In order to avoid the litigation that plagued their last three municipal projects, the City of McAllen decided to use a program manager for their largest project ever. Through the selection of Broaddus & Associates, the project ended without incident, and the city saved a considerable amount of funding.

The 192,250 SF convention center facility sits on an 18.8-acre site, and is home to the Rio Grande Valley Silverados professional basketball team. The facility is composed of a 10,600 SF ballroom, over 13,000 SF of meeting rooms, two boardrooms, a 61,400 SF exhibit hall, and a 22,300-sf, 1,776 seat auditorium.

In addition to managing the construction of the facility, Broaddus & Associates was also responsible for managing the $10 million site improvement package, consisting of parking for approximately 1,325 vehicles, site infrastructure, drainage improvements, state highway modifications, landscaping, and large water feature. The firm was also responsible for managing the expansion of the city infrastructure to this facility. This included major modifications to the drainage and box culverts below major thoroughfares, as well as electric, water, sewer and sanitary infrastructure.

In addition to avoiding litigation, the city benefited from Broaddus & Associates’ services. The team identified $923,000 in initial cost savings and potential A/E discrepancies in the plans, which bypassed potential change orders. The city selected a design team from outside the region, yet they were able to save considerable reimbursable expenses due to Broaddus & Associates web-based information management system. During construction, they identified an additional $862,000 in value-added suggestion that allowed the city to save construction costs. In the end, one-half of the project’s contingency was never used and returned to the city.