Photo / Maureen Milliken
A groundbreaking for the Cambria Portland Hotel was held in August 2019. The hotel is slated to open in October.
May 12, 2021
Construction consulting firm is taking New England developers to the bank
Photo / Maureen Milliken
Ron Milley and John Weeks, of CSC Consulting, on top of the 86 Newbury project in Portland's East End. CSC is the preconstruction consultant on the project, as well as most of the others that can be seen from its roof.
By Maureen Milliken
Ron Milley can wind his way through the multi-story maze of steel and building materials of the massive 86 Newbury construction project like he owns the place.
The 211,000-square-foot multi-part project being developed by Bateman Partners on Portland's eastern waterfront is on schedule to be completed this year and while Milley, president and CEO of CSC New England, doesn’t own the place, he's as intimately involved as the developer is.
And the complex, which will be home to veterinary technology company Covetrus, Shipyard Brewing Co. and a Cambria hotel, isn't the only project CSC can lay claim to. When Milley, and John Weeks, the firm's COO, stand on the roof of what will soon be the development's Cambria Portland Hotel, they can point to a dozen recently completed or under-construction projects where they see their firm’s stamp.
The Newbury project is the biggest. “They have seven different contracts with seven different builders,” Milley said. “It’s like seven different projects. A project like this has never happened in Portland before."
He's in a position to know. CSC does pre-construction inspections, a niche sector that only a handful of companies in the state specialize in. Simply put, they make sure a developer has the financial foundation to do a project before a bank will lend the money. The bank hires CSC, the developer pays for the service.
Part of the process is monthly assessments over the course of the construction, until its completed. At 86 Newbury, that means Milley spends an entire day every month going over its progress.
Invisible force behind the project
The general contractor on 86 Newbury is AlliedCook Construction, of Scarborough, and the development was designed by Archetype Architects, of Portland. While those two companies are frequently cited in news stories about 86 Newbury, CSC is the invisible force, the frim on one no one ever hears about, that makes the project possible.
The firm has been involved in the development from before the first shovel went into the ground in 2018 and will be there until it is completed in December. When it's done, it will be home to Covetrus offices and labs, a hotel that is partnering with Shipyard Brewing Co.
Nathan Bateman, vice president of Bateman Partners, said CSC’s speed and accuracy is essential to projects like 86 Newbury. While CSC is hired by the bank, the relationship with the developer begins when the project is first envisioned. The company's pre-construction inspection report is how the bank determines whether to back the project.
“As a developer, our lenders require a third-party inspector to monitor the construction projects to ensure bank funds are being deployed correctly,” Bateman said. “CSC is the third party rep for lenders.”
CSC reviews the developer’s construction budgets and contracts to make sure they’re correct. The relationship continues through the life of the development process, including monthly inspections that include reports back to the bank.
“CSC must sign off on all construction expenditures and ensure all appropriate lien waivers are signed from the contractor and subcontractor,” Bateman said. “Because a contractor bills once a month, speed is important to get them paid and the subs paid as quickly as possible, since they are generally out 30 to 60 days waiting for payment. Accuracy is important to ensure all lien waivers and scope of work is complete. If lien waivers and scope of work are wrong, you could end up paying for the same work twice.”
Covetrus/Shipyard project on track
86 Newbury takes up almost the entire block bordered by Newbury, Hancock, Fore and Mountfort streets. It comprises:
- 140,000 square feet of new office space for Covetrus, as well as a large pharmacy, laboratories and technical fulfillment space redeveloped from Shipyard Brewing Co.’s former brewery;
- New Shipyard Brewing Co. space, including a demonstration brewery and retail;
- A 72,797-square-foot 105-room Cambria Suites "brewtel," that includes two restaurants and is in partnership with Shipyard;
- 9,060 square feet of residential space comprising 10 units in three buildings;
- Four levels of parking under the hotel, with 372 spaces, as well as 12 spaces for the residential units.
While the pandemic caused supply-chain issues, the entire project is still on track to be completed by the end of this year.
The parking garage will be completed July 1; the Covetrus pharmacy space will be done July 23; the Cambria Portland hotel will be ready for occupancy in October; the Covetrus office building, the final piece, is scheduled to be completed by Dec. 22, Bateman said.
As Milley wound his way through the construction maze with Weeks recently, he said the role his company plays has been even more essential during the pandemic, when supply chain issues have made it hard to predict when materials will be available and delays are common. Many construction companies have learned to stock up will in advance to make sure the materials are on hand when they need them.
Milley pointed to a pile of building materials on pallets in what will soon be the parking garage. “They may not need that for a couple months, but we can tell the bank why they bought it now,” he said.
Match made in heaven
CSC was started in 1989 by engineer Ron Russo, who was the only one in Maine providing the pre-construction inspection service at the time. "He kind of invented it," Milley said.
Milley's father owned a construction demolition business, and Milley worked in the family business, leading to relationships with contractors across the state. When Russo retired in 2015, Milley took over the firm.
At the time, Milley had 18 clients and was the only employee. His first projects were the Hiawatha apartments on Congress Street in Portland, developed by PC Construction, of Portland, and financed by Androscoggin Bank, and the Homewood Suites by Hilton hotel in Augusta, by Auburn developer George Schott.
“After that, it was off to the races,” Milley said. His business has doubled every year and he's added employees, including a project manager. By 2019 he had a staff of five besides himself. They all work remotely, Milley from his home in Kennebunk.
As development has increased in Maine, more banks have started requiring the kind of service CSC offers. Most of the pre-construction reports cover the hard costs, but banks have also become more interested in the "soft" costs, things like available equity. That led to Weeks joining the company at the beginning of 2020..
The families had been friends when Milley and Weeks were growing up in the Portland area. Weeks had worked for MBNA for 15 years, then Webster Bank, in Connecticut.
Through the course of his career, Weeks saw both sides of the managerial marketing relationship. "I saw what was important to the customer, and I saw what was important to the bank," he said.
The detailed financial report banks were increasingly seeking "is where John's expertise on the banking side comes in," Milley said.
When Milley called in 2019, Weeks was working in Connecticut, but had been talking with his family about getting back to Maine.
Weeks joined the firm in January 2020. "It was a match made in heaven," Milley said.
He upgraded the website and put together a detailed marketing plan, as well as standardized digital inspection reports, among other things. When the pandemic hit shortly after he began, he sent a letter to every bank CSC does business with, assuring them that developers were doing what they had to do to keep construction sites safe during the pandemic to keep projects on track.
Photo / Maureen Milliken
While the Covetrus/Shipyard project is still a major construction site, everything is expected to be completed by the end of the year.
'Here we are'
The company has continued to double every year. Milley and Weeks don’t want to give a specific number on clients, but the list stretches through New England.
Bateman has been doing business with CSC for 15 years, when it was just Ron Russo. Besides 86 Newbury, CSC is the pre-construction inspector on all Bateman projects, including the work it's down for Central Maine Healthcare, which has built an urgent care center in Topsham, one in Lewiston and in October broke ground on a 50,000-square-foot cancer center on its Lewiston campus.
CSC is also behind almost all of the recent projects on Portland's eastern waterfront, including 0 Thames (the WEX Inc. building) and 100 Fore St., which houses more WEX offices as well as Northeastern University's Roux Institute, both developer by Jonathan Cohen. The company also works with Chinburg Properties of New Hampshire, including current redevelopment of 230,000-square-foot Lincoln Mill in Biddeford. It has done reports for most of the hotels recently built or under construction in southern Maine, including the nearby Aloft hotel and the Canopy by Hilton downtown, as well as some farther up the coast, residential development at Brunswick Landing and a variety of projects in Lewiston and Auburn.
Developers the company does business with range from large commercial ones like Bateman, Cohen and Chinburg, to nonprofits like Avesta Housing and the Portland Housing Authority, to single-family home developers. The company can call most of the local banks clients, as well as the national ones and has relationships with real estate brokers, including Malone Commercial Real Estate and Boulos Co.
Milley said the key to the business's early success was that he knew many of the contractors through his father's demolition business, and could be a bridge to the banks. Six years later, CSC has found a niche that's put a stamp on almost every development he can see from the top of the soon-to-be Cambria Portland Hotel, and many more he can't see from there.
"When I started I had one employee," he said with a laugh. “I didn't plan on it ever being more than one, but here we are."
Most Recent
Most Recent
0 Comments