Contractors of Raiders stadium detail work timeline, bid process to eager audience

By Adam Candee

Friday, June 16, 2017 | 2 a.m.

If you build it, they will come.

An estimated 1,300 people interested in being part of constructing the new Raiders stadium packed a Green Valley Ranch ballroom to capacity Thursday afternoon. Within the information they heard about the bid process and project team ran a clear message from construction partners Mortenson and McCarthy: We will finish this stadium on time in July 2020.

Mortenson built U.S. Bank Stadium, the new 66,500-seat home of the Minnesota Vikings, in downtown Minneapolis. The company finished the 1.75-million-square foot facility on the same 31-month timeline that the Raiders need to open the 2020 season in Las Vegas.

“We know what we just delivered in Minnesota and we’re therefore completely confident in our ability to do that here,” Mortenson principal John Wood said.

Jeff Wood will manage the project for local partner McCarthy, and he pointed to Las Vegas’ long history of fast work on Strip casino projects as proof of the ability of local workers to meet the Raiders timeline.

“It is aggressive, but it has been done by a big part of the team that we’re bringing from the Minneapolis stadium,” Jeff Wood said. “And think about this — it snows there, there’s a lot of rain. There’s a lot of weather issues they have there that we don’t have here.”

John Wood called the stadium a “fast-track” project but characterized the schedule as reasonable.

“We don’t really view it as being an aggressive timeline,” John Wood said. “We’ve got a lot of confidence in the schedule for construction. The challenge is, the design is in its early stages, so the real critical aspect to the project is getting sufficient design completed before construction starts.”

That design process remains a living project that Wood said will continue through the first year of construction. Elements confirmed Thursday include a fixed roof and a natural grass playing field that will roll outside the stadium in a giant tray to live in desert sunlight when not in use.

Design architect David Manica unveiled much more than previously seen about the stadium’s look at the meeting. He showed videos displaying renderings of the interior and exterior, with details including a giant integrated video wall on the stadium’s outer wall in lieu of a traditional video board.

Manica declined an interview request, saying Raiders officials instructed him not to speak to any media.

Another video shown by Mortenson and McCarthy representatives displayed continuous piece-by-piece construction of the stadium beginning from earth-moving stages in November through completion in summer 2020. Thursday’s meeting allowed potential contractors and suppliers to understand how Mortenson and McCarthy will solicit bids for project work throughout the construction schedule.

Bids will be sought in packages based on when the materials and services within them will be needed for the stadium. The first bid package will open for bid on July 3.

The standing-room crowd wanting a piece of the stadium action blew away John Wood.

“It’s unprecedented,” John Wood said. “We’ve done these kinds of events at multiple places around the country and we typically get maybe 300-400 people.”

John Wood began working toward the Las Vegas stadium project more than two years ago when it was not a Las Vegas effort at all.

“We started providing some input and advice to the Raiders over two years ago when they were contemplating building a new stadium in Los Angeles,” John Wood said. “That’s really where we got to know the Raiders organization and I think they came to develop a certain opinion about our capabilities.”

Jeff Wood represented McCarthy back through the Southern Nevada Tourism and Infrastructure Committee process. His company started its relationship with Mortenson five years ago and the companies have worked together a handful of times, most recently on a $1 billion Department of Homeland Security lab facility in Manhattan, Kan.

A Las Vegas resident for 15 years, Jeff Wood sees this partnership as one of the most meaningful in which his company has participated.

“It’s a complete turning point,” Jeff Wood said. “Building another hotel or casino, that’s good to kind of keep us evolving and moving the bar. This is a complete game-changer for the city. In 10 years, we’re all going to look back on this stadium, whenever it’s completed, and say that’s whenever we went to that next level.”

Additional meetings will be held to assist interested suppliers with each bid package throughout the course of the project. More information on the project can be found at mmcjvlv.com.