighty-three of these companies are located in the Western New York region and received 216 contracts.
The 60,000-seat stadium, designed by Kansas City, Missouri-based Populous, began in the summer of 2023 i ended in April 2025. It will host its first NFL regular season game on September 17, 2026 on Thursday Night Football.
