MBAccelerator company lands $3.7 million subcontract with VA Medical Center project

Monday, April 05, 2010

Cleveland, Ohio—Price Builders & Developers, a Minority Business Accelerator 2.5+ portfolio company, has landed a $3.7 million subcontract for a 2,080-car parking garage to be built on East 105th Street near the Louis Stokes Cleveland VA Medical Center. The contract is with Veterans Development Office/Parking LLC as agent for the project owner, Cleveland Cuyahoga County Port Authority, which approved financing for the project.

Price Builders, a minority business enterprise (MBE) that provides general contracting and construction management services, and self-performing interior finishes, will perform rebar (reinforcing bars) installations as a subcontractor for Donley's, the project's prime contractor.

“The Accelerator program has been a great asset to our company,” says Price Builders President David Price, who founded the company in 1999. “We participated in the first Bonding Prep training class where we met and retained Drengler, Liptak & Keller for our insurance and bonding needs. We also received assistance with acquiring new construction job management software, which will allow us to better manage our job progress and profitability.”

The MBAccelerator 2.5+ is focused on helping its portfolio companies “build capability and capacity so that they are ready to respond to new business opportunities,” notes Andrew Jackson, executive director of the Commission on Economic Inclusion, which oversees the Accelerator initiative. “These opportunities can be of the magnitude that will position our MBEs for sustained long-term growth.”

According to Price, securing the substantial VA parking lot contract was the result of a focused effort to establish a reputation of delivering high-quality results. “I feel that a significant challenge as a minority business is to become a recognized entity by the majority contractors. I was offered and accepted a major waterproofing project that I completed on time and within budget with only two years in commercial and industrial work as a general contractor.

“I was able to then bid other contracts and projects as the result of these achievements and produce similar results. This has made my company a successful minority general contractor that can be deemed as responsible and reliable.”

Although he spent many years in the insurance and automotive industries, Price eventually returned to the construction industry where he had worked in a family business with his father and 16 uncles. “After my retirement, I had a discussion with my brother and decided to follow the family legacy by beginning my own construction business,” he says. The company, which has six full-time employees, has offices in Cleveland, Virginia, Washington, D.C. and Pittsburgh.

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The Minority Business Accelerator2.5+ is an initiative of the Commission on Economic Inclusion , a program of the Greater Cleveland Partnership. Funded by the Fund for Our Economic Future, the MBAccelerator2.5+ focuses on growing the size, scale and infrastructure of African American and Hispanic MBEs with annual revenues of at least $2.5 million in a 16-county area of Northeast Ohio. www.mbaccelerator2-5.com.

The Commission on Economic Inclusion, a program of the Greater Cleveland Partnership (GCP), works to significantly improve the meaningful involvement of minority businesses and individuals in the economic engines that drive Northeast Ohio. www.commission-inclusion.com

The GCP mobilizes private-sector leadership, expertise and resources to create jobs and wealth and improve the economic vitality of the region. www.gcpartnership.com.

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