CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Sherwin-Williams announced Wednesday that it has selected five minority construction management firms to work on building its new global headquarters in downtown Cleveland and a research and development center in Brecksville.
The firms include Adrian Maldonado & Associates of Berea; R.L. Hill Management Services Inc. of Solon; Regency Construction Services of Brook Park; The AKA Team of Cleveland; and Ozanne Construction Company Inc. of Cleveland, Sherwin-Williams said in a news release.
Each of the firms are minority-owned or female-owned, and they will be tasked with providing construction management services. Four of the five will provide skilled employees for work such as carpentry, millwork and painting, according to the news release.
Sherwin-Williams is excited to bring on the firms for the project, which is named the Building Our Future Project, the company’s Chairman, President and CEO John G. Morikis said in the news release.
“We understand the impact these sites will have on our community,” Morikis said. “Since the beginning of this project, it has been our goal to involve local organizations, especially those that are minority owned and female owned, throughout the design and construction processes. We look forward to announcing the involvement of additional minority-owned, female-owned and small businesses as we move forward.”
Representatives from the firms selected said they are eager to be part of the project.
“We couldn’t be more excited to be part of this significant and impactful project,” said Tari Rivera, the president of Regency Construction Services. “We are thrilled to have the opportunity to enhance our firm’s experience with a project of this scope, which in turn will expand our firm’s resume.”
More firms are expected to be added for multiple roles as the project continues, including landscape and design architects.
Sherwin-Williams’ move to select the firms comes after the Black Contractors Group recently called on the company to uphold its commitment to diversity while building its new downtown Cleveland headquarters.
The Black Contractors Group continued to express its discontent with Sherwin-Williams later Wednesday. The organization’s leaders acknowledged they are appreciative of the five contracts given to women- and minority-owned firms, but they still want Sherwin-Williams to uphold a commitment to having a Black contractor on the main team handling the project, said spokesperson Jerry Thomas, who spoke on behalf of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and Black Contractors Group.
“We want it at all levels, we’re talking about real diversity now,” Thomas said. “... We’re not saying that it’s anything wrong with giving subcontracts to women, and Hispanic firms and Asian firms and Black firms. We want that to happen. But that’s not gonna back us up from our goal.”
Sherwin-Williams made the initial commitment to have a Black contractor on the lead team in October 2020, said Norman Edwards, the president of the Black Contractors Group.
The SCLC will join the Black Contractors Group in a protest Thursday morning outside Sherwin-Williams’ current headquarters on West Prospect Avenue.
Sherwin-Williams spokeswoman Julie Young said in a statement Thursday that the commitment the company has made on the project is to have a fair, open and inclusive process. Young wrote that Sherwin-Williams has kept its commitment and that partners chosen for any role on the project are “determined by a clear set of criteria emphasizing a demonstrated ability to handle the requirements of the role on a project of this scope.”
“Sherwin-Williams remains focused on engaging the best and most qualified firms on our project, regardless of personal, family or political connections,” Young wrote in the statement. “We will not allow any one organization, including the Black Contractors Group, to dictate the specific firms that receive contracts on our project, nor will we respond to the tactics of any outside organization seeking to influence our process through threats or intimidation.
The Building Our Future project, which is expected to start later this year, is estimated to cost $600 million for the headquarters and research and development center, with more than $100 million in public incentives. The headquarters will be about 1 million square feet in size, and will be located at West Third Street and Superior Avenue. The research and development center is slated to be about 600,000 square feet in size.
The two facilities will accommodate more than 3,500 employees, with room to have future growth, according to the news release. Sherwin-Williams estimates it will bring at least 400 jobs to the facilities over time, which would be an increase of 11% compared to the company’s current local workforce, according to the release.
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