Legal Challenges Resolved, Morial Construction Back on Track
Staff -- Tradeshow Week, 4/4/2005
New Orleans officials expect to break ground this summer on the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center's Phase IV expansion, now that a lengthy legal challenge on the construction bid has been resolved.
The Ernest N. Morial New Orleans Exhibition Hall Authority, the venue's governing board, has issued a bid award notice to Broadmoor, a subsidiary of Boh Brothers Construction. Center spokeswoman Sabrina Written said Broadmoor has accepted the award. "We're hoping to work out the contract details," she said.
The convention center authority first awarded the $281.9 million contract in October 2003 to the lowest bidder, a partnership comprised of Mississippi-based W.G. Yates & Sons Construction and Landis Construction, headquartered in New Orleans. Broadmoor challenged the award on the grounds that the lowest bidder failed to meet a key insurance requirement.
The Louisiana Supreme Court in March 2004 agreed, ruling that the Yates-Landis bid should be thrown out. The 4th Circuit Court of Appeal sustained that decision. Although Yates-Landis asked the state Supreme Court to review the case, the court last month denied the request.
"We're ecstatic that the final legal hurdles are apparently behind us," said Stephen Perry, president and CEO of the New Orleans Metropolitan Convention & Visitors Bureau.
Written said the bid amount will remain the same, even though construction costs may have risen since the original award. "You can't just change the price of the contract," she said. "We're looking forward to working out the details of the project so we can begin booking business."
