Northwestern University Thursday announced it has selected a partnership between Turner Construction and Walsh Construction as its construction manager for redevelopment of Ryan Field.
The stadium project has targeted 35% of its total subcontracted spending to be local, minority-owned and woman-owned businesses, with priority given to businesses and individuals located in Evanston.
The University and Turner-Walsh will host an initial community outreach session at 10 a.m. on April 5, at the Wilson Club in Welsh Ryan Arena.
The session will focus on the opportunities for local contractors and businesses and provide information on bidding processes and timelines, workforce training and planning and other strategies Turner-Walsh will be using to partner with the local business community.
It’s the first in a series designed to connect local businesses to the opportunities offered by the project.
“We are looking forward to the opportunity to work with the Turner-Walsh team to deliver such a transformational project for Northwestern and the City of Evanston,” Luke Figora, NU’s vice president for operations said in a statement. “These two firms have an unmatched track record of success that includes a strong commitment to local workforce development.
Figora says the school expects to submit its planned development application for the stadium project to the city in April, with hearings to follow at the Land Use Commission and City Council.
Figora says, “We want to enable Turner-Walsh to start the efforts they’ve committed to, while we work through the final stages of approval with the city.”
Unrelated to the redevelopment of Ryan Field, Northwestern is also launching a set of maintenance projects on its Central Street athletics campus.
The university and its construction managers are hosting an information session specific to the bid packages for those projects at the Wilson Club in Welsh Ryan Arena at 10 a.m. on Wednesday, March 29. Interested contractors can RSVP here.