Gilbane-Turner Team Reported in Lead for Big Buffalo Stadium Contract

The Buffalo Bills' Highmark Stadium is set to be replaced as long as state and county legislators approve the deal.
*Photo by Mike Cardus/Creative Commons*

Gilbane, Turner and Arc Building Partners make up the team that is said to be in the lead for the prime construction management contract for a $1.4-billion National Football League stadium in a Buffalo, N.Y., suburb for the Buffalo Bills.

In March, state and Erie County officials agreed to contribute more than half of the expected cost.

First reported by Buffalo Business First, the status of the award could not immediately be confirmed. Gilbane and Arc Building Partners referred questions to Buffalo-based Pegula Sports & Entertainment, which owns the football team. A spokesman could not be reached for comment, nor one from Turner Construction Co.

Buffalo Business First and its partner television station, WGRZ, stated that a contract announcement could be made in early July.
The franchise has hired architecture firm Populous to design the stadium.

New York lawmakers approved a budget that puts state taxpayers on the hook for $850 million of the project cost. Together with county funds, the stadium will be the most heavily taxpayer-subsidized sports facility for a privately owned team ever.

A project labor agreement for the work has been set with building trades unions.

Gilbane and Turner have been partners on other projects. In May, the companies announced their selection as a joint venture for the initial contract to advance the creation of a new $750-million public health laboratory in Albany, N.Y.

Arc Building Partners is also gaining momentum in the region. The firm developed with some staff from Buffalo-based LP Ciminelli, the 50-year-old western New York contractor that wound down operations after a 2018 conviction related to a bid-rigging scheme of its CEO, Louis P. Ciminelli. His son, Frank L. Ciminelli II, who is founder and president of Arc Building Partners, departed LP Ciminelli in 2017 and was not indicted.

The stadium will be built in Orchard Park, where the team now plays at Highmark Stadium.

KEYWORDS: NFL Stadiums Sports Construction

Deputy Editor Richard Korman helps run ENR's business and legal news and investigations, selects ENR's commentary and oversees editorial content on ENR.com. In 2023 the American Society of Business Publication Editors awarded Richard the Stephen Barr Award, the highest honor for a single feature story or investigation, for his story on the aftermath of a terrible auto crash in Kentucky in 2019, and in 2015 the American Business Media awarded him the Timothy White Award for investigations of surety fraud and workplace bullying. A member of Investigative Reporters and Editors, Richard has been a fellow on drone safety with the McGraw Center for Business Journalism at the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at CUNY. Richard's freelance writing has appeared in the Seattle Times, the New York Times, Business Week and the websites of The Atlantic and Salon.com. He admires construction projects that finish on time and budget, compensate all team members fairly and record zero fatalities or serious injuries.