Skip to content 
Construction Dive’s Friday Punch List is a series dedicated to sharing major building headlines that contractors may have missed from the week.
This week’s headlines showed a few major builders announcing wins with eye-popping contract amounts. Notably, Suffolk will serve as construction manager for a $1.2 billion student housing project in San Luis Obispo, California, and Lane Construction nabbed a $582 million Florida interstate job.
But there was other news from the last week contractors should know about too. Read on for other noteworthy stories.
Barton Malow progresses on historic ballpark renovations
Wednesday was Jackie Robinson Day, the 79th anniversary of the day in 1947 that the legend broke Major League Baseball’s color barrier in his debut for the Brooklyn Dodgers.
To mark the occasion, Southfield, Michigan-based Barton Malow announced this week it has completed Phase 1 of comprehensive renovations on Jackie Robinson Ballpark in Daytona Beach, Florida.
In partnership with the City of Daytona Beach and architect MSA Design, Barton Mallow finished major work on the facility, first constructed in 1914 and the site of Robinson’s spring training debut in 1946. Today, the ballpark is the home of the Daytona Tortugas, the Single A affiliate of the Cincinnati Reds.
Upgrades delivered by the contractor include:
- A state-of-the-art player development facility.
- New home and away clubhouses.
- New team stores and offices.
- Indoor batting cages.
- Upgraded dugouts and club seating areas.
- Accessible parking improvements.
- Infrastructure enhancements throughout the facility.
Additional phases will build on the foundation established by this work, per the release, further modernizing the venue that has borne Robinson’s name since 1989.
—Zachary Phillips
Jacobs wins 2 Chicago infrastructure contracts
The Illinois DOT tapped Jacobs for two projects on the I-290 Eisenhower Express corridor, a critical link in the Chicago area transportation network, according to an April 10 news release.
The first project includes design services and project management for the Indiana Harbor Belt railroad bridge replacement. The Dallas-based contractor will use accelerated construction staging to minimize disruption to the highly active freight corridor. The work will ultimately serve as a key enabler for the I-290 corridor’s future widening.
The second project provides comprehensive construction oversight and inspection services for the installation of a supplemental storm sewer beneath I-290. Jacobs will complete this portion of the work using specialized underground construction tunneling methods.
—Sebstian Obando
Port Arthur LNG project makes progress
Reston, Virginia-based Bechtel continues to make progress on the Port Arthur LNG project in Jefferson County, Texas. Both Phase 1 and Phase 2 of construction are proceeding on schedule.
Bechtel originally won for the $13 billion Phase 1 of the project in 2018. As part of Phase 1’s scope, Bechtel is working on liquefaction trains 1 and 2, which are expected to be commercially operational in 2027 and 2028 respectively, according to the project’s website.
Bechtel won the second phase of work in July 2024. That phase, a $14 billion investment, will see the contractor add trains 3 and 4 to its list of tasks. Across the four trains and associated storage facilities, the LNG plant will contain a nameplate capacity of approximately 26 million tonnes per annum of liquefied natural gas, according to its website.
Across its Gulf Coast projects — which includes PALNG — Bechtel has also established a new safety initiative. Employees in their first three months on the jobsite will now wear different colored hard hats, a company spokesperson told Construction Dive. These enable earlier check-ins, clearer communication and reinforced safety for new employees as they acclimate to jobsite culture and safe work practices.
—Matthew Thibault
Design firm KTGY has a new chief
National design firm KTGY named William Bate as its new CEO, according to a Tuesday news release from executive search firm N2Growth.
Bate joins the firm from Boston Consulting Group, where he served as managing director and partner and led the firm’s North America Real Estate and Cities practice, according to a KTGY release. KTGY said Bate brings expertise in strategy, operations, mergers and acquisitions, digital transformation and driving large-scale growth across the real estate and services sectors.
Bate will be based in the firm’s Washington, D.C., office.
Irvine, California-based KTGY, which was founded in 1991 and has seven offices across the country, selected Bate to succeed Trica Esser, who served as chief executive since 2006, according to the release. The firm focuses on architecture, interior design, branded environments and urban design, according to its website. Its projects span multifamily, student housing, mixed use, hospitality, retail and office, among other sectors.
“I’m honored to join KTGY at such an exciting moment in its journey,” Bate said in the release. “This is a firm with a strong legacy and a clear sense of purpose.”
—Joe Bousquin
