Lago Casino awards $90M in construction contracts

Wilmorite Chairman Thomas C. Wilmot, Sr., Director of Lago Resort & Casino, announced today that Lago has awarded four additional contracts to four local Upstate firms, bringing the total awarded to date to seven contracts, valued at $90 million, won by seven firms, contingent upon Lago obtaining one of the State’s casino licenses.The contracts announced today are a $15 million contract to construct a parking garage, awarded to LeChase Construction, and $45 million in contracts for mechanical, electrical and plumbing work on the casino and hotel facilities, awarded to the John W. Danforth Company, Billitier Electric and Crosby-Brownlie.“Our commitment to the people of Tyre, workers from Seneca County and beyond, and the State of New York is solid. We have by far the biggest and best proposal in the region for a destination resort casino, and we continue to demonstrate that we are prepared to move forward on Day One,” Wilmot said. “We are proud to work with some of the finest contractors in Upstate New York, who also happen to be some of the finest American contractors. And their commitment to the people and workers from the region and across Upstate is part of what exhilarates us in this process.“Let me restate something I’ve said consistently and strongly. If we are awarded a license, construction on Lago will begin within a week. Today, we announce the awarding of a $15 million contract to LeChase Construction in Rochester to construct a parking garage, and $45 million in contracts for mechanical, electric and plumbing which has been awarded to John W. Danforth Company, based in Tonawanda, and two Rochester-based firms, Billitier Electric and Crosby-Brownlie,” Wilmot said. “These New York companies have extensive Upstate experience and will all be bound by the Project Labor Agreement (PLA), which Lago has entered into with the Finger Lakes Building & Construction Trades Council, and together will employ more than a thousand Upstate union laborers,” Wilmot said.LeChase Construction has recently done projects for, among others, Alfred State, Alfred University, Binghamton University, Cornell University, the City of Binghamton, and the Dormitory Authority of the State of New York. Kyle Sayers, Executive Vice President of LeChase Construction, said, “LeChase Construction is committed to the Lago Resort & Casino and the expanded economic growth it will create. We are eager to put our union employees to work in the Finger Lakes/Southern Tier region. LeChase looks forward to continuing the successful history we have had with Wilmorite.”John W. Danforth Company’s recent work includes projects for the Buffalo Zoo, Seneca Niagara Casino, University of Buffalo School of Engineering, Upstate Medical University Hospital, RIT Golisano Institute for Sustainability, and the Buffalo VA Medical Center.Danforth Executive Vice President Nickolas Optis said, “The John W. Danforth Company is excited about performing the mechanical work on the challenging Lago Resort & Casino project. The aggressive schedule will provide hundreds of jobs for local tradesmen and be a major boost to construction activity in the Finger Lakes region. We are eager to partner with Wilmorite and the other contractors involved in the project to deliver a world class entertainment facility in Upstate New York.”Billitier Electric has worked on the Ralph Wilson Field House, Corning-Painted Post East High School, Unity Hospital in Rochester, Wegmans Market Street in Rochester, and the University of Rochester Saunders Research Building.Ronald D. Billitier, President, said, “On behalf of all Billitier Electric employees, it is certainly an honor to be part of the exciting Lago Resort & Casino project. To be part of a project that can positively impact the lives of so many New Yorkers is consistent with Billitier Electric’s 45-year philosophy of ‘serving the needs of the community one project at a time.’ Our team looks forward to moving ahead on this project.”Among recent projects of Crosby-Brownlie are RIT Ice Arena, East Irondequoit Central School District, Alpina Dairy in Batavia, Nazareth College Math & Science Building, and the Barilla Plant in Avon.Crosby-Brownlie CEO Gavin Brownlie, Jr. said, “Crosby-Brownlie is excited to be part of the construction team for the new Lago Resort & Casino. We are proud to be part of this dynamic project that will have such a lasting positive impact on the region’s economy and spur additional investment in our area. We will be adding skilled tradespeople from all over Upstate to fulfill our labor requirements to meet the fast-track schedule.”Michael Davis, President of the Finger Lakes Building & Construction Trades Council, AFL-CIO, said: “With every new Lago announcement, our 6,000 members are getting more and more excited. The prospect of meaningful work is certainly a shining star this holiday season. Our 19 local unions know that these jobs are necessary and irreplaceable. These are good union jobs and my members and I hope the Gaming Facilities Location Board recognizes that in Lago, they have an opportunity to create far more jobs than any of the other proposals in the region,” Davis said.“We’ve now let $90 million in contracts for our $425 million project. We are eager to continue moving forward because we know that Lago will have a bigger and most positive impact than any proposal in this region, based on the criteria set forth in the law. If we are fortunate enough to be awarded the license, we are prepared to commence construction immediately,” Wilmot said.