New water tower goes up at the future site of the Knoxville Smokies
The new water tower honors its iconic Old City predecessor at the future home of the Knoxville Smokies, Covenant Health Park.
- With stadium contracts awarded, the construction project finished 2.5 percentage shy of reaching its goal of 17% of the awarded contract value going to diverse businesses.
- Project leaders say they plan to keep pushing for opportunities to involve Black Knoxvillians with surrounding development and in hiring for stadium operations.
- Edward Henley of Pillars Development, tasked with overseeing the recruitment of diverse businesses, sat down with Knox News for a Q&A about his efforts to this point and plans moving forward.
- Now named Covenant Health Park, the Smokies stadium is set to open just east of the Old City on April 15 with the first of six home games against Chattanooga.
When developers pitched a new downtown Knoxville baseball stadium, they said they would prioritize drawing from a pool of diverse contractors for work on the construction site, once part of a thriving Black residential and business community known as The Bottom prior to urban removal.
But throughout construction, that pool felt more like a puddle in Knoxville, where experts on the front lines of recruiting diverse business enterprises (called DBEs for short) discovered a lack of local contractors who fit the project’s definition for DBEs − generally, businesses owned by women and minorities.
Nonetheless, project leaders paddled toward the goal of having 17% of the project’s contracted value handled by DBEs.
The final result now that contracts have been awarded? Roughly $12.7 million of the $86.9 million contract value was awarded to DBEs. (The full stadium price tag is about $114 million, with $65 million paid from city and county bonds). That means DBEs represent 14.5% of the contract value, with most of that percentage represented by women-owned businesses:
- Women-owned contract value: Twelve contracts for $9,882,442 (77.9% of DBE awards, 11.37% of total)
- Hispanic/Latin American-owned contract value: Five contracts for $1,953,316 (15.4% of DBE awards, 2.2% of total)
- Black-owned contract value: Four contracts for $845,791 (6.7% of DBE awards, 0.97% of total)
Edward Henley III, founder and principal of Pillars Development in Nashville, oversaw DBE recruitment and the building of connections between diverse professionals and Denark Construction, the construction lead on the project.
In Henley’s experience, which has included working on the existing and future Tennessee Titans stadiums, the 17% goal was an ambitious one, especially considering the measure did not account for general small businesses like some other projects with lofty DBE goals.
Including small businesses, he told Knox News during a Q&A below, the figure of DBE-contracted work is closer to 27%.
But just because Denark handed over the keys to Knoxville Smokies owner Randy Boyd on Feb. 21, a symbolic gesture that construction is nearly complete, that doesn’t mean Henley’s work is done recruiting Black professionals to become a part of Knoxville history as the Smokies make their grand return.
Plus, with multiple fairs lined up for jobs in stadium operations, those who have been trained and connected during the recruitment process might have opportunities to start working Opening Day on April 15.
Knox News caught up with Henley to talk about how he encouraged Black Knoxvillians to participate in building the stadium and why “this project should really just be the first step in a long line of ‘how you do it now'” in Knoxville.
This Q&A has been lightly edited for length and clarity.
Stadium experience helped in connecting early with contractors
Ryan Wilusz, Knox News: Coming into Knoxville with the 17% DBE goal, what’s the first step you took in trying to reach that?
Edward Henley, Pillars Development: It’s really looking at the project itself and trying to find as many opportunities as you can. … When we thought about the outreach here, there were two things that were macro factors. One, during COVID, how do you actually reach people? You’ve got to go where they are. You have to meet them in person. So, we were naturally hampered from how you would usually do that. And then, how do you leverage technology? … And then two, you really look at the capacity of the market and do you have it here locally. Do you have enough time and resources to grow it, and how do you recruit it locally − and maybe regionally − depending on your needs?
Ryan: Had your worked on other stadium projects before?
Edward: We worked on the (Nissan Stadium) renovation project (in Nashville) and completed a project in Clarksville for what they call a multipurpose events center. But it hosts Austin Peay’s basketball program, so another sports facility. I have had the opportunity now to work on the Titans stadium in this new iteration. … I’m just really excited to have that sports component to our portfolio. It’s really cool work because it’s the people’s projects. They are spaces intended for people to go and have events and celebrate.
Making connections in Knoxville, where diverse contract pools are shallow
Ryan: From my own research and from attending Sports Authority Board meetings, it sounds like the capabilities of contractors may have been a challenge. What was your experience?
Edward: Your research was astute and accurate. That was what we found, as well. The challenge then becomes: How do you engage the ones that are here, first and foremost? … Another challenge is other markets were active and growing. And so, a lot of (contractors) were doing the opposite of what I was doing when I was coming here. A lot of their focuses were Middle Tennessee, even going south to Chattanooga and northern Georgia because the markets were already active and churning.
And the last piece that’s really a factor: You’re building a unique product type. … Quite honestly, it’s hard to get a lot of those in your portfolio as a smaller company if you don’t have them in your backyard − if you don’t have them in areas you’re geographically able to travel to.
Ryan: What have you learned about Knoxville’s pool of diverse contractors over time, and how did you see that pool change in the three years you have been involved in this project?
Edward: I think there’s a huge not-yet-taken-advantage-of opportunity. … One of the challenges that comes with projects like this is it’s big. There’s a lot of concrete, a lot of steel, a lot of infrastructure work. And very few minorities are in that space. And we recognized it, and we tried to encourage how to gain parts or pieces of that work. … If you’re a trash and recycling company, can you expand and maybe do trucking and hauling? Is there a small or next-step growth? If you’re a company that’s doing supplying, is there a way for you to do some of the soft install?
There are some nuances there. A lot of it is insurance and certain things. But hey, let’s have those conversations.
Continuing the conversation to build more Knoxville connections
Ryan: One of the more intriguing parts of your efforts has been the commitment to continue the conversation about opportunities for minorities in Knoxville beyond the stadium construction. What can you share about that?
Edward: From a personal standpoint, but also from witnessing it on other projects, the relationships are really what are valuable. Business is relationships. And I think it’s really important to understand that whether you were on this project or you worked on this project with a contract working, you have an opportunity to interact with Denark, who’s a strong local contractor that’s going to do more projects.
There will be opportunities to continue building relationships with them and let them know what you can do, what your desire is. They are as committed as they were on the front end. They have an understanding that we instilled early on − that this project should really just be the first step in a long line of “how you do it now.”
Ryan: Is there a DBE percentage attached to jobs in the operations of the stadium?
Edward: There’s not a DBE percentage, per se, attached to that. I have had a role in working with the workforce development component, strongly influenced by the Urban League. … Skilled trade labor is something that across the country is lacking. … But now, carrying over to operations, it does become a different skew. … You’ve got to maintain this building. You’ve got to clean this building. …
We (love) sports in our country. You put a facility on your resume, and you can shop that in just about any city − any region at least − in the country. While it might not be absolutely, exactly what you want or thought it would be, man, there are great opportunities that come out of these projects.
Connecting with diverse contractors is personal for Pillars Development
Ryan: I know this wasn’t your first time working on DBE goals for projects. How did that specific interest in finding diverse contractors for construction projects come to be?
Edward: I went back to Nashville (after graduating from UT) and had an opportunity to work on the Music City Center. … I’m not bashful about this. I actually tell it because I think it’s very important. I am a product of that project’s workforce development program. … That effort turned inward to their project management team and gave me a fantastic opportunity there. I had the opportunity to work on that project two full years and also got exposed and supported the diversity participation program there. I cut my teeth on how this is done and a lot of the challenges that come along with it. …
Originally, (Pillars was started in 2013) to do urban infill development. So, I really wanted to focus on community-focused and community-impactful development. … The first four or five years, we worked exclusively on city and state projects. And each one of those had diversity business enterprise programs and also had some component of workforce-economic development.
Perspective behind the percentage and why it changed over time
Ryan: As someone who attends Sports Authority Board meetings, I understood the concept of the percentage being able to increase over time as smaller subcontracts were awarded for work within larger prime contracts. But that wasn’t always an easy message to translate to residents, or the board for that matter, especially when the number starts out so low. Can you explain how that percentage changed over time?
Edward: Time is a resource in every aspect of life, particularly on a project. … We did a lot of outreach on the front end to get people as prepared and as aware as possible for those opportunities. But in reality, when you’re introducing something new to someone and you’re trying to recruit a lot of companies, they’ve got to digest it. They already have how their business plan may have been formed. And so, you’re kind of trying to make these marriages. And sometimes, people already have their path. …
On the front end, you really just have the traditional players and businesses that are ready to go. And right out of the gate, they can hop on certain opportunities. We can’t penalize any of those companies for being prepared and ready to go and having all their ducks in a row. However, you do need time to get those other companies involved, engaged and better understanding the opportunity. And so, as you go along, we’ve just had more time to engage those groups to find those opportunities.
Ryan: I have the breakdown of DBE businesses that participated in the project, but can you go a little deeper about how those numbers should be interpreted?
Edward: The contracted, awarded amount is over $12 million to DBEs. Specific to this project, there was a very strong push that the diversity participation target − the 17% number − didn’t include small businesses. Traditionally on projects I’ve worked on, that is included. So, when you see other projects across the state that are targeting 20%, 25% − even some have started targeting 30% (DBE participation) − that includes small businesses in that figure. … Out of the total contracted amount that is eligible, I think it’s 26.9% including small businesses. I know that a lot of the conversations have been about missing certain targets and certain objectives, particularly around getting more minority businesses. However, you’ve got to go to a source that has them, and bidding − you can encourage. You can’t force.
Ryan Wilusz is the business growth and development editor. Phone: 865-317-5138. Email: ryan.wilusz@knoxnews.com. Instagram: @knoxscruff.
Support strong local journalism by subscribing at subscribe.knoxnews.com.