Tall and Fast.
Bomel Construction recently began building a new nine-level parking structure for the Citadel Outlets in Los Angeles. From start to finish, the 1,000-space garage will be rapidly erected in just nine months, in the nick of time for the year-end holiday season.
Developer selects Bomel based on its “extraordinarily good work.”
April 29, 2015.––Highly regarded for decades for finishing complex projects on or ahead of schedule, Bomel Construction’s expertise is being put to a tough test as it embarks on building a multi-level parking structure in lightning-fast speed for a repeat customer.
Craig Realty Group has chosen Anaheim Hills-based Bomel Construction to erect a 1,004-stall, nine-level parking structure at its Citadel Outlets mall in Los Angeles. This is the third project Bomel has undertaken for the Newport Beach-based developer. The Citadel’s first garage, a 500-stall, five-level structure, was completed in 2013. Bomel is nearing completion on a 1,167-stall structure for Craig Realty at the new Outlets at San Clemente, set to open later this year.
“We wouldn’t have come back to them for a third time had we not been that pleased,” said Steven Craig, president and CEO of the full-service real estate development and management company he founded 20 years ago. “They do extraordinarily good work.”
For Bomel to continue to receive such high praise, it will have to do extraordinarily swift work at the Citadel Outlets job site to finish the project in November.
“Everybody needs to work fast,” said Scott Lessard, the Bomel project manager who will oversee the breakneck pace of the nine-month schedule for a project that would normally take 12 months to complete. “We have to be done by Black Friday.”
As if the short nature of the schedule wasn’t daunting enough, Bomel’s first order of business was demolishing an existing parking structure on the site where the new one will be built. That phase, which took place in March, was finished in just two weeks.
“U.S. Demo did a fantastic job,” Lessard said.
With grading and shoring work recently completed, concrete for the foundations and columns will be poured next. The slab-on-grade pour is scheduled for late May.
“By August 14, we will pouring the first of the ninth deck,” Lessard said. “The last deck pour is on August 25.”
Expertly managing and coordinating the work of a handful of trades––from the elevator contractor to the plumbing contractor––on a tight site is essential for this job to be a success.
“We’ll be working every Saturday in 10-hour-plus shifts. The grader and demo contractor worked at night and on a Saturday. We will do whatever it takes to get this done on time. Failure is not an option,” said Lessard, who has been with Bomel for 20 years.
With business growing substantially in the last few years, some Citadel customers have been parking at neighboring lots rented by Craig Realty or on nearby streets and walking a significant distance during busy weekends.
“We want to create something that is more customer friendly, puts less stress on the neighborhood and allows people to park right where they want to,” Craig said from his Newport Beach office.
Located about 8 miles southeast of downtown Los Angeles, just off Interstate 5, the Citadel Outlets mall features 130 brand name stores with merchandise priced 30%-70% below traditional retail prices, according to the company’s web site.
The high-profile site has a long and rich history. Samson Tire and Rubber Co. opened its plant in 1930, becoming the largest tire manufacturing facility under one roof west of the Mississippi. Modeled after the 7th century B.C. Assyrian Palace of King Sargon II, the plant’s fortress-like wall, which still stands today and runs about a third of a mile along the 5 Freeway, was designed to feature heraldic griffins and bas-reliefs of Babylonian princes.
In 1982, four years after the plant was closed by then-owner Uniroyal Tire, the California State Historical Resources Commission approved the site’s nomination to the National Register of Historic Places. One year later, the City of Commerce purchased the property for $14 million as part as an effort to prevent demolition of the landmark building. In 1990, developer Trammel Crow Co., with a long-term ground lease from the City of Commerce Redevelopment Agency, opened the Citadel Outlets.
In 2002, Craig Realty Group took over management of the Citadel Outlets and entered into an exclusive agreement with the City of Commerce Redevelopment Agency to purchase the center. One year later, Craig Realty Group acquired the shopping district for $53 million from the CCRA. Craig Realty Group has expanded the original 147,000 square foot mall on two occasions. In 2005, a $52 million renovation added 126,000 square feet and 35 brand name stores. In 2010, an additional 157,000 square feet, including 36 more new stores, was added.
Today, Craig Realty Group owns and operates 11 outlet centers in seven states, accounting for nearly 4.3 million square feet. There are six centers encompassing about 3 million square feet of retail and restaurant space in development. They are: Outlets at San Clemente, California; Chicagoland Outlets at Country Club Hills, Illinois; Outlets at Kapolei Commons, Oahu, Hawaii; Outlets at Richmond, Virginia; Outlets at Cleveland, in Garfield Heights, Ohio and Outlets at Lacey, Washington.
About Bomel Construction Co.: Established in 1970, Anaheim Hills, Calif.-based Bomel Construction is widely regarded as the dean of parking structure construction in the West. The family-owned business generated $135 million in total revenue in 2014. Its other current high-profile projects include Del Amo Fashion Center (1,950 stalls), Cal Poly Pomona (1,800) and Plaza San Clemente (1,167), with several additional parking structures set to begin construction this year. Bomel Construction, a design-build concrete contractor, has completed major parking structures for developers and owners of many of the largest shopping malls, casinos, stadiums, high-rise office buildings, colleges and universities throughout the West. Bomel has regional offices in Carlsbad, Calif., and Las Vegas.
For more information, please contact Paul Napolitano at 626-852-9959 or paul@napolitanocommunications.com.
