Work on these four stations completed by DBEs that participated in CTA educational series
Today, Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) President Dorval R. Carter, Jr. announced the completion of improvements made at four Green Line stations—51st Street, Halsted, Cottage Grove and Kedzie – benefitting Chicago’s South and West side communities with improved transit facilities and new opportunities for small local business owners.
A variety of subcontractors completed the work on these four stations, some of which graduated from CTA’s 2017 Green Line Small Business Initiative. Through this unique program, small businesses and disadvantage business enterprises (DBEs) from Chicago’s South and West sides were provided training and assistance in order to help them compete for business opportunities on CTA projects.
“We launched the Green Line Small Business Initiative to ensure that small and local businesses that otherwise may not have had the resources or knowledge to compete for work on CTA projects could participate in the process,” said Mayor Emanuel. “I am happy to see that CTA’s diversity outreach efforts have created a larger, more diverse pool of candidates to compete for CTA construction project work.”
Of the 24 small and local businesses that participated in the Green Line Small Business Initiative, four received DBE certification as a result of the program and six firms were able to secure improvement work on the four Green Line stations listed above, as well as the Garfield station. Additionally, 13 firms received OSHA 30 training, ten received CPR training and nine were able to continue their education with the Clark Construction Strategic Partnership Program.
“The fact that these six firms were able to compete for and win these contracts tells us that our efforts are not in vain and that we are achieving our goal of building bridges between the community, small businesses and DBEs, and CTA,” said CTA President Carter. “I am encouraged by these results, but I also believe that the success of our diversity efforts shows that we can do more and go even further in our goal to build an even more diverse pool of contractors that can work with us.”
The contract for improvement work on the 51st Street, Halsted, Cottage Grove and Kedzie Green Line stations was awarded to F.H. Paschen. Paschen then hired a number of subcontractors to meet the project’s DBE goals, as well as some of the participants of the Green Line Small Business Initiative.
The DBE participation for each station included 35% at 51st Station, 40% at Cottage Grove, 40% at Halsted and 35% at Kedzie. Companies that worked on the Green Line stations included The Giant Painter, which painted the Kedzie and Halsted stations; R.E.A. Masonry, LLC, which worked on Halsted; Synergy Development, which provided their services at Cottage Grove and Halsted; Bartech Group, which worked at Kedzie and Halsted; and Alpha Phase, which worked on the 51st Street station.
At this time, 24 firms are positioned for potential future CTA projects as a result of their participation in the Green Line Small Business Initiative.
Each of the four Green Line stations received the following improvements, which have significantly improved the safety of the stations and has extended the useful life of various station components:
- Replacement of existing light fixtures with LED
- Cleaning and polishing of all stainless steel surfaces
- Painting of the stairwells and stair structures
- Exit stairs have been repaired for increased customer safety
- Adding ADA-compliant hand rails
- Adding new stainless steel and glass storefront doors with frames
- Power washing the interior and exterior walls, glass and steel façade
- Adding new station identifier signage
- Sealing roof to wall connections
The cost of improvements to all four stations was $12 million, funded by 2017 CTA bonds.
The Green Line Small Business Initiative was a continuation of CTA’s unique model for business education and outreach, which began during the Red Line South reconstruction project in 2013. During the five-month long reconstruction, which completely rebuilt the 10.2-mile stretch just north of Cermak-Chinatown to 95th Street, CTA exceeded its DBE participation goals by working with 39 minority-owned companies. Additionally, rebuilding the 44-year-old track offered DBEs the opportunity to earn $89 million for their work on that historic project.
For more information on this and other CTA programs, visit www.transitchicago.com.
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