Sureties Liberty Mutual and Safeco are taking over airport and community college contracts from EDGE Development Inc., the 23-year-old, Temecula, Calif.-based general contractor that has said publicly that it is shutting down.
Altogether, EDGE Development lists 20 current projects on its website. It isn’t clear how many of them are covered by surety guarantees.
One of the biggest contracts held by EDGE is a $24.7-million concourse renovation at the Long Beach, Calif. Airport.
Awarded in 2010, EDGE’s contract bid “came in nearly $4 million below the anticipated $28-million cost,” according to a 2010 article in the Contra Costa Times on EDGE Development’s website.
Mario Rodriguez, the airport’s director, told the newspaper at the time that intense competition for work among contractors “helped reduce costs…” and allowed the airport to add items to the project scope.
Contacted in mid-August, Rodriguez said EDGE still was working as the airport concourse prime contractor but that Liberty Mutual had taken over payments. On Aug. 21, San Diego-based Soltek Pacific Construction will take over as general contractor, says Rodriguez.
“This is probably the smoothest I have seen this sort of thing happen,” he said. “EDGE was self-performing very little of the work, so we’ve continued without skipping a beat.”
Four-fifths of the concourse work is done and the entire project is about 60% finished. The entire upgrade project is valued at $45 million.
Originally scheduled to be completed by June 2013, the concourse portion of the work will be done by December or January. The entire project including baggage area and gardens should be done by June 2013, says Rodriguez.
Community College Replacement Contractor
Under another contract, valued at $16.7 million, EDGE Development was constructing a physical education complex for the Rio Hondo Community College. According to the college’s trustees meeting minutes, Liberty Mutual and Safeco advised Rio Hondo in March that EDGE Development was shutting down. In early August the sureties told the school that they had “begun the process of bidding and contracting for the takeover contractor,” according to the minutes.
EDGE Development officials failed to return calls for comment and Liberty Mutual declined to comment on the matter.
In 2010, EDGE Development ranked No. 352 on ENR’s Top 400 Contractors. According to the company’s website, Steve Prophet and Dayne Wagoner founded EDGE in 1989. Prophet is listed as the company’s executive vice president.
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